Closing Post

Fantasy Wikipedia 2015 was a success! Here are all its blog posts so you can navigate them:

Description / Rules:
Introduction
Rules
The Fantasy Wikipedia 2015 Draft Pool

Teams: 
Summary of Teams
Team 1: Giant Clam
Team 2: Hot Chicks and Jesus
Team 3: 50 Shades of Wiki
Team 4: Farticles
Team 5: E-Cigs in Space
Team 6: The Google, The Veto, and the Mr. Mom
Team 7: Wiki Wiki What?!
Team 8: D's Asters

Final Analysis:
Tiered Team Performance
Performance of Undrafted Articles
Performance by Category
Performance by People Places and Things

Monthly Review Summaries:
January
February
March

Weekly: Look Ahead and Week in Review:
Ahead: 1/1-1/3
Review: 1/1-1/3
Ahead: 1/4-1/10
Review: 1/4-1/10
Ahead: 1/11-1/17
Review: 1/11-1/17
Ahead: 1/18-1/24
Review: 1/18-1/24
Ahead: 1/25-1/31
Review: 1/25-1/31
Ahead: 2/1-2/7
Review: 2/1-2/7
Ahead: 2/8-2/14
Review: 2/8-2/14
Ahead: 2/15-2/21
Review: 2/15-2/21
Ahead: 2/22-2/28
Review: 2/22-2/28
Ahead: 3/1-3/7
Review: 3/1-3/7
Ahead: 3/8-3/14
Review: 3/8-3/14
Ahead: 3/15-3/21
Review: 3/15-3/21
Ahead: 3/22-3/28
Review: 3/22-3/28
Ahead: 3/29-3/31
Review: 3/29-3/31

People Places and Things

I'm considering an alternative category for the next Fantasy Wikipedia (if there ever is one). Instead of the three that were used, I'm considering People, Places, and Things. Here are the strict definitions:

Person (a living person; e.g., Ruth Bader Ginsburg or Kim Jong-Un)
Place (a named place on Earth you can visit; e.g., Wichita or Lake Michigan, but not the Moon).
Thing (anything not above, including dead people or groups of people such as Michael Jackson or Koch Industries (corporations are not people))

Most of the articles in Fantasy Wikipedia 2015 were Things. Here is a summary of how these articles performed, by category:

Person: This was the category with the highest points, by far. The players expected this during the draft. 77% of "Person" articles were drafted compared to 33% of Places and 39% of Things.

Place: The least popular category, with only 33% drafted, but with higher average points than Things.

Thing: The lowest scoring category, but since there are so many, and their variance (standard deviation) was higher than Places, they were more popular, with 39% drafted.

Here is how the teams did against the "undrafted" articles:

Pretty reasonable; the teams did a slightly worse job in the "Thing" category, though, where there was the lowest performance. I checked on this to see if perhaps there was a reason that teams had to select the lower scoring "Thing" articles. Most likely, it's because they are consolidated in the "Business, Science, & Technology" category, where each team had to have at least two articles:

It makes sense that "Place" articles would be exclusively in the "Geography, Politics, Religion, and History." The only "Place" in Business, Science, & Technology is Silicon Valley, which was one of the best articles in Business, Science, & Technology. The two "People" in Business, Science, & Technology are Stephen Hawking and Bill Gates, one of which scored perfect due to his association with the Oscars, and the other which was -5 points. This goes with the theme above that there is high variance among "People" articles.

Next time, even if I don't use these categories, I will make sure to control for person/place/thing as well as the categories above. E.g., rather than having Apple, Inc. and Facebook, I could have used Tim Cook and Mark Zuckerberg.

For the record, here are the counts of articles by team:

2nd place Hot Chicks & Jesus strongly favored People, while 50 shades of Wiki and The Google, The Veto, and the Mr. Mom all had over-representation on Places. Both 1st place Farticles and 8th place Wiki Wiki What?! had a high number of "thing" articles.

Here is average article performance by person/place/thing and team:

Category Performance

Here are some details on the Fantasy Wikipedia 2015 categories.

There were three categories in Fantasy Wikipedia 2015. The chart below shows the average point value for articles in the draft (regardless of whether they were selected by a team or not):

A few points from this chart: 

Geography, Politics, Religion, and History was the easiest category for players to find points. It had the most points per article on average, and the lowest standard deviation among articles. 

Arts, Entertainment, and Sports was an important category for the drafters to get correct: it had the highest deviation among articles. This means that there was a big difference between the good picks and the bad picks.

Business, Science, & Technology was the "hard" category. It had the lowest average point value, and not very high standard deviation either. There were not many opportunities in this category.

The chart below shows how the teams' "drafted" articles performed against the "undrafted" articles:

The drafters showed the most "improvement" on Arts, Entertainment, and Sports. This category has the highest difference (18.1) between the average drafted score (15.7) vs. average undrafted score (-2.4). This is probably unsurprising; this is the category with the highest variance (see previous chart).

The other two categories are about the same, in terms of "improvement." The highest points were left behind on Geography, Politics, Religion, and History, but this is also where there was the most opportunity. In general, the players favored this category with their picks: 53% of articles from this category were drafted, but only 44% of articles from the other two categories were drafted. The players rightly saw that there was a lot of opportunity in this category. 

