Via Chris Applegate on Twitter, here’s a list of the most viewed articles on each of the 35 most active versions of Wikipedia in 2012.
It’s a curious collection of pieces: some boring, some weird, and most just vain. Let’s look at the fun stuff first.
The weird
Japanese: AV女優一覧, a list of lists of “adult video” actresses. No English language version of this one, despite my, ahem, exhaustive research. I particularly like that it’s not even a list of porn actresses; it’s a list of lists of porn actresses.
Vietnamese: Danh sách tư thế quan hệ tình dục/Sex position. Because how else will you learn about sex positions?
German: Sackgasse/Cul-de-sac. I don’t know why cul-de-sacs are such a source of curiosity for German-speakers. But they are.
French: Houx crénelé/Ilex crenata. French-speakers apparently care deeply about an ornamental species of holly native to east Asia.
The boring
Some countries use Wikipedia to look up normal boring things. How unimaginative of them.
Croatian: Zakon o sprječavanju internetskog piratstva/Stop Online Piracy Act
Slovak: Majstrovstvá sveta v ľadovom hokeji 2012/2012 IIHF World Championship
Czech: Seznam historických výročí/List of historical anniversaries
Norwegian: Schrøder, an article about the Norwegian surname
Turkish: Mustafa Kemal Atatürk/Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Thai: สมาคมประชาชาติแห่งเอเชียตะวันออกเฉียงใต้/Association of Southeast Asian Nations
Italian: Grey’s Anatomy/Grey’s Anatomy
Catalan: Mario Conde, a Spanish banker.
Hungarian: Magyar névnapok betűrendben, a list of Hungarian “name days”.
Tech companies seem to be especially popular, and one in particular:
English: Facebook
The vain
Do you know what Wikipedians really like to do? Look up their own country:
And a couple of not-quite entries:
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