June’s headlines featured this year’s Locus, Nebula, and Bram Stoker awards winners. They all made the Top 10, however, the most widely-read post was a Pixel Scroll reporting widespread criticism of kt literary agent Hilary Harwell, who tweeted a book idea and invited anyone else to write it instead of the person who pitched it to her. Harwell ended up deleting her X.com account and by the next day the kt literary agency announced they had parted ways with the agent.

The Top 10 also included two sets of proposals to change the WSFS Constitution, one eliminating the Retro Hugos, and the other to formalize the licensing of the Worldcon service marks in a written agreement.

Here are the ten most-read stories of June 2024 according to dread Jetpack.

1. Pixel Scroll 6/23/24 Raise High The Shadow Squares, RingWorld Carpenters
2. 2024 Locus Awards Winners
3. Barkley — So Glad You (Didn’t) Ask #88, A Column of Unsolicited Opinions
4. 2023 Bram Stoker Awards
5. Motion to Abolish the Retro Hugos Submitted to 2024 Business Meeting
6. Pixel Scroll 6/24/24 Doctor Who and the Scrolls of Pixeldon
7. SFWA Announces the 59th Nebula Awards Winners
8. WSFS Mark Protection Committee Draft Amendments
9. Pixel Scroll 6/25/24 Everybody Must Get Scrolled
10. Pixel Scroll 6/5/24 Call Any Pixel, Call It By Name

[Cartoon by Teddy Harvia.]

Last month’s most-read post was Ersatz Culture’s report revealing that “The local government of the area where the 2023 Chengdu Worldcon took place has published a 10-year plan, which — amongst other things — indicates an intention to bid to hold the Worldcon again, within the next five years.”

Another noteworthy story took less than two days to reach #4 on the list — the news about the Romance Writers of America’s bankruptcy filing – which had an assist from links in a Publishers Weekly article.

Here are the ten most-read stories of May 2024 according to dread Jetpack.

• The Pidu District of Chengdu Announces a 10-Year Science Fiction Plan
• Pixel Scroll 5/8/24 Ansible And Grendel
• Pixel Scroll 5/6/24 You Saved The Ringworld Old Wu, Louis
• Romance Writers of America Files Bankruptcy
• Pixel Scroll 5/12/24 With A Sprinkle Of Pixel Dust, You Can File Like A Bird
• Spector Creative Toy Controversy
• Pixel Scroll 5/3/24 Shhhh, I’m Hunting Pixels
• Do You Want To Own the First Hugo Award Ever Given?
• Pixel Scroll 5/23/24 Shhhh. The Pixels Are Sleeping, Let’s Not Disturb Them
• Pixel Scroll 5/27/24 Pixel Yourself On A Scroll By A Tickbox

Two stories that came out of the UK Eastercon at the end of March had enough momentum to top April’s leader board. The first, about a security decision at Eastercon, drew over a hundred comments, which is why it had almost twice as many hits as the second most popular story, the announcement of the 2024 Hugo finalists (made at Eastercon).

Here are the ten most-read stories of April 2024 according to dread Jetpack.

1. Person Refused Membership by UK Eastercon and Escorted Out by Security
2. 2024 Hugo Finalists
3. Pixel Scroll 4/1/24 You Can Fool Some Of The People Some Of The Time, But You Can Scroll All Of The People All Of The Time
4. Pixel Scroll 4/6/24 On (Eclipse) Monday, Smart Electronic Sheep Won’t Look Up
5. Pixel Scroll 4/9/24 Ebenezer Scroll! Tonight You Will Be Visited By Five Pixels (Three, My Lord!)
6. Pixel Scroll 4/3/24 Go, Strider! In The Sky
7. The 2023 Hugo Awards: A Report on Censorship and Exclusion
8. Pixel Scroll 4/8/24 Everyone I Know Is A Hoopy Scroll, Who Know Where Their Pixel Is
9. Pixel Scroll 4/15/24 No, cats do not have magical powers. Really they don’t. Would they lie?
10. Pixel Scroll 4/7/24 Pixels En Scrollgalia

SCROLL-FREE TOP 10

1. Person Refused Membership by UK Eastercon and Escorted Out by Security
2. 2024 Hugo Finalists
3. The 2023 Hugo Awards: A Report on Censorship and Exclusion
4. Glasgow 2024 Hugo Awards Subcommittee Explained
5. Michaele Jordan Review: The Trilogy of the Ninths
6. Barkley — So Glad You (Didn’t) Ask #85
7. 2023 Hugo Finalists
8. Michaele Jordan Review: Babel
9. Vernor Vinge (1944-2024)
10. Authors Dropping from New Demons Anthology

Vernor Vinge died this month and was widely mourned — eloquently, too, by David Brin whose tribute is excerpted in File 770’s coverage, a post that went viral.