Last, here is average article performance, by team and by category:

Undrafted Articles

In the last post, I mentioned that our teams did better than the remaining articles that were not drafted.

In particular, the 5 best articles from each category were all drafted. You have to go down to the top 10 to see missed opportunities.

Here are the Top 10 articles from the draft, by category and total points. Undrafted articles are in red:

Top 10 Articles from Arts, Entertainment, and Sports

Fifty Shades of Grey: 67.5 points; 50 Shades of Wiki
Taylor Swift: 62.5 points; Giant Clam
Jurassic Park: 53.5 points; Farticles
Michael Keaton: 53.5 points; The Google, The Veto, and the Mr. Mom
Reese Witherspoon: 53 points; Hot Chicks & Jesus
Julianne Moore: 32.5 points; 50 Shades of Wiki
Clint Eastwood: 29 points; The Google, The Veto, and the Mr. Mom
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: 14.5 points; Undrafted
"Weird Al" Yankovic: 13 points; Undrafted
Stephen Colbert: 7.5 points; E-Cigs in Space

Top 10 Articles from Business, Science, & Technology 

Stephen Hawking: 67.5 points; Hot Chicks & Jesus
Bank: 60.5 points; Farticles
Google: 42 points; The Google, The Veto, and the Mr. Mom
Eclipse: 29 points; Hot Chicks & Jesus
Silicon Valley: 23 points; Farticles
Giant Clam: 19 points; Giant Clam
Periodic table: 15 points; Undrafted
Frog: 13 points; Undrafted
Tesla Motors: 11 points; Wiki Wiki What?!
Koch Industries: 9.5 points; D's Asters

Top 10 Articles from Geography, Politics, Religion, and History 

Ruth Bader Ginsburg: 67.5 points; Farticles

OPEC: 46 points; Farticles

Israel: 36 points; E-Cigs in Space

Ebola: 35.5 points; D's Asters

Kim Jong-Un: 32.5 points; 50 Shades of Wiki

Iraq: 32 points; The Google, The Veto, and the Mr. Mom

John Boehner: 28 points; D's Asters

War on Terror: 28 points; Undrafted

Guantanamo Bay Naval Base: 25 points; 50 Shades of Wiki

Quantitative Easing: 23 points; E-Cigs in Space

Also worth noting is that the Main Page of Wikipedia had a good performance at 18 points. It was one of the uncategorized articles, and it did not get drafted. The full list of the undrafted articles' scores are below:

Arts, Entertainment, and Sports

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: 14.5 points = (6) + (4.5) + (4)

"Weird Al" Yankovic: 13 points = (4) + (6) + (3)

Art: 3.5 points = (2) + (1.5) + (0)

Kentucky Derby: 2 points = (0) + (0) + (2)

Samuel L. Jackson: 2 points = (-2) + (0) + (4)

ESPN: 1 points = (0) + (0) + (1)

Elvis Presley: 1 points = (0) + (-3) + (4)

Michelangelo: 1 points = (0) + (0) + (1)

Scrabble: 0.5 points = (0) + (1.5) + (-1)

Michael Jackson: 0 points = (0) + (0) + (0)

Yoga: 0 points = (0) + (0) + (0)

Captain America: 0 points = (-8) + (0) + (8)

Mario: -1.5 points = (0) + (-1.5) + (0)

Batman: -2 points = (-2) + (0) + (0)

Sesame Street: -2.5 points = (0) + (-1.5) + (-1)

The Simpsons: -2.5 points = (0) + (-1.5) + (-1)

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: -3.5 points = (-2) + (-1.5) + (0)

Johnny Cash: -4 points = (-4) + (0) + (0)

Great Pyramid of Giza: -4.5 points = (-2) + (-1.5) + (-1)

Jabba the Hutt: -4.5 points = (-2) + (-1.5) + (-1)

Minecraft: -6 points = (-2) + (-3) + (-1)

Vincent Van Gogh: -8 points = (-8) + (0) + (0)

Charlie Chaplin: -8 points = (-2) + (-6) + (0)

Bigfoot: -9 points = (-2) + (-3) + (-4)

Louis C.K.: -10.5 points = (-8) + (-1.5) + (-1)

Cops (1989 TV Series): -18 points = (-8) + (-6) + (-4)

Pharrell Williams: -18 points = (-8) + (-6) + (-4)

Business, Science, & Technology 

Periodic table: 15 points = (4) + (3) + (8)

Frog: 13 points = (-2) + (0) + (15)

Goat: 6 points = (0) + (6) + (0)

Extraterrestrial life: 2.5 points = (-2) + (4.5) + (0)

Light: 2 points = (0) + (0) + (2)

Goldman Sachs: 0 points = (0) + (0) + (0)

Harvard University: 0 points = (0) + (0) + (0)

Sun: 0 points = (0) + (0) + (0)

Thomas Edison: 0 points = (0) + (0) + (0)

Giant Panda: 0 points = (-2) + (0) + (2)

Charles Darwin: 0 points = (0) + (0) + (0)

Nose: 0 points = (0) + (0) + (0)

Time: -0.5 points = (0) + (-1.5) + (1)

Microsoft: -0.5 points = (0) + (-1.5) + (1)

