The Vancouver Courier's top 10 stories of 2014

Once upon a time, newspapers put their biggest stories on the front page and relied primarily on letters to the editor to see what ones resonated with readers the most. These days we have Google Analytics to tell us precisely how many people clicked on a link, where they found it and just how long they spent reading it. The results can be inspiring, confounding and sometimes even a bit depressing when, say, a hard-hitting investigative piece that shakes up city hall doesn’t necessarily get as many clicks as a story about a new reality TV show starring cats.

The ones that get the most hits also don’t necessarily inspire the most comments, but this is where the news biz finds itself in 2015. Without further ado, here’s the Courier’s 10 most-clicked content of the past year.

1. 2014: The Year in Stars

Every year the Courier receives emails and even the occasional snail mail from readers outraged that a reputable newspaper would give the front page for in-house astrologer Tim Stephens’ predictions for the year ahead, which received the most views overall for the past year. Conversely, we also receive emails and, yes, even the occasional letter whenever his weekly Astral Reflections column fails to appear in the paper for whatever reason. It is what it is. We humbly predict his annual look at what lies in the stars for 2015, which appears in the Jan. 7 edition, will most likely be in the top 10 next year as well.

2. Black Fly goes for the jugular

There’s an old maxim in this industry that “if it bleeds, it leads” proven true with the online runner-up. A blog post about a film loosely based on the exploits of a mass murderer in New Brunswick killed it online, garnering more than 4,000 Facebook shares.

3. Spy in the living room: Can you trust the Xbox Kinect?

Courier editor Barry Link’s column about the Xbox Kinect’s potential for misuse as a tool in our ever-increasing surveillance state also earned a lot of eyeballs. This was likely due to it being a sober and insightful analysis of home entertainment systems in an era of an omnipresent, Orwellian NSA. Or maybe because it had “Xbox Kinect” in the headline.

4. Killarney video clerk is Internet star

Speaking of bygone eras, Sandra Thomas’ profile of the manager of a video rental store in Champlain Heights was also widely read. Alan Wong is a local living legend among his customers for his astounding memory (he literally has Total Recall) but, sadly, the store nonetheless closed up shop nine months after the story ran due to declining business.

5. Mustang marks 50th anniversary at auto show

Sandra Thomas’ story about the Ford Mustang, first made famous after being driven by Steve McQueen in the chase scene in the 1968 film Bullitt, turning the big five-oh came in at number five with a bullet.

6. Why we need do decriminalize bike helmets

Bicycles and the rights of those who ride them being a never-ending topic of debate in Vancouver, it’s no big surprise that an op-ed by guest columnist Chris Bruntlett about the need to get rid of mandatory helmets hard plenty of readers.

7. Vancouver Sun schooled by teacher

Allen Garr’s column exposing a slanted Vancouver Sun editorial slamming Vision Vancouver written days before the Nov. 15 civic election by a man married to the communications director for NPA mayoral candidate (and former Sun managing editor) Kirk LaPointe drew a lot of attention. For obvious reasons.

8. Monterey Bay makes splash as captive free model

Sandra Thomas made yet another appearance in the top 10 with a story about an aquarium in California that is a huge success story despite, unlike the Vancouver Aquarium, not keeping whales in captivity.

9. Taking a chance on the new dating app Tinder

The popularity of blogger Amy Yew’s post about a new app that helps Vancouverites hook up proved yet another common saying in the media biz: Sex sells.

10. Vancouver man saving up for tiny house

Like bicycles, captive cetaceans and the alleged difficulty of finding a mate in this city, the lack of affordable housing is always a hot topic in this city, and intern Wanyee Li’s story about a man whose own solution was to live in a customized van also drew plenty of traffic.