Another week, another look at the most-edited articles on the English-language Wikipedia for the past seven days. Big thanks to statistical tool WikiRage and creator Craig Wood for making this even possible. The tenor of my round-up is decidedly American, but as any frequent Wikipedia reader knows, we Yankees have no monopoly on Wikipedia, despite our great numbers. This week belongs to the Brits:
- Article: The Unicorn and the Wasp
Why: The what? The seventh episode of the current season (they say “series”) of Doctor Who, which aired this weekend.
Detail: The second episode made the list a few weeks back, and as we saw during South Park’s recent half-season run, popular TV shows often show up in the most-edited articles. 
Article: 2008 Sichuan earthquake
Why: Only this week’s worst natural disaster.
Detail: Did I call it or what? Last week, when the most recent natural disaster was Cyclone Nargis in Burma and the earthquake in China was moving across the news wires (and Twitter feeds), I predicted the resulting page would be on this list. Like the Nargis page, the Sichuan earthquake page is thousands of words long and meticulously sourced — which is relatively easy to do when an event gets this much coverage. And it’s the second major event in China to make this list since we started a couple months back; the first of course was the unrest in and around Tibet. On the other hand… this article was less active than the one about the latest episode of Doctor Who?- Article: Portsmouth F.C.
Why: Congratulations to our friends across the pond for taking both the first and third slots this week.
Detail: It’s football season (and by that I mean “soccer”) in England, and Portsmouth is the big winner in the FA Cup after a 0-1 victory (that’s what it says) over Cardiff City at Wembley Stadium. Close readers of this feature may woner if “FA” refers to “Featured Article,” the reason so many obscure articles make this most-edited list. Thanks for paying attention, but I must report it is actually the Football Association Challenge Cup. Why not FAC Cup? I’d like to know that myself. 
Article: Ted Kennedy
Why: The so-called liberal lion of the Senate was admitted to a Boston hospital on Saturday after reportedly suffering a seizure.
Detail: Although the story dominated cable news this weekend, there ultimately were not many details released, and the incident appears to be less serious than it first seemed. To some extent that’s it — many people came through with unverified information which had to be removed — but it also spurred a closer look at the page, including updates to the section on Chappaquiddick.- Article: Redwood National and State Parks
Why: The Featured Article for May 17.
Detail: From the discussion page: “[P]lease refrain from tree-hugging, which this article drips of tree resin. Happy highways, everyone, thanks for putting it up on the front page. Off to gold panning American River, kudos” - Article: Walter Gropius
Why: Founder of Bauhaus — the German school of design, not the English rock band.
Detail: A Featured Article? One might think, but in fact the page was linked by Google on May 18, what would have been his 125th birthday. And you know what? Though this may not be surprising, the visitors from Google are worse vandals than the Wikipedia regulars. This article was locked down briefly to keep new and unregistered contributors from weighing in; other editors had applied for the same protection to the Kennedy page, but that protection was not granted, and this one was. Sorry, Googlers. - Article: Coeliac disease
Why: An an autoimmune disorder of the small intestine that occurs in genetically predisposed people of all ages from middle infancy.
Detail: Did you really want to know that? Wikipedia thinks you might, because it was the Featured Article on May 18. - Article: America’s Next Top Model, Cycle 10
Why: Tyra Banks’ reality TV show enters its fourth season and… tenth cycle?
Detail: I guess it’s not so different from South Park, which airs in two separate half seasons. I assume that both are meant to distribute programming throughout the year in order to increase viewership. This also probably increases editorship of such articles. - Article: Deaths in 2008
Why: Except for the unusual week when this page was not listed in the top ten at all, this is the lowest appearance on the list for this article yet.
Detail: An American winemaker, the 1955 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics, the oldest Swede ever, some guy who was in Barbarella, the Polish female Oskar Schindler and an American pop artist. 
Article: List of current World Wrestling Entertainment employees
Why: I’m not really sure, but I suspect vandalism.
Detail: I don’t necessarily want to reinforce stereotypes about pro wrestling fans, but I can’t resist quoting this comment from the Talk page: “austin hasent made a apperiance in iver 6 months it should just say public relations cuz be fair its missleading someone reads this page and think oh ausin is gonna make a guest apperance but he dont and its been like that for 6 months if he makes another apperance then put it back down but we could put rock there as makeing apperances cuz he made one last year and this year around wrestlmania so either add rock or take apperance bit off of steve austin” The response? “yea good point ill do it”
Holdovers this week: Deaths in 2008
Falling off the list: Everything from last week.
Recurring themes: Natural disasters, and reality shows reaching the end of their current season — maybe I should say “unnatural disasters”?
Honorable mention: Last week Burma was the second-most edited article, in part because it was the focus of a heated debate over whether the main article about the country should instead be Myanmar, the chosen name of the ruling military junta. Good news for fans of freedom — although this is not always the same thing as being a fan of Wikipedia site policies — no consensus emerged from the debate, and for now, Burma it will remain.
Images courtesy Divine Rapier, pete4ducks and static on Flickr.
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