I have made it a tradition here at The New Leaf Journal to have Justin and Justina, a pair of fictional characters who star in a long-running dialogue series, to narrate a review of the previous year at The New Leaf Journal on New Years Day. Each of my yearly review articles features a list of our most-visited articles from the previous year according to our local page-counting solution, Koko Analytics. My 2020 review featured our 20 most-visited articles of what was a truncated year (we went live on April 27, 2020) while the list expanded to 50 and 51 in 2021 and 2022 respectively. This year, I will expand the list slightly, featuring the 54 most-visited articles of 2023. However, I am making a few changes to make this year’s list more concise and easier to follow than the previous two editions.
Without further ado, I yield the floor to Justin, Justina, and the proprietor of The New Leaf Journal’s Emu Café, a literal emu.
Dialogue Intro
Justin: It’s New Year’s Eve again. Do you know what that means?
Justina: Why am I here?
Justin: It’s time for another review of the previous year at The New Leaf Journal!
Justina: Why?
Justin: Probably tradition after doing one the previous three years.
Emu: …
Justina: I forgot about the weird bird.
Emu: …!
Justin: This is why your order will be slow.
Justina: Why is my food being prepared by a bird!?
Justin: Anyway, I present the ground-rules for this year’s list.
* We will list the 54 most-visited New Leaf Journal articles of 2024 * The list is based solely on page visit statistics from Koko Analytics * We will include notes on how individual articles performed throughout the year * We will look at articles ranked 54-25 in groups of six while each article in the top 24 will receive an individual, full section
Justina: I like the “speed-run” part.
Justin: Yeah… things got a little out of hand last year. We learned a valuable lesson.
Emu: (Nods)
Justina: Why is the bird nodding!?
Justin: Before we start, note that this year’s ranking was materially affected by the fact that Bing is communist.
Justina: …Communist?
Emu: (Looks bravely toward the future.)
Justin: Yes. They unjustly blacklisted The New Leaf Journal from search for the better part of seven months.
Justina: I hate them for making it hard for people to find my articles, but how does that make them communist?
Justin: You would know if you read anything besides articles about you.
Justina: Hey! I read a few quince articles that weren’t about me last year!
Emu: …
Justina: And the bird didn’t even have quinces on the menu! It said it found some but it was $4 per quince. What is with the quince inflation?
Emu: (Shrugs)
Justina: Nick gave us a mandate to get through this more quickly this year. So let’s get started.
Justina: I better be on here somewhere…
Emu: …
Articles 54-25
Justin: As I explained, we will be going in groups of six this until the top 24 articles.
Justina: I’d prefer groups of 27 but I’ll take what I can get.
Articles 54-49
| Rank | Article | Author | Published |
|---|---|---|---|
| 54 | Usagi Drop 〜 A Complicated Anime Pick | NAF | 1.11.2021 |
| 53 | Replacing The Great Suspender – Two Tracker-Free Suspender Forks | NAF | 8.4.2021 |
| 52 | Reading Tea Leaves: The Symbolism of the Guitar and Other Instruments | NAF | 1.4.2021 |
| 51 | The Last Nintendo Wii Games | NAF | 8.1.2023 |
| 50 | “Casey’s Revenge” – Grantland Rice’s 1896 Reply Poem to “Casey at Bat” | NAF | 8.26.2021 |
| 49 | Installing and Running Bodhi Linux on a 2007 MacBook | NAF | 10.3.2021 |
Justin: Our first batch of articles features several that two that ranked higher in the previous two years, the Usagi Drop review (19 and 31 in 2021 and 2022 respectively) and Casey at Bat (34 in 2022). Nick has let us in that he thinks Usagi was hurt by the Bing ban, having noted it improved in the last quarter of 2023 after The New Leaf Journal was restored to Bing and, by extension, DuckDuckGo. The only article in the first six that made a splash in our monthly rankings was the post on the last Nintendo Wii games which, coincidentally, is the most recently published article in the top 54.