McDonald's: -1.5 points = (0) + (-1.5) + (0)

Tide: -1.5 points = (0) + (-1.5) + (0)

Dinosaur: -2 points = (-2) + (0) + (0)

Bee: -2 points = (-2) + (0) + (0)

Coca-Cola: -2.5 points = (0) + (-1.5) + (-1)

Jellyfish: -2.5 points = (0) + (-1.5) + (-1)

Root: -3.5 points = (-2) + (-1.5) + (0)

Earthquake: -3.5 points = (-2) + (-1.5) + (0)

Dolphin: -4.5 points = (-2) + (-1.5) + (-1)

Boeing: -5 points = (-4) + (-3) + (2)

Cold fusion: -5 points = (-4) + (0) + (-1)

Bill Gates: -5 points = (-2) + (-3) + (0)

Cannabis (drug): -5.5 points = (-2) + (-1.5) + (-2)

Great Barrier Reef: -9.5 points = (-8) + (-1.5) + (0)

YouTube: -13 points = (-8) + (-3) + (-2)

Internet: -16 points = (-8) + (-6) + (-2)

Geography, Politics, Religion, and History 

War on Terror: 28 points = (6) + (12) + (10)

David Cameron: 21.5 points = (16) + (1.5) + (4)

Nigeria: 12 points = (4) + (0) + (8)

California: 10.5 points = (8) + (1.5) + (1)

China: 7.5 points = (4) + (1.5) + (2)

Egypt: 7 points = (2) + (3) + (2)

George W. Bush: 6.5 points = (2) + (1.5) + (3)

Texas: 4.5 points = (0) + (4.5) + (0)

War on Drugs: 3 points = (0) + (0) + (3)

Antarctica: 3 points = (-2) + (6) + (-1)

Paris: 2.5 points = (0) + (-1.5) + (4)

Boston: 2.5 points = (0) + (1.5) + (1)

Ronald Reagan: 2 points = (2) + (0) + (0)

Shanghai: 1 points = (0) + (0) + (1)

Mexico: 1 points = (0) + (0) + (1)

Beijing: 1 points = (-2) + (0) + (3)

Brazil: 1 points = (0) + (0) + (1)

Chicago: 0 points = (0) + (0) + (0)

Mafia: 0 points = (0) + (0) + (0)

Milwaukee: -1 points = (0) + (0) + (-1)

Adolf Hitler: -1.5 points = (0) + (-1.5) + (0)

Aung San Suu Kyi: -1.5 points = (0) + (-1.5) + (0)

War on Poverty: -2 points = (0) + (0) + (-2)

United States: -2.5 points = (0) + (-1.5) + (-1)

Lake Michigan: -4.5 points = (-2) + (-1.5) + (-1)

Abraham Lincoln: -4.5 points = (-2) + (-1.5) + (-1)

India: -7.5 points = (-2) + (-1.5) + (-4)

Russia: -14 points = (-8) + (-6) + (0)

Other

Main Page: 18 points = (8) + (6) + (4)

List of internet phenomena: 3.5 points = (2) + (1.5) + (0)

Beer: 0 points = (0) + (0) + (0)

Champagne: -0.5 points = (-2) + (-1.5) + (3)

Portal:Current Events: -2 points = (-2) + (0) + (0)

Bead: -2 points = (-2) + (0) + (0)

Beard: -2 points = (-2) + (0) + (0)

Hipster (contemporary subculture): -4.5 points = (-2) + (-1.5) + (-1)

Sexual Intercourse: -18 points = (-8) + (-6) + (-4)

B: -18 points = (-8) + (-6) + (-4)

Bean: -18 points = (-8) + (-6) + (-4)

Tiered Team Performance

How did we do? I've split up the teams into three "tiers" to help explain our performance.

Tier One

Farticles

The winner, Team Farticles, is in a league of his own. He even would have beat a hypothetical "dream team." A "dream team" is a collection of the best articles that the drafting algorithm predicted. Farticles got 269.5 points against 262 for the "Dream Team."

Here is Farticles:

Jurassic Park: 53.5 points = (16) + (22.5) + (15)
OPEC: 46 points = (16) + (15) + (15)
Ruth Bader Ginsburg: 67.5 points = (30) + (22.5) + (15)
Bank: 60.5 points = (30) + (22.5) + (8)
NPR: 11.5 points = (4) + (4.5) + (3)
American Football: -1.5 points = (0) + (-1.5) + (0)
Netflix: 9 points = (8) + (0) + (1) (benched in February)
Silicon Valley: 23 points = (16) + (3) + (4)
Barack Obama: 0 points = (0) + (0) + (0) (benched in January and March)
Assassination of John F. Kennedy: 0 points = (0) + (0) + (0) (benched all 3 months)

The "Dream Team," the best team that the algorithm would have picked, is:

Ebola: 35.5 points = (-2) + (22.5) + (15)
Benedict Cumberbatch: -13.5 points = (-8) + (-1.5) + (-4)
Jurassic Park: 53.5 points = (16) + (22.5) + (15)
OPEC: 46 points = (16) + (15) + (15)
Mitch McConnell: 12.5 points = (-4) + (1.5) + (15)
Taylor Swift: 62.5 points = (30) + (22.5) + (10)
Comet: -2 points = (-2) + (0) + (0)
Stephen Hawking: 67.5 points = (30) + (22.5) + (15)

You wouldn't expect anyone to do as well as the "Dream Team." The Dream Team's articles were taken early in the draft, since these articles were expected to do well. They shouldn't all end up on a single team, and you wouldn't think anyone could outperform the hypothetical best team. Farticles did.

