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.
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.
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.
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.)
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.
The announcement of the 2023 Hugo Award winners naturally attracted the most eyes last month, it always does.
Tammy Coxen’s post “If You Love The NASFiC, Set It Free” vaulted into second place because of the discussion it ignited about a sensitive topic – drawing over a hundred comments.
Here are the ten most widely-read posts of October 2023 according to dreaded Jetpack.
The Dragon Award winners post was the only news story to hold its head above the flood of Pixel Scrolls in September. However, Harlan Ellison news and the Big Book of Cyberpunk table of contents still drew many readers. And congratulations to Steve Vertlieb who wrote three articles that ranked in the “Scroll-Free Top 10”.
Here are the ten most widely-read posts of Septembert 2023 according to dreaded Jetpack.
Last month’s two top stories involved the Chengdu Worldcon’s announcement of this year’s Hugo finalists. The first list, posted prematurely and with some inaccuracies, was withdrawn and news outlets were asked to redact it. File 770’s post got almost 5,000 hits even though the list was gone — possibly another demonstration of Stephen King’s claim that when people see an orange cone by the side of the road they start looking for a body. The correct list was released a few days later and attracted twice as many hits, as it should have.
Absolutely deserving of mention as well is Steve Vertlieb’s article “The Twilight Zone: An Element of Time”, another top-rated post that discussed the beloved series.
Here are the ten most widely-read posts of July 2023 according to Google Analytics.
Sometimes good news attracts a big audience, as was the case with the announcement this month of the 2022 Bram Stoker Awards winners.
There is also continuing interest about what’s happening with the Chengdu Worldcon – when the Hugo finalists will be announced, what the convention’s business model might be, and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s appointment of 2023 guest of honor Sergey Lukyanenko to a government council.
Here are the ten most widely-read posts of June 2023 according to Google Analytics.
The announcement that Kimberly Unger won the 2023 Philip K. Dick Award was the most-read post in April.
Then, Svengoolie’s annual appeal for viewers to vote his show another Rondo Award once again led several hundred searchers for the voting link to land here first, pushing that post into the Top 10.
Another pair of stories published some time ago returned to the Top 10 because people, looking to File 770 in its role as a newzine of record, linked to them to show receipts for statements they were making in social media.