Emu: If you were rooting for any articles published after August 1, please show your support for them next year.
Justina: It talked! Why did it talk!
Emu: …?
Justin: Whatever do you mean?
Justina: That great suspender one looks familiar…
Justin: Not quite. Nick’s review of the original Great Suspender extension, which became malware, was our third most-visited article in 2020. The one that snuck into our top 54 this year was on two alternatives to the now-bad version.
Justina: I see.
Justin: However, Nick primarily uses Firefox now, so he has not looked at The Great Suspender extensions for a while.
Justina: I use Safari.
Justin: Of course you do. Sadly, the 49th place article about installing Bodhi Linux would not apply to your fancy M2 CPU Macbook.
Justina: Are you mocking me?
Emu: …
Articles 48-43
| Rank | Article | Author | Published |
|---|---|---|---|
| 48 | Performing Site-Specific Searches With DuckDuckGo | NAF | 8.8.2021 |
| 47 | Pokémon: Pathways to Adventure (1999) Review | NAF | 4.21.2022 |
| 46 | Japanese Environment in PoL, Lutris, and Bottles | NAF | 6.16.2022 |
| 45 | A 2021 List of Alternative Search Engines and Search Resources | NAF | 6.13.2021 |
| 44 | Searching for the Figure Behind the Blob Dylan Tags in NYC and Florida | NAF | 10.24.2021 |
| 43 | Reviewing “Rashomon and Other Stories” | NAF | 3.6.2021 |
Justin: Our 48th place article on domain-specific searches with DuckDuckGo did almost nothing all year after strong performances in 2021 (15th) and 2022 (16th) before it surged late in the year after The New Leaf Journal was restored to Bing and, by extension, DuckDuckGo. It is the only article in this batch to have a monthly top 12.
Justina: I still don’t get DuckDuckGo.
Justin: To be fair, Nick and I stopped using it much due to bitterness over the Bing ban.
Justina: What did DuckDuckGo have to do with Bing.
Emu: …Read this…
Justina: No.
Justin: Spots 47 and 45-43 are all new to the year-end ranking. Nick was happy to see two of his book reviews make it at 47 and 43.
Justina: Blob Dylan again? That was on the list before right?
Justin: Well Blob was, but this specific Blob article wasn’t. All three Blob Dylan articles have now made a year-end ranking.
Emu: Except the one where you misled Justina into thinking Blob Dylan had something to do with the Game Stop and Robin Hood.
Justin: True, but was that truly Blob Dylan?
Justina: I knew you were lying!
Justin: That aside, if you’re a Blob Dylan fan…
Articles 42-37
| Rank | Article | Author | Published |
|---|---|---|---|
| 42 | Reviewing FrogFind: A Search Engine For Vintage Computers | NAF | 7.24.2022 |
| 41 | “Uncle Susan is a Wolf” – A Graffiti Photo and Research Project | NAF | 12.29.2021 |
| 40 | Familiar song in Angel Next Door anime | NAF | 2.6.2023 |
| 39 | Peekier redirects to Kagi Search | NAF | 5.2.2023 |
| 38 | A Follow-Up Post on the Meaning of “Blob Dylan” | NAF | 4.12.2021 |
| 37 | Searching for School Days’ Nice Boat | NAF | 5.6.2022 |
Justin: Things are heating up now. FrogFind was another late riser, which is probably not surprising since FrogFind is a front-end for DuckDuckGo. Justina, take notes. DuckDuckGo is effectively a front-end for Bing and FrogFind is actually a front-end for DuckDuckGo. I don’t see you taking notes!
Emu: (Hands pen and paper)
Justina: I’m not going to!
Justin: Then we have a post on Peekier, a search engine that was a Bing front-end, dying and redirecting to Kagi, which is a paid front-end for Google and Bing. Yes yes Hacker News people I know they mix in some of their own stuff. Justina! Notes!
Justina: NO!