Another way to understand the scope of the Farticles victory is to compare the team to the best possible team. If, during the draft, you had perfect knowledge of what would happen, and nobody competed against you for the best picks, how would your team do? The "Perfect Team" is below:

Jurassic Park: 53.5 points = (16) + (22.5) + (15)

OPEC: 46 points = (16) + (15) + (15)

Taylor Swift: 62.5 points = (30) + (22.5) + (10)

Stephen Hawking: 67.5 points = (30) + (22.5) + (15)

Fifty Shades of Grey: 67.5 points = (30) + (22.5) + (15)

Ruth Bader Ginsburg: 67.5 points = (30) + (22.5) + (15)

Bank: 60.5 points = (30) + (22.5) + (8)

Michael Keaton: 53.5 points = (16) + (22.5) + (15)

Some of those articles should look familiar. 4 of the 8 articles on the "Perfect Team" were on Team Farticles. The other 4 were split, one per team, to the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th place teams.

Tier Two

Hot Chicks & Jesus

The Google, the Veto, and the Mr. Mom

50 Shades of Wiki

The next three teams scored between 163.5 and 204.5 points, well above Tier Three (at most 103.5 points) and well below Tier One (269.5). All three of these teams were pretty well balanced, with 50 points in at least 2 out of 3 categories:

Within the tier, you can see the differences in their performance by their worst category. 50 Shades of Wiki, in 4th, got -4 points from Business, Science, and Technology. Both other Tier Two teams had Geography, Politics, Religion, and History as their worst category, but with 50.5 and 40 points respectively:

Tier Three

Giant Clam

D's Asters

E-Cigs in Space

Wiki Wiki What?!

The remaining teams scored between 33.5 and 103.5 points. with the 5th and 6th place very close to 100 and the bottom two at 57.5 and 33.5.

These teams had at most one strong category. D's Asters is the best example: his team got 83 of his 97.5 points from Geography, Politics, Religion, and History with John Boehner, Pope Francis and Ebola. E-Cigs in Space also relied on this category, with 40 points in March from Israel and Hillary Rodham Clinton. Giant Clam got more than half his 103.5 points from Taylor Swift. 

The last place team didn't have a great category or standout article. His team's best article Tesla Motors, only scored 11 points. This was actually very good for the Business, Science, & Technology category, but not enough to bring him out of 8th place.

So, now that we are at the bottom of the performers, should we make fun of Wiki Wiki What?! Was his team's performance just atrocious?

Actually, no. Overall, all 8 teams did well, and no great articles were left undrafted. The "undrafted" articles will be covered in another blog post, but you can get a sense from the artificial "Dream Team Remaining" here. This is what would have happened if a 9th team had joined the draft at the end, and picked up the best 8 articles according to the algorithm:

War on Terror: 28 points = (6) + (12) + (10)

"Weird Al" Yankovic: 13 points = (4) + (6) + (3)

List of internet phenomena: 3.5 points = (2) + (1.5) + (0)

Goldman Sachs: 0 points = (0) + (0) + (0)

Time: -0.5 points = (0) + (-1.5) + (1)

Portal:Current Events: -2 points = (-2) + (0) + (0)

War on Poverty: -2 points = (0) + (0) + (-2)

Cops (1989 TV Series): -18 points = (-8) + (-6) + (-4)

Alternatively, would Wiki Wiki What?! have beat a team that was deliberately drafted to be mediocre by the algorithm, or would it have a beat a team with the "average" undrafted articles? Compared to these "artificial" teams, the 8th place team does very well:

The 33.5 points for Wiki Wiki What?! looks downright respectable against the 22 points from the "Dream Team Remaining" and the "Medicore Goal Team," to say nothing of the 2.5 team with the most average articles.

Month in Review: March

Fantasy Wikipedia comes to a close: Farticles has won! This post will focus on March's results, with a recap on the entire season to follow later this week.

The final team rankings are below:

1. Farticles, 269.5 points (+120 from February)

2. Hot Chicks & Jesus, 204.5 points (+96 from February)

3. The Google, The Veto, and the Mr. Mom, 175.5 points (+62 from February)

4. 50 Shades of Wiki, 163.5 points (+30 from February)

5. Giant Clam, 103.5 points (+46 from February)

6. D's Asters, 97.5 points (+6 from February)

7. E-Cigs in Space, 57 points (+36 from February)

8. Wiki Wiki What?!, 33.5 points (+4 from February)

Articles in detail:

In general, few articles moved in March. Here are the highlights:

U.S. Politics: The Hillary Clinton e-mail scandal broke this month, giving 20 points to E-Cigs in Space for Hillary Rodham Clinton. John Boehner jumped from 0 points last month to 20, giving a boost to D's Asters. And Antonin Scalia came in from 50 Shades of Wiki's bench to come in for 8 points.

