There’s a new way to plunge into Wikpiedia’s information rabbit hole. WikiStats is a new site that tracks Wikipedia’s most-active pages, so you can watch the encyclopedia build in real time.
WikiStats measures each article’s popularity with an algorithm that looks at edits, unique users, and the number of lines added or removed from a story. What’s most interesting about the list is that the top entries are either current events, like the Euro 2012 soccer championships, or mind-numbingly dull, like the North Albion Collegiate Institute.
That reflects a broader problem on Wikipedia: The site is running out of articles to write.
As Justin Knapp, the first person to reach one million edits on Wikipedia, told the Daily Dot in April:
“If you are interested in a topic and you want to come to Wikipedia to contribute, you will probably find that it’s been covered already. With almost four million articles in English alone, a lot of ground has been covered.”
But while World War II may not really be open for new edits, the Big Rivers high school football Conference in Illinois is just hankering for greater elucidation. (It currently sits at number three on the list).
Here are the top 10 most active stories on Wikipedia right now, according to WikiStats.
1) UEFA Euro 2012 knockout stage 31 edits
The knockout round for Europe’s soccer championship .
2) SummerSlam (2012) 38 edits
A pay-per-view WWE wrestling event.
3) Big Rivers Conference (Illinois) 85 edits
A high school football conference.
4) István Vad 19 edits
A Hungarian soccer referee whose controversial non-call in England’s game versus Ukraine June 19 cost the latter a game-tying goal.
5) WWE ’13 21 edits
A professional wrestling videogame.
6) Makhdoom Shahabuddin 32 edits
A Palestinian politician appointed June 19 as the Pakistan Peoples Party presidential candidate.
7) NeverSeconds 25 edits
A blog where a 9-year-old girl in Scotland writes about her school’s unhealthy lunches. The local council temporarily banned her from taking photos last week, which brought her blog international attention.
8) Mohamed Diamé 19 edits
A Senagelese soccer who player who penned a new contract with English club West Ham United earlier today.
9) MasterChef (US season 3) 27 edits
The Fox cooking show starring Gordon Ramsay.
10) North Albion Collegiate Institute 15 edits
A high school in Etobicoke, Canada.
Photo via Wikimedia