Emu: …
Justin: Graffiti posts were popular last year, but my sources are telling me that Uncle Susan at 41 and now three-time top 50 finisher Blob Dylan II (11th in 2021 and 30th in 2022) are the top ones of 2023.
Justina: Thank goodness.
Justin: Nick said the decline and fall of New York City soured him on graffiti posts in 2023.
Emu: Bleak…
Justina: Your beak is bleak.
Emu: That was uncalled for.
Justin: Then we have two anime posts. Nick’s article on having a feeling of deja vu about an ending song in The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten actually notched a 12th place finish in its debut month.
Emu: (12th in February wouldn’t have been in the top-24 in December, however.)
Justina: It’s whispering to you like it knows you.
Justin: He does. But I don’t know what you’re talking about. Nick’s post on searching for the School Days nice boat episode made its top-50 debut at 37.
Articles 36-31
| Rank | Article | Author | Published |
|---|---|---|---|
| 36 | The Chinese Dragon Gang Origin Story | NAF | 10.22.2022 |
| 35 | Building a Big Joe Williams-Inspired Nine String Guitar | VVG | 3.12.2022 |
| 34 | The Sega Dreamcast Controller Joystick | NAF | 6.14.2022 |
| 33 | Tom Cantor’s Changed Has Poor Color Scheme | NAF | 8.3.2022 |
| 32 | The Enigmatic Life and Death of Emperor Otho | NAF | 4.18.2021 |
| 31 | Using an Amiga OS-Inspired Window Theme In XFCE With XFWM4 | NAF | 1.2.2022 |
Justin: Our 33rd place article, Nick’s joke post on an unsolicited religious conversion tome, was actually our second most-read article in January, which was meaningful since that was our 3rd best month of 2023 (and may well have been first but for the mid-month Bing-ban incident).
Justina: Why is it only 33rd then?
Justin: I don’t know. It died after January. Maybe his spam mail campaign ended? Kind of like Victor’s mask article in 2022.
Emu: (Speaking of Victor)
Justina: Don’t help him segue!
Justin: Victor’s post on building a nine-string guitar made its top-50 debut at 35. That is, Victor fans, his only ranking article this year, but you should catch up on all of his music-themed posts (and a few game posts) here.
Justina: Maybe he should write more?
Emu: (We’ve been telling him that)
Justina: Too many people know the bird…
Justin: Otho, which remains The New Leaf Journal’s longest article by a wide margin…
Justina: It’s way too long…
Justin: Had its two best months and made four weekly top-fives, including almost taking number one on one week, but did not do too much outside of that random stretch of success.
Justina: Word spread about how long it is.
Articles 30-25
| Rank | Article | Author | Published |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | Futaba Igarashi’s Hair Is Naturally Green? | NAF | 11.23.2021 |
| 29 | Using Web Archives To Get Around CAPTCHAs | NAF | 8.12.2022 |
| 28 | An Early Review of Pixelfed – Instagram Alternative | NAF | 10.13.2020 |
| 27 | The ideal phone, e-ink and QWERTY | NAF | 2.23.2023 |
| 26 | Nintendo Power’s 1999 Yoshi in Pokémon April Fools Prank | NAF | 4.1.2021 |
| 25 | Review of the Teracube 2e Smartphone | NAF | 11.19.2021 |
Justina: Oh no the anime hair color thing again…
Justin: Well not quite again. Futaba Igarashi didn’t make the top 51 last year, although she was just three spots off. If only we went for 54 instead of 51. This year she left no doubt.
Justina: Why…
Justin: One notable in this batch is Nick’s increasingly dated 2020 Pixelfed review, which was the top article in 2020 and top-10 in 2021 and 2022.
Justina: I’m still fine with Instagram.
Emu: …
Justin: Of course you are, and while you’re still fine with your iPhone, Nick’s February 2023 musing on the ideal phone came in at 27th after coming out of the game strong and his old review of the Murena Teracube 2e followed up its top-10 last year with a 25th place finish.