Middle East Politics: Iran went from 1.5 points to 16 points for Hot Chicks & Jesus, and Israel went from 12 to 20 for E-Cigs in Space. A lot happened in both places this month: Israel's elections came after a high profile visit from Prime Minister Netanyahu to the U.S. Congress. Iran's nuclear program was the center of diplomatic discussions in Switzerland. They became big news in the United States after GOP Senators sent a letter in the midst of negotiations.

Science! Giant Clam, the flagship article for Team 1 (aka "Giant Clam"), rose from 0 points in February to 16 in March, probably due to an article in the prestigious journal Nature about using giant clam fossils to determine prehistoric light patterns. Along the lines of light patterns, this year's total eclipse of the Sun brought Eclipse from 0 to 30 points for Hot Chicks & Jesus.

Tech and Tech Companies: 
Silicon Valley increased from 3 to 16 points, possibly due to the trailer for the HBO TV show "Silicon Valley," and possibly due to the Ellen Pao sexism case that ended in March. Another win for Farticles. Netflix jumped from 0 to 8 points for no discernible reason except to cement the victory for Farticles. Google and Apple, Inc., both on The Google, The Veto, and The Mr. Mom also had modest increases: Google from 12 to 20 and Apple, Inc. from 1.5 to 8.

Other:
Quantitative Easing gave another boost to E-Cigs in Space, going from 0 to 8 points.
The big last-minute surprise was the sudden jump for Hot Chicks & Jesus's Reese Witherspoon from 0 to 30 points on the last day on March. Oddly, this was not the only article to have massive increases in pageviews on March 31. Eiffel Tower, on team Giant Clam, also skyrocketed in pageviews and would have resulted in 30 points for Giant Clam if it had not been on the bench. This replaces Beck as the most unfortunate bench decision in Fantasy Wikipedia.

Sustained strong articles:
The other main contributors to points this month were articles that have also done well in previous months: 50 Shades of Wiki's Fifty Shades of Grey (+30), Giant Clam's Taylor Swift (+30), Hot Chicks & Jesus's Stephen Hawking (+30), The Google, The Veto, and the Mr. Mom's Iraq (+16) and four articles on team Farticles: Ruth Bader Ginsburg (+30), Bank (+30), Jurassic Park (+16), and OPEC (+16).

To follow up from last month, we never resolved Fantasy Wikipedia 2015's greatest mystery: the inexplicable increase in pageviews for Bank. To add to the mystery, by the end of March, it has declined back down to its pre-Fantasy Wikipedia levels.

Last Week: 3/29/15-3/31/15

Article: Reese Witherspoon

Category: Arts, Entertainment, and Sports

Owner: Hot Chicks & Jesus (Team 2)

Pageviews in March 2014: 148,975

What happened: Pageviews for Reese Witherspoon increased dramatically on the last day of Fantasy Wikipedia. Typically, the actress's Wikipedia page gets just over 3,000 pageviews per day, but on March 31, pageviews increased to 379,010. This is great news for Hot Chicks & Jesus (Team 2), as this provided a sudden +30 points just before the end of the competition.

It's hard to tell why Reese Witherspoon got so many more pageviews. Looking through the news, the actress has been active on Instagram. She posted photos from her Spring Break. She just celebrated her anniversary. If I had to guess, I'd say that some people in Tennessee are excited that she may be opening a hotel in Nashville. 

The Coming Week: 3/29/15-3/31/15

Articles of the Week: Moon and Green Day

Article: Moon

Category: Business, Science, & Technology

Owner: Hot Chicks & Jesus (Team 2)
Pageviews in March 2014: 188,588

What's coming: As Fantasy Wikipedia 2015 draws to an end, it looks like it's 2nd-4th place that will be the most closely contested. Currently, Hot Chicks & Jesus is expected to be 2nd place. Moon is not a large contributor, but it could provide a last minute push to seal 2nd place. Looking ahead, some people may look up the details on the total lunar eclipse on April 4, 2015 or the blood moon on April 15.

Article: Green Day

Category: Arts, Entertainment, and Sports

Owner: The Google, The Veto, & The Mr. Mom (Team 6)

Pageviews in March 2014: 132,022

What's coming: Green Day has not been a major contributor yet for The Google, The Veto, & The Mr. Mom (currently expected to place in 4th). It may provide a last minute rally.

Green Day will have a good year in 2015 beyond Fantasy Wikipedia: they will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 18. It was also recently announced that Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong will be releasing a new musical. 

Just a small boost from Green Day could mean the difference between 2nd and 4th place for The Google, The Veto, & The Mr. Mom. These last few days could be close!

Last Week: 3/22/15-3/28/15

Article: Apple, Inc.

Category: Business, Science, & Technology

Owner: The Google, the Veto, & the Mr. Mom (Team 6)

Pageviews in March 2014: 302,832

What happened: Apple was in the news a lot last week, so it's hard to tell exactly what brought up the pageviews for Apple, Inc. On the 24th, a patent for a new type of cameraphone was published. A leak reported that Apple will buy FoundationDB, a database company. The CEO announced he was giving away his fortune to charity. Apple is working with Beats to develop a new streaming music service. And last, Apple is being compared to Hitler in China.

