Seattle Worldcon 2025’s use of ChatGPT as part of the screening process for program participants was publicly acknowledged by Chair Kathy Bond at the end of April. Bond initially defended the decision as saving volunteers time but rocked by the universally negative response turned around and issued an apology. Bond and program division head SunnyJim Morgan followed up with detailed information about the way ChatGPT had been used to search for background info, including any history of code of conduct issues. They did not seem to have recognized ahead of time that the community of writers they hope to attract to the program harbor immense hostility and resentment against AI and tools like ChatGPT which have been trained on vast libraries of text used without compensation to authors, and have the business goal of competing with or replacing writers in various markets.

Since then, author Mia Tsai has protested the Worldcon’s use of ChatGPT by organizing a one-day alternative program to be held in a nearby venue.

While this controversy played out, the Seattle Worldcon Hugo Administrators and WSFS Division Head quit, and the committee cancelled the first of two Town Halls meant to educate people about how the virtual business meeting will work.

Here are the most widely-read posts from May 2025 according to the eternally glitchy Jetpack.

• Seattle Worldcon 2025 ChatGPT Controversy Roundup
• Seattle Worldcon 2025 Hugo Administrators and WSFS Division Head Resign
• Responding to Controversy, Seattle Worldcon Defends Using ChatGPT to Vet Program Participants
• Seattle Worldcon 2025 Tells How ChatGPT Was Used in Panelist Selection Process
• Op-Ed: About Choosing Convention Program Participants
• Seattle 2025 Chair Apologizes for Use of ChatGPT to Vet Program Participants
• Mia Tsai Announces ConCurrent Seattle as Alternative Program to 2025 Worldcon
• Seattle Worldcon 2025 Cancels WSFS Business Meeting Town Hall 1
• Pixel Scroll 5/7/25 The Compleat Pixeller In Scroll
• Seattle Worldcon 2025 Chair Delivers Update About Panelist Vetting

Gary Westfahl’s op-ed calling for an end of Worldcons in the United States eclipsed even the perennial top-drawing Hugo finalists announcement. Westfahl’s post was helped to the top spot by over 100 comments.

1. Op-Ed: “No More Worldcons in the United States?”
2. Seattle Worldcon 2025 Hugo Award Finalists
3. Adrian Tchaikovsky Tells Reason for BSFA Best Novel Withdrawal
4. Barkley — So Glad You (Didn’t) Ask #96, A Column of Unsolicited Opinions
5. 2025 Hugo Finalists – Where to Read Complete Works or Samples for Free
6. Gaiman Seeks $500K from Sex Assault Accuser for Breaking NDA
7. Pixel Scroll 4/17/25 The Scrolled Equations
8. Op-Ed: Solidarity Not Divisiveness
9. Pixel Scroll 4/12/25 Hey, Scroll. Take A Walk On The Filed Side
10. Pixel Scroll 4/10/25 We Are The Pixel Scroll Preservation Society

SCROLL-FREE TOP 10

1. Op-Ed: “No More Worldcons in the United States?”
2. Seattle Worldcon 2025 Hugo Award Finalists
3. Adrian Tchaikovsky Tells Reason for BSFA Best Novel Withdrawal
4. Barkley — So Glad You (Didn’t) Ask #96, A Column of Unsolicited Opinions
5. 2025 Hugo Finalists – Where to Read Complete Works or Samples for Free
6. Gaiman Seeks $500K from Sex Assault Accuser for Breaking NDA
7. Op-Ed: Solidarity Not Divisiveness
8. BSFA Awards 2024
9. What’s In The 2025 Hugo Voter Packet?
10. Responding to Controversy, Seattle Worldcon Defends Using ChatGPT to Vet Program Participants

File 770 happened to get in front of the field for once in posting the BSFA Awards finalists and was met by an audience looking for that news. So that became the most-read post of the month.

The second highest hit count was produced by Chris Barkley’s revelation that he has taken the 2023 Hugo Administrator to small claims court in his latest attempt to get him to turn over the award Chris won in Chengdu.

Here are the most widely-read posts from March 2025 according to the eternally glitchy Jetpack. (And thanks to Teddy Harvia for his vote of confidence.)

