The Signpost

Traffic report

Heart, soul, umbrellas, and politics

This traffic report is adapted from the Top 25 Report, prepared with commentary by Igordebraga (July 26 to August 22), Kingsif (July 26 to August 16), Mcrsftdog (July 6 to August 1, August 9 to August 22) and Rebestalic (August 16 to 22)

Give me time and give me space. Give me real don't give me fake. Give me a cure for the COVID-19 pandemic that can't leave soon enough (to the point the view counts for that article are dropping...). And for those who prefer in those troubled quarantined times to move onto another "diseased" subject, tell me your own politik.

(data provided by the provisional Top 1000 report)

Give me heart and give me soul (July 26 to August 1)

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (July 26 to August 1, 2020)
Rank Article Class Views Image Notes/about
1 John Lewis (civil rights leader) 1,507,358 The funerary services befitting such a figure as Congressman Lewis took place this week. After his funeral he lay in state at first in the Alabama State Capitol, and then the United States Capitol rotunda on Monday and Tuesday, the first African-American lawmaker to receive the honor. A second funeral ceremony was held in Atlanta on Thursday, where he was eulogized by former Presidents Clinton, W., and Obama, and he rests in Atlanta's South-View Cemetery. Lewis died on July 17, and now doubles the views his article had last week during a strangely slow period for Wikipedia, appearing on here for three consecutive weeks, unusual for a recent death: more unusual is only hitting #1 in the third week, which he does now thanks to many redirects for his common name.
2 Regis Philbin 1,505,819 American television has lost enough stars old and young this year to fill out several montages at the upcoming Emmys, but the most prominent is probably Regis, who died last week and now overtakes all the Sushant Singh Rajput-related entries. Whether it be every game show you can think of or the morning talk show named after him for over 20 years, just about every American (and a sizable number of people from around the world) has seen him host despite pulling back due to poor health in the 2010s. This poor health led to his fatal heart attack on July 24.
3 Olivia de Havilland 1,448,864 After Kirk Douglas in February, another centenarian from Hollywood's Golden Age leaves us with the passing of Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland, winner of an Academy Award for To Each His Own (only Luise Rainer, who almost got to her 105 birthday, lived longer among Oscar winners). De Havilland was also involved in classics such as The Adventures of Robin Hood and Gone with the Wind.
4 Herman Cain 1,331,901 Cain, a businessman who was once considered a front runner for the 2012 Republican nomination, died of COVID-19 complications on Thursday. He was hospitalized on June 1, only 9 days after attending a Trump rally maskless. Cain's death should be seen as a cautionary tale for the anti-mask movements. It won't, but it should.
5 Shakuntala Devi 1,097,470 The first Indian figure on the list this week is Devi, author of The World of Homosexuals which, fascinating as it sounds and groundbreaking as it was, is unrelated. Devi was best known as a human calculator (or the human calculator, so was her fame) and her amazing mind earned her an official Guinness World Record... in 1980. She died in 2013, and was only presented with the record this week, despite appearing in the GWR book. She's also the subject of a recent biopic, released Friday on Prime Video.
6 Rhea Chakraborty 1,095,924 Chakraborty was first reported as Sushant Singh Rajput's girlfriend after the latter committed suicide. On the 25th, the deceased's father filed a First Information Report, accusing her (and many others) of theft and abetting suicide for allegedly threatening Singh Rajput by saying he should be declared mentally unwell. She was arrested this past Tuesday.
7 Deaths in 2020 921,476 No I don't want to battle from beginning to end
I don't want a cycle of recycled revenge
I don't want to follow Death and All His Friends!
8 The Umbrella Academy (TV series) 686,289 Netflix released the much-anticipated second season adapting the comics written by musician Gerard Way and drawn by Gabriel Bá (pictured), where the remaining kids of a superpowered "family" time travel to prevent an apocalypse. "Family" being in inverted commas thanks to adoption that allowed for diverse casting: among its popular main cast are a British actor, an Irish actor, a Canadian, a teenager, and one of the original Broadway cast of #14's musical.
9 Dil Bechara 664,134 Director Mukesh Chhabra's (pictured) take on the teenage cancer of teenage cancer books, The Fault in Our Stars, was released for free streaming on Disney+ Hotstar on July 24, and was reportedly viewed 85 million times in its first 24 hours. It's either still getting hype or has been dragged into the new scandal (#6) about main actor Sushant Singh Rajput's suicide.
10 Jacob Elordi 632,000 This young Australian actor has seen a sudden rise to prominence thanks to his leading roles in two major franchises: TV's Euphoria and the Netflix movies about a kissing booth co-starring Joey King that are getting a lot of coverage at the moment. The second of the films was released this week.

