Summary: April Fool! Yes, the world's most infuriating tradition, with the possible exception of witch burning, makes itself felt in Wikipedia's Top 25 this week, with no less than 5 search spikes triggered by Google's Google Nose prank. The day itself also scored highly. On a more serious note, gun control, that perennial political neurosis in America, has become a major talking point in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting, while North Korea caused consternation by throwing another international tantrum. On TV, The Walking Dead marked the conclusion of its third season, while that of Game of Thrones began.
For the week of April 1 to 7, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the 5,000 most trafficked pages* were:
The 17th century naturalist and illustrator shot to the top of the rankings this week thanks to a rather attractive Google Doodle to celebrate her birthday
The death of this beloved, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and film critic, whose literary, televisual and online work from 1967 to the present had endeared him to four generations of Americans, led to a spike in views for his article
This American union leader and nonviolent labour activist triggered a minor (read: stupid) controversy when a number of rightwing commentators complained that Google had decided to commemorate his birthday with a Doodle, but not Easter.
The world's most unrepentantly bonkers country decided to scare the world again this week with some fairly apocalyptic bluster. Whether it will (or can) back them up with anything is another matter. As is what we can actually do about it.
This list is derived from the WP:5000 report. It excludes the Wikipedia main page (and "wiki"), non-article pages, and anomalous entries (such as DDoS attacks or likely automated views). Please feel free to discuss any removal on the talk page if you wish. Standard removals this week include:
G-force; this has been in the Top 25 since the list was started at the beginning of the year. The continuing popularity of this article, which jumped in June 2012, has been without explanation. Articles on popular scientific concepts get nowhere this level of viewing based on our analysis to date, e.g., Gravitation (49,516 views from March 3–9), and therefore we have decided to remove it from the list as most likely caused by non-human views.
Cat anatomy; explanation still unknown for its continuing high view counts
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