Ill Winds
Summary: It's not hard to guess which event is leading interest in the top 25 this week. The sheer scale of Typhoon Haiyan is staggering; estimates place its maximum windspeed upon first landfall in the Philippines on November 6 at 315 km/h, which would make it the most powerful tropical cyclone ever to reach land. To date, the storm has killed nearly 4000 people and damaged or destroyed nearly 4 million homes. Fortunately, if there's one thing Wikipedia does well, it's cyclones. Our coverage of hurricane- and typhoon-related topics is genuinely excellent, so we proved a good first resource for those seeking news and information. However, despite constant, repeated warnings from climatologists not to confuse climate with the weather, the public immediately made a connection between Typhoon Haiyan and global warming, or its supposed non-existence. In other news, Armistice Day, known in the US as Veterans Day and in the UK and Commonwealth as Remembrance Day, fell this week, and its emotional weight will no doubt increase as we approach its 100th anniversary in 2018.
For the full top 25 report, plus exclusions, see: WP:TOP25
For the week of November 11 to 17, the 10 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the 5,000 most trafficked pages* were:
Rank Article Class Views Image Notes 1 Climatic Research Unit email controversy 
2,119,177 
It's not really surprising that this controversy, better known as "Climategate", has shot to the top in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan, although eight committees acquitted the scientists in question of any wrongdoing. 2 Sachin Tendulkar 
873,040 
The highest scoring international cricketer in history retired this week after a 24-year career, during which he scored 18,426 runs in one day internationals and 15,470 runs in test matches (both all-time records) and was the only person ever to score a hundred hundreds internationally. 3 United States
513,779 
The 3rd most popular Wikipedia article between 2010 and 2012, and a perpetual bubble-under-er. Not really surprising that the country with by far the most English speakers would be the most popular on the English Wikipedia. 4 Remembrance Day
508,542 
The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918 was meant to signify not only the end of the Great War, but of war itself. No one could be insane enough to wound humanity again as brutally as it had been wounded during those four agonising years. Instead, it signified only a moment's respite; the first interlude in a century-long Grand Guignol which would feature the deaths and suffering of tens of millions and which, in many ways, has yet to conclude. In the chaos and carnage we have since visited upon ourselves, it is fitting that each year we try to recapture that moment of peace, passing it into the future like an eternal flame. 5 Facebook
479,015 
A perennially popular article 6 Typhoon 
461,381 
The name for a tropical cyclone in the western Pacific (in the eastern Pacific and Atlantic, they're called hurricanes) became an international topic of discussion when Typhoon Haiyan hit the news. 7 Veterans Day
457,001 
The American name for Armistice Day- see #4 above. 8 Eminem
443,100 
The rapper's latest album, The Marshall Mathers LP 2, was released on November 5. 9 Lorde
441,556 The just-turned 17-year-old singer-songwriter from New Zealand released her debut album, Pure Heroine, on 27 September. 10 World War II
415,995 
Another perennially popular article. (The 16th most popular article from 2010 to 2012, in fact; see Table 2 here.)
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Discuss this story
Could I respectfully point out that various cricketers have scored "a hundred hundreds" (e.g. Sir Geoffrey of Boycott) and that Tendulkar's remarkable record refers to his international career. Perhaps "was the only person ever to score a hundred hundreds at international level" or similar? Ben MacDui 13:03, 24 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I'm a bit skeptical of the rationale for the view count of Climatic Research Unit email controversy. The views of Typhoon_Haiyan peaked on the 11th, and 12th, corresponding to media attention, then dropped off, to between 10 and 30 thousands views a day. That pattern seems plausible. While the CRU article page views jumped up on the 7th, the day the typhoon landed, the absolute level and patterns are very different. The peak day for Haiyan had almost 70K views, while CRU had almost 300K. Why on earth would there be four times as many views of the 2009 event as the current event? Haiyan views dropped a couple days later, but CRU views went up, over 375K on the 16th, and still over 200K yesterday, while Haiyan views are at 10K. Why are there 20 people viewing CRU for every person viewing the typhoon article? Why have Haiyan views dropped materially fromt he peak (as xpected) but CRU have not? Something doesn't add up.--S Philbrick(Talk) 18:29, 24 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]