Even the announcement of the Hugo finalists, always a news item of great interest, could only command second place.

Here are the ten most-read stories of March 2024 according to dread Jetpack.

1. Vernor Vinge (1944-2024)
2. 2024 Hugo Finalists
3. Person Refused Membership by UK Eastercon and Escorted Out by Security
4. Authors Dropping from New Demons Anthology
5. The 2023 Hugo Awards: A Report on Censorship and Exclusion
6. Pixel Scroll 3/1/24 Does Your Pixel Scroll Lose Its Flavor On The Bedpost Overnight?
7. Proposal: that there should be a permanent Hugo Tech Working Group. Guest Post by Doctor Science
8. Murderbot and Me: A Guest Post by Robin Anne Reid
9. Pixel Scroll 3/14/24 I Am The Go-Captain Of The Pixelfore
10. What Did You Nominate For The 2024 Hugo Awards?

Were there stories in February’s Top 10 that didn’t have anything to do with the Hugo Awards? If you said yes – YOU WON! Somehow the “2024 Saturn Award Winners” made the list. That was the only one.

Chris M. Barkley and Jason Sanford’s “The 2023 Hugo Awards: A Report on Censorship and Exclusion” went viral, of course, linked by the mainstream media outlets including NBC News and the New York Times, and generated hundreds of comments of discussion here. The report holds the record as the second most-read post on File 770 and is on pace to overtake number one — “Greg Bear (1951-2022)” – within a couple weeks.

The story about Adrian Tchaikovsky saying he will no longer cite himself as a 2023 Hugo winner gained its large number of readers in a bit different way. Google started returning that at the top of the list for certain searches, even above the author’s own announcement. This doesn’t usually happen with File 770 stories — our SEO skills are still stuck in the Neolithic.

One final bit of trivia. Last month was the first time ever that not a single Pixel Scroll made the Top 10. Ordinarily the daily roundups fill a majority of the slots, and I often run a “Scroll-Free” supplementary list. Didn’t need to do that this month.

Here are the ten most-read stories for February 2024 according to dread Jetpack.

1. The 2023 Hugo Awards: A Report on Censorship and Exclusion  
2. Adrian Tchaikovsky Will No Longer Cite His 2023 Hugo
3. Barkley — So Glad You (Didn’t) Ask #81
4. Worldcon Intellectual Property Announces Censure of McCarty, Chen Shi and Yalow; McCarty Resigns; Eastlake Succeeds Standlee as Chair of B.O.D.
5. Diane Lacey’s Letter About the 2023 Hugos
6. Cheryl Morgan, Dave McCarty Resign from WSFS’ Hugo Award Marketing Committee
7. Glasgow 2024 Announces Kat Jones Resignation as Hugo Administrator
8. 2024 Saturn Awards Winners
9. Charting the Cliff: An Investigation Into the 2023 Hugo Nomination Statistics by Camestros Felapton and Heather Rose Jones
10. 2023 Hugo Awards-related Statement by Kat Jones

There weren’t many Top 10 stories in January that didn’t have something to do with the Chengdu Worldcon Hugo controversy. In fact, there were so many of those a big Chuck Tingle story that started off the month almost got pushed off the list. But not quite.

The 2023 Hugo nomination voting statistics were finally released on January 20 revealing four people’s work had been ruled ineligible without an explanation. Hugo Administrator Dave McCarty, who had worked with a team that included several Chinese members, insisted he could only provide the limited (and unilluminating) official statement they had agreed upon, and his manner of saying so inflamed those asking for more. The controversy expanded as people who analyzed the report’s statistics found they were problematic because the EPH calculations often could not be reconciled. Statements by Kevin Standlee, then chair of Worldcon Intellectual Property, Inc., that the Hugo service mark-holder had no recourse against the 2023 Worldcon committee fueled discussion by social media lawyers about the continuing validity of the marks. Those worries are believed behind the disciplinary measures announced by W.I.P. two days ago.  

Here are the ten most-read stories for January 2024 according to dread Jetpack.