1. BSFA Awards 2024 Shortlist
2. Chris Barkley Pursues His 2023 Hugo Trophy in a Small Claims Court Action Against Dave McCarty
3. Pixel Scroll 3/18/25 Soylent Green And Spam: I Would Not Like It In A Pixel, I Would Not Like It Fried With Schnitzel
4. Pixel Scroll 3/4/25 I’ve Grown Accustomed To Their Scroll
5. Pixel Scroll 3/23/25 Sometimes, Scrolls Just… Break, Their Pixels Spraying Everywhere, Like Beads In A Bottle, Just More Cluesome
6. Pixel Scroll 3/20/25 One Ordinary Scroll With Pixels
7. Pixel Scroll 3/21/25 Listen: There’s A Hell Of A Good Scroll Next Door; Let’s Go
8. Pixel Scroll 3/22/25 Inside Of The Internet No One Can Prove You Aren’t A Robot Dog
9. Pixel Scroll 3/5/25 When You’re In Love With A Scrollable Pixel It’s Hard
10. Pixel Scroll 3/29/25 Ya Scroll Sixteen Files And What Do Ya Get? A Pixel-Day Older And Deeper In Debt

SCROLL-FREE TOP 10

1. BSFA Awards 2024 Shortlist
2. Chris Barkley Pursues His 2023 Hugo Trophy in a Small Claims Court Action Against Dave McCarty
3. SFWA Announces the 60th Nebula Awards Finalists
4. Remembering Gene Hackman
5. Nominations Are Open for the 2025 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction
6. 2025 Recommended SF/F Page & Links to Prior Years
7. Merian C. Cooper: A King And A God In The World He Knew
8. Judge Decides Against Internet Archive
9. 2025 Academy Awards
10. Hugo Nominations Close 3/14

Less than 24 hours after The Self-Published Science Fiction Competition announced its new “SPSFC Code of Conduct” the SPSFC management announced they were removing a writer named Devon Eriksen from the contest for violating the CoC. That was the lead item in the February 4 Scroll and elicited enough comments to make this the top post in February.

File 770 was also caught up in the industry-wide discussion about whether to dispense with book blurbs, as one publisher proposes, making the February 7 Scroll the second most-read post of the month.

Here are the most widely-read posts from February 2025 according to the ever-mercurial Jetpack.

1. Pixel Scroll 2/4/25 Cause We Are Materializing In A Living World (From The Soundtrack To “Kirk and Spock Beam To Ego The Living Planet”[1])
2. Pixel Scroll 2/7/25 It’s Only A Pixel Scroll, Filing Over A Mimeo Sea
3. Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer Sued Over Rape and Human Trafficking Allegations
4. 2024 Bram Stoker Awards Final Ballot Released
5. Pixel Scroll 2/10/25 The Filer Who Sold Another Moon-Based Title
6. New Ownership for Asimov’s, Analog and F&SF
7. Pixel Scroll 2/27/25 All These Pixels Are Yours, Except Scrollropa. Attempt No Filing There
8. Toy Review: McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse Cyborg: Teen Titans
9. Pixel Scroll 2/8/25 God Had Names For All The Pixels. No One Else Knows Them
10. Pixel Scroll 2/23/25 Where Did The First Pixels Come From?

SCROLL-FREE TOP 10

1. Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer Sued Over Rape and Human Trafficking Allegations
2. 2024 Bram Stoker Awards Final Ballot Released
3. New Ownership for Asimov’s, Analog and F&SF
4. Toy Review: McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse Cyborg: Teen Titans
5. 2025 Worldcon Picks Virtual Business Meeting Platform
6. 2025 Hugo Nominations Open
7. Tony Lewis (1941-2025)
8. Randall Brunk (1955-2014)
9. Mark R. Leeper (1950-2025)
10. Alex Ross Continues His Popular Timeless Variant Cover Program

Cat Eldridge’s review of a toy appears high on Google searches about that toy, which seems to be why his November post continues to enjoy surges of attention. Or maybe internet bots just love it. Those are my two best guesses. What’s yours?