Wounds that heal and cracks that fix (August 2 to 8)

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (August 2 to 8, 2020)
Rank Article Class Views Image Notes/about
1 Lebanon 1,588,673 A small country beset by war and tragedy this week saw its capital city (#6) destroyed (#3) in a big explosion caused by incompetence (#5). Though not nuclear, the size and appearance of the mushroom cloud that resulted in earthquakes in mainland Europe has been likened to some notable bombings.
2 The Umbrella Academy (TV series) 1,538,754 Season 2 of the mystery superhero drama arrived on Netflix. Ellen Page (pictured) stars in it as Vanya, who is doing a hell of a lot better than in season 1. Page is also from Canada, where the show is filmed, and according to co-star Emmy Raver-Lampman she would take other castmembers out to local places while filming.
3 2020 Beirut explosions 1,207,762 In the port of Beirut (#6), capital of Lebanon (#1), there was a warehouse that since 2014 housed dangerous chemicals (#5) taken from an abandoned ship. On August 4, a fire broke in said warehouse, leading to a blast that wrecked buildings in a 10 kilometer (6 miles) radius.
4 Shakuntala Devi 1,178,421 The subject of a new film from Amazon Prime, where she's portrayed by Vidya Balan (pictured). While Netflix is going action, Amazon has decided to go... math.
5 Ammonium nitrate 1,089,158 Ammonium nitrate is a highly unstable substance that has caused some big explosions, like #14 and #3, the latter of which turned Beirut, capital of #1, into rubble this week.
6 Beirut 961,178
7 Deaths in 2020 858,347 Will you defeat them
Your demons and all the non-believers?
The plans that they have made?
Because one day, I'll leave you
A phantom to lead you in the summer
To join
The Black Parade
8 Rhea Chakraborty 691,270 How's this for Bollywood drama: Chakraborty, the girlfriend of the late Sushant Singh Rajput, was originally arrested last week for something related to his suicide, but is now being investigated for money laundering. In a shocking turn of events in this whole suicide scandal, Singh Rajput's best friend and fellow Bollywood star, Sharma, killed himself this week.
9 Samir Sharma 665,074
10 Wilford Brimley 618,624 A moderately famous actor and sometime singer, Brimley is also the person who caused half of North America to pronounce diabetes as "diabeetus" – he was diagnosed with the condition in the 1970s and became a prominent campaigner, but one with a mountain accent. He died on August 1 from what appears to be a diabetes-related kidney problem.

Tell me all your politik (August 9 to 15)

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (August 9 to 15, 2020)
Rank Article Class Views Image Notes/about
1 Kamala Harris 11,843,595 California lawyer and senator who was announced this week as the Democrat VP pick with running-mate #9. She was a popular choice, had a brief presidential campaign last year, and brings the rest of her family to the list. In the days after her selection, birtherism was reborn: though she was definitely born in California, with an American father, she is not white, which is enough to send certain people into discredit mode.
2 Shyamala Gopalan 1,851,954
As a result of #1 being chosen as a VP candidate, attention was brought in for the whole family – in order, her mother, her sister (above), her father, and her husband (below).
3 Maya Harris 1,644,390
4 Donald J. Harris 1,640,562
5 Douglas Emhoff 1,427,685
6 QAnon 1,370,205 Marjorie Taylor Greene, a vocal supporter of Q, won a primary to a safe seat in the United States House of Representatives on Tuesday. Trump twote in support the next morning, leading to a question in a briefing. Trump sidestepped it, without mentioning Q.
7 The Umbrella Academy (TV series) 986,180 Netflix released the second season of this a little while ago, setting the apocalypse in Dallas. The moral of the story seems to be that even when you try really hard, you can still get everything wrong? That, or join a cult.
8 Joe Biden 836,439 While current president Trump has spent a lot of time on this list, the Democrats are presently occupying a lot of the top 10. Biden is Trump's competition as the countdown to November's election continues. He picked a running mate, #1, this week.
9 Gunjan Saxena 814,894 An Indian female air force pilot, a movie about her life (where she's played by actress Janhvi Kapoor, pictured) was released August 12 on Netflix.
10 Deaths in 2020 813,025 They call me The Seeker
I've been searching low and high
I won't get to get what I'm after
Till the day I die