All this is good news for The Google, the Veto, & the Mr. Mom, as Apple, Inc. currently has almost as many pageviews today as it did for the entire last month of March. This means that Apple, Inc. could be a big last-minute contributor for the team. 

The Coming Week: 3/22/15-3/28/15

Articles of the Week: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Walmart

Article: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge

Category: Geography, Politics, Religion, and History

Owner: Wiki Wiki What?! (Team 7)
Pageviews in March 2014: 101,346

What's coming: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, aka Kate Middleton, is expecting a baby. It's due in mid-April, but that won't stop the media coverage of the royal family. Expect to see more on the duchess over the next month.
Unfortunately for Wiki Wiki What?! (Team 7), Fantasy Wikipedia ends on March 31. Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge will need more pageviews over this week and the first half of the next in order to qualify for points. This could happen; some magazines have already erroneously reported that the duchess has given birth, which could lead to people checking a more reliable source (like Wikipedia, I suppose) to see if there is another royal baby already.

Article: Walmart

Category: Business, Science, & Technology

Owner: Wiki Wiki What?! (Team 7)

Pageviews in March 2014: 123,531

What's coming: I'm focusing on Wiki Wiki What?! since his articles needs the most to catch up with the pack. Walmart is a possible contender for more points this week.

Walmart has been a fair performer so far. The company has recently been in the news for increasing wages after many protests about poor treatment of their workers. As other retailers, like Target and TJ Maxx, are raising their wages, it's possible that Walmart could do something else newsworthy. 

Last Week: 3/15/15-3/21/15

Article: Hydraulic Fracturing

Category: Business, Science, & Technology

Owner: E-Cigs in Space (Team 5)

Pageviews in March 2014: 133,124

What happened: On Friday, the Obama administration announced new regulations on hydraulic fracturing, the oil and gas drilling technique that has raised health and environmental concerns.

Throughout the week, the page Hydraulic Fracturing had been getting more pageviews. This is an increase for E-Cigs in Space, even without Friday's and Saturday's data, which are not yet available. This could lead to a big push for E-Cigs in Space, leaving Wiki Wiki What?! in the dust at 8th place.

The Coming Week: 3/15/15-3/21/15

Articles of the Week: Eclipse and Israel

Article: Eclipse

Category: Business, Science, & Technology

Owner: Hot Chicks and Jesus (Team 2)
Pageviews in March 2014: 38,278

What's coming: 2015's total eclipse of the Sun will occur on March 20. In previous year's, eclipses are associated with a spike in pageviews for Eclipse. Already, Eclipse is averaging 10% more daily pageviews than it received in March 2014. A big push here could move Hot Chicks and Jesus (Team 2), currently at 4th place, into a very tight race for second with 50 Shades of Wiki and The Google, the Veto, and the Mr. Mom.

Article: Israel

Category: Geography, Politics, Religion, and History

Owner: E-Cigs in Space (Team 5)

Pageviews in March 2014: 293,677

What's coming: Israel has been in the news this month; its pageviews are up 22% from this time last year, probably because of Prime Minister Netanyahu's speech to U.S. Congress. This speech was fortunately (or, deliberately) well timed for the Prime Minister, just a couple weeks before Israel's Election Day. On March 17, Israel will vote in the Knesset (legislature) elections. It's not clear if Netanyahu will retain his role as Prime Minster; he has recently spoken of a "a tremendous effort, worldwide, to topple" him.

Sustained pageviews for Israel would keep E-Cigs in Space comfortably in 7th place, making 8th place Wiki Wiki What?! needing a March miracle to get out of last place. 

Last Week: 3/8/15-3/14/15

Articles: Giant Clam and Iran

Article: Giant Clam

Category: Business, Science, & Technology

Owner: Giant Clam (Team 1)

Pageviews in March 2014: 9,386

What happened: Giant Clam's pageviews increased more than tenfold, from 314 on March 4 to 3770 on March 5. It's hard to tell why this happened, but my best guess is it's from a recently published article in Nature. The article, published on March 4th, is entitled "Middle Holocene daily light cycle reconstructed from the strontium/calcium ratios of a fossil giant clam shell." Scientists at the University of Tokyo and Hokkaido University examined an old giant clam shell to learn about ancient light patterns.

Article: Iran

Category: Geography, Politics, Religion, and History

Owner: Hot Chicks and Jesus (Team 2)

Pageviews in March 2014: 212,660

What happened: It's been a good month so far for Iran. When Israel's Prime Minister spoke to the U.S. Congress, the subject was Iran. Last week, Secretary of State John Kerry continued negotiations with Iran regarding their nuclear program. This prompted a group of Republican Senators to send a letter to Iran independently, challenging what Kerry is attempting to negotiate. The supreme leader of Iran criticized the letter, citing it as evidence of American decline. All this has led to steady pageviews for Iran and more potential points for Hot Chicks and Jesus. 