Also widely-read was a post reporting Neil Gaiman’s denial of sexual assault allegations against him, his first public comments on the topic since women began coming forward last July.

Here are the most widely-read posts from January 2025 according to Jetpack.

1. Toy Review: McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse Cyborg: Teen Titans
2. Pixel Scroll 1/13/25 Why Yes, We Are (At Least In Part) Stardust
3. Neil Gaiman Responds to Sex Assault Allegations
4. Pixel Scroll 1/14/25 Leave The Pixel. Take The Scroll.
5. Pixel Scroll 1/16/25 Let’s Read Our TBR Piles, And Travel Mental Gigamiles
6. Pixel Scroll 1/26/25 Pixels To The Left, Filers To The Right, I’m Stuck In The Middle With This Scroll
7. Pixel Scroll 1/12/25 Make Sure There’s No Pixelite Nearby
8. Pixel Scroll 1/21/25 Shattered Like A Glass Scroll
9. Pixel Scroll 1/25/25 ‘Twas Pixel, And The Scrolly Toves
10. Pixel Scroll 1/5/25 Files Are A Burden To Others; Answers, A Pixel For Oneself

SCROLL-FREE TOP 10

1. Toy Review: McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse Cyborg: Teen Titans
2. Neil Gaiman Responds to Sex Assault Allegations
3. Barkley — So Glad You (Didn’t) Ask #93, A Column of Unsolicited Opinions
4. Steve Vertlieb Review: Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu
5. File 770 Readers Recommendations for 2024 Works
6. What’s Your Favorite Tolkien?
7. Canadian Unity Fan Fund Administrator Says He’s Giving Up
8. 2025 Recommended SF/F List
9. Official from Henan Province Moots a Chinese Worldcon Bid
10. Jul Owings Passes Away

The Seattle 2025 Worldcon committee’s unilateral decision to radically change how the annual Business Meeting is run – taking it online, and scheduling the sessions in advance of the convention – generated the most-read post of the month of December.

Two other top stories about Worldcon bids came out of Smofcon, held the first week of the month. The ConKigali 2028 bid for Rwanda shared an update. And the Tel Aviv, Israel bid is no longer for 2027, but for a later year as yet to be selected.

Here are the most widely-read posts from December 2024 according to Jetpack.

1. Seattle Worldcon 2025 Announces Virtual Business Meetings Will Replace At-Con Meeting
2. ConKigali 2028 Bid to Hold Worldcon in Africa Sends Update
3. Pixel Scroll 12/8/24 If I Were King Of Thesaurus
4. Pixel Scroll 12/22/24 Ding Dong, The Pixel’s Read
5. Pixel Scroll 12/19/24 Credentially Centigrade
6. Pixel Scroll 12/14/24 They Say It’s Only A Paper Shadow Square
7. Pixel Scroll 12/24/24 Pixel Impossible Things Before Breakfast?
8. Pixel Scroll 12/20/24 How Much Is That Shoggoth In The Attic? The One With The Horrifying Tale
9. Pixel Scroll 12/7/24 Get Your Scrolls Here, Just A Pixel Each
10. Tel Aviv Worldcon Bid Will Shift from 2027 to Later Year

SCROLL-FREE TOP 10

1. Seattle Worldcon 2025 Announces Virtual Business Meetings Will Replace At-Con Meeting
2. ConKigali 2028 Bid to Hold Worldcon in Africa Sends Update
3. Tel Aviv Worldcon Bid Will Shift from 2027 to Later Year
4. Bidders for Future Worldcons and Smofcons Heard from in Smofcon 41 Q&A Session
5. Farewell, Dear Lady — Es Cole (1924-2024)
6. España Sheriff Wins 2024 Rotsler Award
7. Two Accusations Against Ekpeki Disproved
8. Goodreads Choice Awards 2024 Final Round Nominees
9. Goodreads Choice Awards 2024 Winners
10. Linda Bushyager (1947-2024)

In last month’s most-read post, File 770 was able to establish that two of the major accusations Erin Cairns levied against Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki in a report that circulated widely, including here, were unjustified.

