Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2015-11-18/Traffic report

Darkness and light

Summary: The tragedy in Paris, of course, had an impact on the list this week, with three slots in the top 10. Nonetheless, there is some nobility in the fact that, rather than let the nightmare top the list, we instead gave it to Hedy Lamarr's unsung contribution to the development of wireless technology, and that we didn't let current conflicts affect our annual commemoration of those who have died in past ones. It seems only fitting that the Hindu festival of Diwali, which signifies the victory of light over darkness, made its annual appearance this week. The very predictability of its return became an act of defiance.

For the full top-25 list, see WP:TOP25. See this section for an explanation of any exclusions. For a list of the most edited articles of the week, see here.

As prepared by Serendipodous, for the week of November 8 to 14, 2015, the 10 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the most viewed pages, were:

Rank	Article	Class	Views	Image	Notes
1	Hedy Lamarr		2,744,601		I have to say, before researching this entry, my knowledge of this multitalented screen goddess began and ended with a running gag in Blazing Saddles. Despite living almost into the current century, she had basically retired before I was born and so never connected with my generation. Still, she was a remarkable woman; not only pioneering sexual content onscreen in the 1933 film Ecstasy but also inventing a forerunner of Bluetooth and wireless technology that was employed by the US military in the Cuban Missile Crisis. This unsung achievement was celebrated in a Google Doodle on her 101st birthday on 9 November.
2	November 2015 Paris attacks		1,237,935		This event is moving at the speed of news, and so what I write will be obsolete by the time it is published. Even now though, the facts are staggering. The first suicide attack in French history; their worst mass killing since World War II; the worst attack in Europe since the Madrid train bombings more than a decade ago. Despite it bearing all the hallmarks of an al-Qaeda attack, the killing has been "credited" to the murderous quasi-state ISIL. If that is true, then that is dark news indeed; it means they have managed to project themselves far beyond their claimed borders, and can draw other nations into their nightmare at will. France have already escalated their war in Syria in response, much, I am sure, as ISIL expected. Whether they or anyone else can finally put an end to the horror is still unknown.
3	Spectre (2015 film)		1,199,500		This article held steady at #3 for a third week, with an 11% jump in views. The British are not known as titans of the filmmaking world, but they have staked their claim with this latest in their defining James Bond series. The budget, topping $300 million, makes this the most expensive film ever made without the words "Pirates of the Caribbean" in front of it. After the last Bond film made over a billion dollars, it seems the proudly British producers have confidence enough to stand apart from Hollywood, premièring the film in six national territories—but not the US. That's not to say it didn't do well when it finally opened Stateside; it has held on to the top spot in its second week, and has, as of November 17, made almost $550 million worldwide.
4	Diwali		1,002,136		The Hindu festival of light, which draws attention to the inner light beyond the material body, the Atman, has had to coexist with some fairly grim events of late. Last year, it was beaten to the top spot by the West African Ebola outbreak, and this year saw it shadowed by the Paris terror attacks. Still, we would, I am sure, appreciate a light for those we've lost as the Western world enters its own holiday season.
5	Prem Ratan Dhan Payo		920,622		Salman Khan (pictured) is having a good year. His Eid opener Bajrangi Bhaijaan is currently the second-highest-grossing Bollywood film of all time, and now this Diwali event film has beaten that film's record-breaking opening day, taking Rs 400 million ($6.1 million).
6	Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant		896,501		If they are to be believed, the repellent non-state has finally managed to extend its war beyond its shredded borders and into the heart of the West. This is an unprecedented escalation from them, but then, if there's one thing they've proven themselves good at in the last few years, it's unprecedented escalation. Some see it as desperation; ISIL have suffered numerous substantial losses from bombing and Kurdish incursions. Others have pondered if it marks the first shot in a new generational conflict.
7	Eagles of Death Metal		887,314		The morbid fantasies of death metal came too close to reality this week when this Californian band found itself at the epicentre of the worst of the Paris attacks, at Le Bataclan club. While the band members made it out alive, one of their employees was among the dead.
8	Fallout 4		880,018		Bethesda Softworks' hugely anticipated continuation of their darkly humorous post-apocalyptic open world role-playing video game series sold over a million copies (to a tune of roughly $750 million) in its first 24 hours of release.
9	Deaths in 2015		591,281		The viewing figures for this article have been remarkably constant; fluctuating week to week between 450 and 550 thousand on average, apparently heedless of who actually died. Numbers this week are unusually high, however; perhaps death is in the air.
10	Veterans Day		581,396		The eleventh day of the eleventh month, when peace was declared after the hell of World War I, has been recognised for decades as a time to remember the dead of war. In the US, it is known as Veterans Day, while in the Commonwealth, it is known as Remembrance Day (which was number 11 in this week's Top 25 – together these two articles had 1,099,647 page views).