The Coming Week: 3/8/15-3/14/15

Articles of the Week: Eiffel Tower and Snow

Article: Eiffel Tower

Category: Arts, Entertainment, and Sports

Owner: Giant Clam (Team 1)
Pageviews in March 2014: 217,978

What's coming: Eiffel Tower is in the "arts" category as one of the few works of architecture in Fantasy Wikipedia. This year, the Eiffel Tower joins other famous buildings such as the Empire State Building with a race to the top. On March 20, sixty runners will ascend the Eiffel Tower in the first such race in the Tower's history.
Whether this will lead to more pageviews is uncertain. Empire State Building did not get many more pageviews on the date of its race last year, February 5 2014. However, with the recent violence in Paris and the Tower's newly installed wind turbines, it's possible that Paris will do more to promote the race over the next couple weeks than New York did for the Empire State Building. That could provide a boost to Eiffel Tower which so far has not been a strong performer for Giant Clam (Team 1).

Article: Snow

Category: Business, Science, & Technology

Owner: Wiki Wiki What?! (Team 7)

Pageviews in March 2014: 38,057

What's coming: Despite the heavy snows in the Northeast this year, Snow has not had significant pageviews for Wiki Wiki What?! (Team 7). That may change in March. In January and February, Snow was up against a strong performance in 2014, with 73,000 pageviews in January and 60,000 in February. With fewer pageviews in March generally, it will take less for Snow to break out as a strong performer in March. Currently, it is just under the average for March last year. If a major snow comes this month, expect a big jump for Wiki Wiki What?!

Last Week: 3/1/15-3/7/15

Article: Hillary Rodham Clinton

Category: Geography, Politics, Religion, and History

Owner: E-Cigs in Space (Team 5)

Pageviews in March 2014: 147,893

What happened: Former First Lady, Senator, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was criticized last week after it was revealed she did not use a government e-mail address in her role as Secretary of State. She used personal e-mails over this time, and it's possible she or her aides violated the Federal Records Act by failing to preserve the e-mails on State servers. The usual political reaction occurred: Rachel Maddow at MSNBC said the controversy was "stupid and hypocritical," and Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush called the e-mail system "baffling." 

For Fantasy Wikipedia, it led to more pageviews for Hillary Rodham Clinton, doubling her daily pageviews from Monday to Tuesday and maintaining the higher level of pageviews at least through Thursday (Friday data are unavailable so far). If Hillary Rodham Clinton maintains a high level of pageviews, that will bring E-Cigs in Space from 8th place to 7th, pushing Wiki Wiki What?! (Team 7) into last place.

Month in Review: February

Team Farticles

Congratulations to Farticles (Team 4), who has pulled ahead in February!

The current team ranks are as follows:

Farticles (Team 4): 149.5 points (+88.5 in February)
50 Shades of Wiki (Team 3): 133.5 points (+79.5 in February)
The Google, The Veto, and the Mr. Mom (Team 6): 113.5 points (+61.5 in February)
Hot Chicks & Jesus (Team 2): 108.5 points (+76.5 in February)
D's Asters (Team 8): 91.5 points (+25.5 in February)

Giant Clam (Team 1): 57.5 points (+25.5 in February)

Wiki Wiki What?! (Team 7): 29.5 points (+7.5 points in February)
E-Cigs in Space (Team 5): 21 points (+3 points in February)

Farticles has a good lead over second place 50 Shades of Wiki. It's not locked up yet for Farticles though; points scored in March are worth twice as much those awarded in January.

In the middle of the pack are three teams: The Google, The Veto, and The Mr. Mom, Hot Chicks & Jesus, and D's Asters. D's Asters was really the only team to change positions this month; last month's first place team is now in fifth place. D's Asters didn't get the strong Oscars performance that pushed up both Hot Chicks & Jesus and The Google, The Veto, and the Mr. Mom. Still, all these teams are still contenders for first place; a 50 point difference could be made up (look at the difference between the top 4 teams and the bottom 4 teams this month).

At the bottom are Giant Clam, who's comfortably in 6th place, and the two teams struggling to stay out of last place. E-Cigs in Space had the unfortunate placement of Beck on the bench, otherwise Wiki Wiki What?! would be at the bottom.

Articles in detail:

Oscars: Unlike last month, there weren't many major trends affecting multiple articles. The Academy Awards ceremony was the biggest one. The articles scoring big from the Oscars are Michael Keaton, Julianne Moore, and Stephen Hawking (all +22.5), and both Reese Witherspoon and Clint Eastwood (both +15). 

New movies: The film version of "Fifty Shades of Grey" brought the article Fifty Shades of Grey up to (+22.5 points), and anticipation of "Jurassic World" continued to bring Jurassic Park to the maximum of +22.5.

Musicians: Katy Perry's performance at the Super Bowl gave her a large bump early in the month, bringing the article Katy Perry to +12. Beck saw more pageviews due to Beck's Grammy win, but E-Cigs in Space was unable to capitalize, since Beck was on his bench this month.

International Crises: The terrorist group ISIS reminded people to check out Iraq and Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, which are both up +12. Other pages for international leaders, including Kim Jong-Un (+22.5), Fidel Castro (+12) and Angela Merkel (+12), got more activity; Merkel in particular was involved in the continued Greek debt drama and the crisis in Ukraine.

Other news events: Ebola (+22.5) and OPEC (+15) continue to get more pageviews in 2015. Israel (+12) has started to flare up in advance of the upcoming elections and Prime Minister Netanyahu's imminent visit to Congress. Ruth Bader Ginsburg (+22.5) has become a sort of cult hero after drinking too much wine and falling asleep at the State of the Union earlier this year.