But a mystery File 770 has yet to solve is – what is the source of all the hits on Cat Eldridge’s toy review? We’d like to know! (Before they “improved” Google Analytics this sort of thing used to be easy for me to find out.)

Here are the most widely-read posts from November 2024 according to dread Jetpack.

1. Two Accusations Against Ekpeki Disproved
2. Toy Review: McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse Cyborg: Teen Titans
3. Samantha Harvey’s Orbital and Goodreads Review Bombing/Locking
4. Author Erin Cairns Charges Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki with “Unethical Practices”
5. Pixel Scroll 11/27/24 The Scrollcycle Of Software Pixels
6. Pixel Scroll 11/6/24 Scroll Low, Sweet Chariot, Coming For To Pixel Me Home
7. Pixel Scroll 11/11/24 It’s The Grand Scroll-rade Of File-less Pixeling
8. Pixel Scroll 11/5/24 Be Our Ghost, Raise Your Pixels In A Toast
9. Pixel Scroll 11/16/24 Beelzebub Has A Pixel Put Aside For Me, For Me, For Me
10. Pixel Scroll 11/10/24 A Pixel A Day Keeps The Doctor Away. But Who Wants That?

SCROLL-FREE TOP 10

1. Two Accusations Against Ekpeki Disproved
2. Toy Review: McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse Cyborg: Teen Titans
3. Samantha Harvey’s Orbital and Goodreads Review Bombing/Locking
4. Author Erin Cairns Charges Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki with “Unethical Practices”
5. Beneath the Cape: The Life of Bela Lugosi
6. Something “Wicked” This Way Comes!
7. Jon Del Arroz Banned by Kickstarter
8. SFWA Approves New Poetry, Comics Nebula Awards
9. Goodreads Choice Awards 2024 Opening Round Nominees
10. Edmonton in 2030 Worldcon Bid Website Is Live

Allegations that award-winning Nigerian author Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki engaged in “unethical practices” headlined October’s most-read post, and were behind two other Top 10 stories, including SFWA’s announcement that they have removed him from their Board of Directors.

The second most popular article last month was of a very different kind, RB Thornton’s discussion of Literary Fantasy, which went viral.

The Top 10 also featured the latest about two frequent newsmakers: the fate of Good Omens following the departure of Neil Gaiman (facing numerous sexual assault allegations); and yet another platform banning Jon Del Arroz (Kickstarter this time).

Here are File 770’s ten most-read stories from October 2024 according to dread Jetpack.

1. Author Erin Cairns Charges Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki with “Unethical Practices”
2. Pursuing the Ghost of Literary Fantasy
3. Neil Gaiman Exits Good Omens, Final Season Reduced to Single Episode
4. Ekpeki Removed as SFWA Board Director-at-Large
5. Pixel Scroll 10/27/24 I Do Want To Pixel It, Just To Ride With Mr. Mxyxptlk
6. Jon Del Arroz Banned by Kickstarter
7. Pixel Scroll 10/24/24 The Scroll On The Edge of Pixelver
8. Pixel Scroll 10/13/24 Pixels, Hardworking And Honest, Need The Support Of Their Scrolls
9. African Speculative Fiction Society Issues Statement on Member Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki
10. Pixel Scroll 10/28/24 John Pixel Is Dead, He Scrolled On His Head

SCROLL-FREE TOP 10

1. Author Erin Cairns Charges Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki with “Unethical Practices”
2. Pursuing the Ghost of Literary Fantasy
3. Neil Gaiman Exits Good Omens, Final Season Reduced to Single Episode
4. Ekpeki Removed as SFWA Board Director-at-Large
5. Jon Del Arroz Banned by Kickstarter
6. African Speculative Fiction Society Issues Statement on Member Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki
7. Yao Haijun, Three-Body Problem Editor and Double Hugo Finalist, Under Investigation in China
8. Draft AI Policy Roils Horror Writers Association
9. 2024 World Fantasy Awards
10. Herrmann and Hitchcock: The Torn Curtain

More people wanted to know about the 2024 Dragon Awards winners than anything else File 770 reported in September. Second to that, they wanted to learn why we were asking them not to eat the vacuum flowers.

