Top 25 Report: Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (August 10 to 16, 2014)

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Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero: This week's list is dominated by the death of Robin Williams (#1), the famous and unique American comedian and actor. Over 9 million views in a week, an extremely high number. No less than 5 of the Top 10 articles this week are related to Williams, and 8 of the Top 25. On August 12, when his death was announced, the article had just over 6.5 million views in one day. As far as the Report is aware, the only death to ever exceed that one day total to date has been Steve Jobs on 6 October 2011, with 7.3 million views. And though you can't rely only on Wikipedia view counts as a measure of popularity, Williams' one day total also exceeds those of Whitney Houston (12 Feb 2012 with 5.97 million) and Michael Jackson (26 Jun 2009, 5.88 million).

Perhaps more importantly, it should be noted that Wikipedia view counts surely have far less correlation with one's happiness. Did Williams know how universally he was loved? Does it matter? Williams was reportedly suffering from severe depression prior to his death of asphyxia (#3), and had recently been diagnosed with early stage Parkinson's disease (#26). A tribute to Williams will be presented at the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards on August 25, no doubt the first of many. In the 1989 film Dead Poet's Society (#14), Williams' character's insistence that his students "carpe diem" (seize the day) is something worth keeping in mind. As Horace originally popularized the phrase in 23 BC: "carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero", or "seize the day, trusting as little as possible in the next." This also translates as YOLO in 2014, but the Latin sounds much cooler.

As prepared by Milowent, for the week of August 10 to 16 2014, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the 5,000 most viewed pages, were:

Rank	Article	Class	Views	Notes
1	Robin Williams		9,164,280	The unexpected death by suicide of this iconic comic on August 11 led to worldwide tributes. This article was viewed over 9 million times this week, which is a phenomenal number - the most viewed article of the week is more normally in the range of 1 to 2 million views.
2	Robin Williams filmography		1,282,620	Williams' death also led to many remembrances of his popular performances, including his performance as a therapist in Good Will Hunting (1997) which won him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, as an inspiring teacher in Dead Poets Society (1989), and even his turn in the lead role in 1980's Popeye.
3	Asphyxia		1,263,006	Unfortunately this article comes in at #3, as the cause of death of Robin Williams. The vast majority of these views came on August 12, when news of his death spread. A few attempts by inexperienced editors to add specific mention of Williams in the article were quickly reverted. These readers would be well served to note the extensive categories we have regarding cause of death. Williams has already been addded to Category:Comedians who committed suicide, and will likely soon be added to Category:Suicides by asphyxiation.
4	Lauren Bacall		1,205,937	This popular and sultry American actress, best known for her movie performances in the 1940s and 1950s, and as the leading lady to Humphrey Bogart (whom she married in 1945), passed on August 12. As her New York Times obituary remarked, her "lasting mystique put her on a plateau in American culture that few stars reach."
5	Zelda Williams		968,075	The daughter of Robin Williams and Marsha Garces, Zelda was made the subject of abuse by trolls on Twitter sending her Photoshopped images of her father's body among other evil missives, and then decided to take a break from (anti)social media. Before she left, she shared a post on tumblr that noted: "While I'll never, ever understand how he could be loved so deeply and not find it in his heart to stay, there's minor comfort in knowing our grief and loss, in some small way, is shared with millions."
6	Ebola virus disease		883,656	Down from #1 last week, this remains a highly sought after topic. See also 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak
7	Yazidi		638,533	This fascinating ethno-religious group, neither Christian, Muslim nor Jew, but a separate branch of the Abrahamic tree that blends monotheism with Zoroastrianism and the religions of ancient Mesopotamia, have gained worldwide attention at a moment of particular peril, as they face expulsion from their ancient home in Iraq at the brutal hands of the Islamic State.
8	Power Girl		634,358	Power Girl is a DC Comics heroine who has all the powers and abilities of Superman. This article enjoyed a burst of popularity on August 11 and 12, probably in advance of the August 13 release of Worlds' Finest issue number 26, which finally substituted the male fantasy version of Power Girl with someone a bit more 21st century; a hoodie-clad African American woman named Tanya Spears.
9	Guardians of the Galaxy (film)		581,679	Dropping from #2 to #9 this week, this 2014 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics series opened in the U.K. on 31 July and the United States on 1 August.
10	Marsha Garces		534,522	The former wife of Robin Williams, and the mother of Zelda (#5). On August 16, the article was moved to Marsha Garces Williams, which was a redirect at the time and garnered almost 90 thousand views itself on August 12. If we added those to the view count totals, #9 and #10 would switch places.
11	Deaths in 2014		468,794	The list of deaths in the current year is always a popular article.
12	Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant		450,038	This almost absurdly brutal jihadist group, which proudly posts mass executions it carries out on Twitter, has been disowned even by al-Qaeda. Nonetheless it has managed to carve out a "caliphate" for itself currently about the size of Pennsylvania from what is supposed to be Iraq and Syria. Until now it has met with remarkably little opposition, but now the US is stepping in with airstrikes to help the overburdened Kurds.
13	Great Seal bug	Unassessed	433,654	This Soviet listening device, also known simply as "the Thing" and designed by, of all people, Leon Theremin, was hidden inside a replica of the Great Seal of the United States and presented to a US ambassador by a group of schoolchildren in 1945. It remained in his office for 7 years before it was finally discovered, as noted in a Reddit thread this week.
14	War Machine (mixed martial artist)		419,807	This mixed martial artist has had some recent run-ins with the law over the years, and a bunch this month. He was arrested in California on August 15.
15	Dead Poets Society		400,526	This 1989 American movie starred Robin Williams in one of his most-loved roles, as 1950s English teacher John Keating, who inspires his students through poetry. Keating's insistence that his students "carpe diem" (seize the day) is something worth keeping in mind.
16	Mork & Mindy		395,020	Robin Williams' first significant television role was as the alien "Mork" from the planet "Ork" on this 1978-82 sitcom, with a signature greeting of "Na-Nu Na-Nu." Mork was a spin-off character from the 50s themed sitcom Happy Days. A pleasant enough show of its period, it was the third most popular show in the United States in its debut season of 1978-79.
17	Independence Day (India)		395,020	The annual holiday was observed on August 15 in India.
18	Christy Mack		369,294	Dating someone named "War Machine" (#14) is probably a bad idea. Mack, a pornographic actress, was reportedly assaulted by the Machine on August 8, prior to his arrest on August 15.
19	Ariana Grande		366,998	This popular singer is slated to release her second album, My Everything on August 25.
20	Humphrey Bogart		359,681	The death of Lauren Bacall (#4) led to increased interest in her former acting partner and husband, an iconic actor who died in 1957.
21	Perseids		351,466	The peak of this annual meteor shower was between 9 and 14 August this year.
22	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014 film)		343,961	This 2014 American science fiction film, released in the United States on August 8, continues on the list. The sequel will no doubt appear on this list in June 2016.
23	Good Will Hunting		336,436	Another of Williams' famous roles was in this 1997 drama.
24	Maryam Mirzakhani		329,101	This Iranian mathematician and a professor at Stanford University was awarded a Fields Medal, which has been described as the Nobel Prize for mathematicians, though it can only be awarded to those not over age 40. Mirzakhani was the first female and first Iranian to receive this honor. The award's committee specifically cited her work in understanding the symmetry of curved surfaces.
25	Facebook		327,560	A perennially popular article.

Exclusions

This list excludes the Wikipedia main page, non-article pages (such as redlinks), and anomalous entries (such as DDoS attacks or likely automated views). Please keep in mind that the explanations given for these articles' popularity are, fundamentally, educated guesses. Just because one can't find a reason for an article to be included doesn't mean there isn't one; conversely, just because a plausible reason is found for a view spike, that doesn't mean it wasn't due to a bot.
There are a number of articles that reappear frequently in the raw top 25 for no determined reason, and have been excluded as likely being due to automated views. Please feel free to discuss any removal on the talk page if you wish.

Malware. A frequent exclusion.
Java. Currently under some bot-fuelled spike not seen on other language wikipedias. This is our article on the island, though one might guess the non-human views have something to do with the programming language.
Alive/Alive!: Links to disambigs with no apparent reason for being.
Undefined. A common error message in computing, these are automated visits by a buggy computer program.
English alphabet and Alphabet. No legitimate reason for recent rise in views, which have continued a few weeks.