Unknown: We are all befuddled about Bank (+22.5), whose pageview history can be seen below. The other big movers were Taylor Swift (+22.5) and Google (+12). I'm not sure what Google has done recently that is newsworthy, and I wouldn't even know where to start figuring out the psychology that has driven more people to the Taylor Swift Wikipedia page this year. Here is the bizarre graph for Wikipedia pageviews for Bank:

The Coming Week: 3/1/15-3/7/15

Articles of the Week: Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Article: Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Category: Geography, Politics, Religion, and History

Owner: Farticles (Team 4)

Pageviews in March 2014: 28,149

Article: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Category: Geography, Politics, Religion, and History

Owner: D's Asters (Team 8)
Pageviews in March 2014: 156,732

What's coming: Here comes yet another round in the seemingly unending legal battles to declare the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act unconstitutional. The legislation, aka Obamacare, will be challenged once again on Wednesday March 4, as the Supreme Court hears the case "King v. Burwell, Sec. of H&HS." Already there are signs that Chief Justice John Roberts, whose vote maintained the act in June 2012, will continue to back the healthcare law.

It's not the only case to be heard this week. If anything unusual happens during the court session, expect more news for Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She is a Supreme Court Justice whose Wikipedia page has already been a cornerstone for frontrunner Farticles (Team 4) throughout Fantasy Wikipedia 2015. Justice Ginsburg made headlines in January for falling asleep during the State of the Union, and again in February for suggesting it was because one of her fellow Justices gave her too much wine before the speech.

In addition to Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the article Antonin Scalia is held by 50 Shades of Wiki (Team 3). Scalia is another Supreme Court Justice, famously conservative and personal friends with Ginsburg. Major decisions would likely lead to more pageviews for both Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and a surprise decision on "King v. Burwell, Sec. of H&HS" could lead to an explosion at Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Last Week: 2/22/15-2/28/15

Article: Clint Eastwood

Category: Arts, Entertainment, and Sports

Owner: The Google, The Veto, and the Mr. Mom (Team 6)

Pageviews in February 2014: 213,511

What happened: It was a good week for The Google, The Veto, and the Mr. Mom (Team 6) at the Oscars. Michael Keaton is on that team, and although Michael Keaton did not win Best Actor, he is still getting plenty of pageviews from "Birdman." The big surprise from the Oscars is that Clint Eastwood, director of the film "American Sniper," got a fair share of news.

It's hard to say exactly what was newsworthy. He had some sort of altercation with actress Margot Robbie. Fox News suggested (warning: do not click; moronic content) that his film did not get any awards because of Clint Eastwood's appearance at the Republican National Convention in 2012. And last, the gossips discussed Clint Eastwood's date and whether they would get married, which I will not justify with a hyperlink. 

Whatever the reason, this led to more pageviews for Clint Eastwood last week, making The Google, The Veto, and the Mr. Mom a major contender going into March.

The Coming Week: 2/22/15-2/28/15

Articles of the Week: Michael Keaton and Julianne Moore

Article: Michael Keaton

Category: Arts, Entertainment, and Sports

Owner: The Google, The Veto, and the Mr. Mom (Team 6)

Pageviews in February 2014: 112,230

Article: Julianne Moore

Category: Arts, Entertainment, and Sports

Owner: 50 Shades of Wiki (Team 3)
Pageviews in February 2014: 198,013

What's coming: During the Fantasy Wikipedia draft at the end of December, the two favorites for Best Actor and Best Actress were Michael Keaton and Julianne Moore. The favorites can be seen at some of the online betting sites, such as paddypower. Currently. Michael Keaton is no longer the favorite (Eddie Redmayne is expected to win), but Julianne Moore is very much a heavy favorite.

Interestingly, though Julianne Moore is the favorite, it's the article Michael Keaton that has been the stronger performer this year. A lot of the pre-Oscars hype has been around Michael Keaton and the film "Birdman." Perhaps since Julianne Moore is expected to win, we hear less about her, drawing fewer people to the Julianne Moore Wikipedia page. If she wins, Julianne Moore could see extended high pageviews through March.

Other relevant articles are Stephen Hawking (owned by Hot Chicks & Jesus; he's the person portrayed by Eddie Redmayne), Reese Witherspoon (a distant third to win Best Actress after Julianne Moore, also owned by Hot Chicks & Jesus), and Benedict Cumberbatch (a Best actor nominee, owned by E-Cigs in Space).

Last Week: 2/15/15-2/21/15

Article: General Motors

Category: Business, Science, & Technology

Owner: Giant Clam (Team 1, benched)
Pageviews in February 2014: 86,011

What happened: Recently, General Motors has been linked to Harry Wilson, who helped restructure the company in 2009, and now seeks to join the board of the company. This is part of a trend towards shareholder activism. This activism has caught the eye of some big name investors, including George Soros and William Buffett. 

It has not yet, however, translated into more pageviews for General Motors the Wikipedia page. The algorithm that picked Fantasy Wikipedia pages selected General Motors as an article that would do well, but it hasn't. It's possible that the algorithm was oversensitive to news in November about states suing General Motors, which would have caused the article to get more pageviews.