1. 2023 Hugo Nomination Report Has Unexplained Ineligibility Rulings; Also Reveals Who Declined
2. Chengdu Hugo Administrator Dave McCarty Fields Questions on Facebook
3. Chengdu Worldcon Releases 2023 Hugo Nomination Statistics
4. Worldcon Intellectual Property Announces Censure of McCarty, Chen Shi and Yalow; McCarty Resigns; Eastlake Succeeds Standlee as Chair of B.O.D.
5. Barkley — So Glad You (Didn’t) Ask #80
6. Hugo Controversy Hits Mainstream News; A Chengdu Vice-Chair Comments in Social Media
7. Court Exhibit Names Artists Midjourney Scraped To Train Its AI; Includes Many Hugo Winners
8. Zimozi Natsuco Guest Post: The Hugo Awards’ Evil Fall is a Watered-Down Affair, and Certain Issues To Watch Out For
9. Pixel Scroll 1/22/24 Encounter at Fargo
10. Texas Library Association Cancels Chuck Tingle

Naturally the news about the Hugo finalist voting stats – one of File 770’s most-read posts of the year – was December’s number one post. Many wanted to see how the winners made it to the top.

On the other hand, sad news about the stabbing of Diana Paxson and her son was also a leading story. The assailant was arrested the next day and she told a local reporter they were “recovering well”.

Two Pixel Scrolls that featured updates about Cait Corrain, a debut author who was on Goodreads dropping one-star reviews on several others’ debut novels, also made the Top 10.

Here is what Jetpack tells us are the top 10 posts of December 2023. (And if you can’t trust Jetpack – eh, don’t answer that.)

1. 2023 Hugo Finalist Voting Statistics Posted
2. Author Diana Paxson Attacked At Home
3. Pixel Scroll 12/11/23 Pixelmancer
4. Inside the 2023 Hugo Finalist Voting Statistics
5. Marilyn “Fuzzy Pink” Niven (1940-2023)
6. Pixel Scroll 12/13/23 Pixeltar: The Fifth Scrollbender
7. Pixel Scroll 12/24/23 I’ve Got 99 Pixels But The Scroll Ain’t Fifth
8. Sinatra: All The Way
9. Pixel Scroll 12/12/23 Dancing With Pixels In Our Scrolls
10. Pixel Scroll 12/7/23 Warm Smell Of Scrollitas Rising Up Through The Air

When Dann asked, “Omitting collected works, who are the top 5 authors in your library by number of books on your shelves?” a lot of Filers wanted to play along, which made the November 12 Scroll the most popular post of the month.  

And the leading non-Scroll post was Steve Vertlieb’s short report on attending The JFK Assassination at 60 symposium, which stirred many memories.

Here are the ten most widely-read posts of November 2023 according to dreaded Jetpack.

1. Pixel Scroll 11/12/23 Baby Pixels Are Ever So Adorable Wrapped In Their Scrolls While Being Loved By Filers One And All
2. Pixel Scroll 11/15/23 File The Pixels You Scroll With Your Scrolls
3. Pixel Scroll 11/7/23 Pixel Scrollightly Seems Like A Good Character Name
4. Pixel Scroll 11/14/23 Give Me Forty Pixels And I’ll Scroll This Rig Around
5. Pixel Scroll 11/26/23 Three Little Muah’Dib’s From Dune Are We
6. Pixel Scroll 11/27/23 What’s In The Daily Scroll? I’ll Tell You What’s In The Daily Scroll — An Item About A Credential Who Didn’t Pay Their Air-And-Gravity Dues And Now Has Got Those Vacuum Blues
7. Pixel Scroll 11/4/23 Pixels Of The Night, From Pixelated Pixelvania
8. Pixel Scroll 11/21/23 I Spent A Year Pixeled For Scroll Purposes
9. Pixel Scroll 11/9/23 If You Tape Bacon To A Pixel Scroll Does It Always Fall Bacon Side Down?
10. Pixel Scroll 11/2/23 Three Files, Three Scrolls, Three Thousand Pixels

SCROLL-FREE TOP 10

1. The JFK Assassination At 60: New Frontiers In Scientific, Medical, Legal And Historical Research
2. James Bacon on Dublin Riot
3. My Most Memorable Moment at the Chengdu Worldcon
4. Sergey Lukyanenko Says He Will Visit Chengdu in December
5. British Library Exhibition: Fantasy: Realms of Imagination
6. Goodreads Choice Awards 2023 Opening Round Nominees
7. Remembering Fans Who Were Activists in Real World Politics and the Counter Culture
8. The Last Dangerous Visions Progress Report
9. 2023 Hugo Award Winners
10. A File 770 Chengdu Worldcon Special: Jody Lynn Nye and Chris M. Barkley In Conversation – The “Ask A US Fan” Panel