And open up your eyes (August 16 to 22)

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (August 16 to 22, 2020)
Rank Article Class Views Image Notes/about
1 Kamala Harris 2,523,180 The 2020 Democratic National Convention was a four day television event taking place from Monday to Thursday, with an average audience of 21.6 million viewers. While the real stars of the show were Biden and Harris, viewers got to see appearances from all of their favorite characters from the Democratic primaries, and even a few teasers for the 2024 arc.
2 Joe Biden 1,852,528
3 QAnon 1,379,518 QAnon stands alone as the only major conspiracy theory that's supportive of the government. Imagine if David Icke thought there were lizards controlling everything and he openly campaigned to become one of them. Imagine somone thinking that the CIA killed Kennedy but also thanking them for it. Bizarre.
4 Jill Biden 1,252,629 #2's wife (and potential First Lady) appeared in a pre-taped video at the DNC on Tuesday night, talking about how capable of a president her husband would be.
5 Elon Musk 980,785 In my skim of the news, Musk is doing something in Texas and has a new brain chip?
6 Donald Trump 847,079 Is seeking re-election.
7 Deaths in 2020 800,303 And when you're gone, who remembers your name?
Who keeps your flame?
Who tells your story?
8 Beau Biden 775,600 The last night of the DNC featured a tribute to the late son of #2 and Neilia Hunter, who died of brain cancer in 2015.
9 Ronald Koeman 767,192 FC Barcelona isn't what it used to be: when faced with Bayern Munchen in the shortened\empty 2019–20 UEFA Champions League knockout phase, the usually victorious Spanish squad received an 8-2 thumping! Such a humiliation led to the dismissal of their coach, and in comes a Dutchman who was an old idol of the team, Ronald Koeman, most recently manager of his country's national team.
10 Betty Broderick 749,527 Netflix released season 2 of Dirty John, which tells some of Broderick's story – she, played there by Amanda Peet (pictured), killed her ex-husband and his new wife in 1989, and is still in jail for it.

Exclusions

  • These lists exclude the Wikipedia main page, non-article pages (such as redlinks), and anomalous entries (such as DDoS attacks or likely automated views). Since mobile view data became available to the Report in October 2014, we exclude articles that have almost no mobile views (5–6% or less) or almost all mobile views (94–95% or more) because they are very likely to be automated views based on our experience and research of the issue. Please feel free to discuss any removal on the Top 25 Report talk page if you wish.
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  • "twote" is, as the kids these days say, a cursed conjugation or portmanteau (of "tweeted" and "wrote"). I'm not going to change it to "tweeted" because I find it hilarious. Rotideypoc41352 (talk · contribs) 23:12, 6 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
    • Thanks @Rotideypoc41352: I did notice this in the 1st round of copyediting, and asked about it at the Newsroom talk page and got no response. Copyediting this column can be a challenge, but I think the overall style works for everybody. We'll continue watching our "T's" and "W's". With the election closing in pretty fast, we've got to make sure not to take any cheap shots against any politicians. No BLP violations allowed. It's not what The Signpost is all about. But providing background, even humorously, is ok and commenting on anything they do on-Wiki is fair game. Smallbones(smalltalk) 18:05, 7 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  • "'Tis a worthy jape," twoth he. Jim.henderson (talk) 14:28, 19 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

















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