That’s when people could get in to read anything at all, the site having spent a week under attack. And the elevated security that kept the doors to the internet open required people to “prove you are human”, which really cut down on our traffic from places like Vulcan.

Fortunately, things are back to normal now.

Here are File 770’s ten most-read stories from September 2024 according to dread Jetpack.

1. 2024 Dragon Awards Winners
2. Pixel Scroll 9/12/24 Please Don’t Eat The Vacuum Flowers
3. Pixel Scroll 9/2/24 Fifth Scrollboard Outside Pixel, California
4. Pixel Scroll 9/9/24 A Strange Pixel. The Only Winning Move Is Not To Scroll
5. Pixel Scroll 9/17/24 The Scroll On The Edge of Pixelever
6. Pixel Scroll 9/5/24 The Good, The Bad And The Igli
7. Text of Glasgow 2024 Business Meeting’s Apology for 2023 Hugo Awards
8. Pixel Scroll 9/15/24 Yes, You May Say Hi To My Therapy Theropod
9. Pixel Scroll 9/3/24 Nor Shall My Blog Sleep In My Hands, Till I Have Built Mount Tsundoku On My Bedroom’s Clean And Handy Nightstand
10. Pixel Scroll 9/7/24 You Are Like A Pixel Scroll, There’s Files In Your Skies

SCROLL-FREE TOP 10

1. 2024 Dragon Awards Winners
2. Text of Glasgow 2024 Business Meeting’s Apology for 2023 Hugo Awards
3. Solving the Fan vs. Pro Artist Conundrum — Cut the Knot!
4. Booker Prize 2024 Shortlist
5. Internet Archive Loses “Fair Use” Appeal to Second Circuit
6. Dracula in the 1970s: Prints of Darkness
7. Celebrating Frank Capra’s “Wonderful Life,” And Ethereal “Lost Horizons”
8. Third Woman Accuses Neil Gaiman of Sexual Assault
9. 2024 Hugo Award Winners
10. Barkley — So Glad You (Didn’t) Ask #91, A Column of Unsolicited Opinions

The mainstream media picked up two File 770 news articles in August, recognizing the work we do here.

File 770’s announcement of the 2024 Hugo Award winners – destined to be August’s top post anyway; it’s the Hugos, right? — found its way to the front of the Google News site and ended up with ten times more readers than expected.

A week later, Publishers Weekly linked to our investigative piece “SFWA: In My House There Are Many Issues”, adding to the already strong interest in what’s troubling the sff field’s top professional organization.

These, then, are the ten most-read stories of August 2024 according to dread Jetpack.

1. 2024 Hugo Award Winners
2. SFWA: In My House There Are Many Issues
3. Mueller Resigns as Interim SFWA President; Eichenlaub Takes Office
4. Third Woman Accuses Neil Gaiman of Sexual Assault
5. What’s It All About: Alfies
6. Pixel Scroll 8/7/24 With A Purposeful Pixel And A Terrible Scroll  He Pulls The Spitting Godstalk Down
7. 2024 World Fantasy Awards Ballot and Life Achievement Awards 
8. Pixel Scroll 8/15/24 Have Spice Suit, Will Travel
9. Pixel Scroll 8/6/24 The Problem Of Scroll 13
10. Pixel Scroll 8/10/24 Mere Pixel Scroll Won’t Thrill Me At All

THE SCROLL-FREE TOP 10

1. 2024 Hugo Award Winners
2. SFWA: In My House There Are Many Issues
3. Mueller Resigns as Interim SFWA President; Eichenlaub Takes Office
4. Third Woman Accuses Neil Gaiman of Sexual Assault
5. What’s It All About: Alfies
6. 2024 World Fantasy Awards Ballot and Life Achievement Awards 
7. Taral Wayne (1951-2024)
8. Two More Women Accuse Gaiman of Sexual Misconduct in New Tortoise Podcast
9. British Fantasy Society Defends Committee Member’s BFA Nominations
10. Dragon Awards Acknowledge They Pulled Sanderson From Finalists Over AI Art