Justina: Why would people still care about some random old phone?
Justin: Nick uses his as a Syncthing node these days.
Justina: I didn’t ask!
Halftime Break
Justin: Alright, now we’re in the top 24. Things are getting real.
Justina: What’s so special about 24?
Justin: By default, Koko Analytics shows the top 25 articles for a specific time period. It started including the homepage and site pages in late 2022. The homepage always ranks highly, so Nick began thinking in terms of top 24s by subtracting the homepage.
Justina: That wasn’t too interesting…
Emu: (He also tends to sort articles with numbers divisible by three….)
Justin: True. There is actually a nice numerical cutoff between 25 and 24 this year, so it works out well.
Justina: What is it?
Justin: The actual page views are proprietary information, Justina.
Justina: …
Justin: But The New Leaf Journal is almost entirely powered by open source! See Nick’s open source app recommendations, which rank highly for December.
Justina: I take it they’re not on this list?
Emu: (…Well, it was published in December.)
Justina: It keeps whispering!
Articles 24-13
Justin: Now for the 24th-ranked article of 2023…
Emu: (Drumroll)
Justina: WHERE DID THE BIRD GET DRUMS!?
(Note: I, Nicholas A. Ferrell, return to explain the tables. For each article, I will note how many top-24 placements they had in the 10-three month periods starting with Jan-March 2023 and ending with Oct-Dec 2023. I will also list their individual month-end top-24s and their weekly top-5s. The weekly top-five covers the period beginning with Saturday and ending with Friday. “NLW” stands for “newsletter week.” We use the Saturday-Friday week because we publish our newsletter, in which the weekly rankings appear, on Saturday.)
24. How to Find Substack RSS Feeds and Other Notes
| Article | How to Find Substack RSS Feeds and Other Notes |
| Author | Nicholas A. Ferrell |
| Published | June 19, 2021 |
| Previous Year Rankings | 2022 (10th) and 2021 (7th) |
| 3-Month Top 24s | 4: Jan-March (19th), Feb-April (16th), Sep-Nov (17th), Oct-Dec (21st) |
| Monthly Top 24s | 5: Jan (22nd), Feb (11th), May (22nd), Oct (14th), Nov (19th) |
| Weekly Top 5s | 2: NLW 8 and 44, best finish 3rd in NLW 8 |
Justin: Nick’s 2021 updated his Substack article since the example Substack newsletter he originally used changed its URL. It had a quieter year than in 2021 and 2022, when it ran off one of the longest weekly top-five streaks, but it managed to place a solid 24th in its third year online.
Justina: Wait, it’s a newsletter? Then who cares about feeds?
Justin: Feeds are better than newsletters, Justina. That’s why we make sure our newsletter has a feed.
Justina: NOT convinced. Of course I never check my email.
Justin: Wait you treat your email like your mail?
Justina: (Looks coy)
Emu: …
23. Understanding Hair Color in the Kimi ni Todoke Anime Series
| Article | Understanding Hair Color in the Kimi ni Todoke Anime Series |
| Author | Nicholas A. Ferrell |
| Published | August 19, 2021 |
| Previous Year Rankings | 2022 (42nd) and 2021 (43rd) |
| 3-Month Top 24s | 3: Jan-March (11th), Feb-April (11th), April-May (20th) |
| Monthly Top 24s | 4: Jan (7th), Feb (8th), March (21st), April (16th) |
| Weekly Top 5s | 2: NLW 1, 7; best finish 3rd in NLW 7 |
Justina: Oh no more anime hair color…
Justin: That’s right! After loitering in the 40s in 2021 and 2022, Nick’s random article in hair color on a more-than-decade old anime cracked the top 24.
Emu: (Applauds)
Justina: This is not praiseworthy! What is wrong with our readers!?
Justin: Nick had no idea when he wrote this article about Kimi ni Todoke, which aired from 2009-2011, that it would receive a third season. How clutch is that? It’s unfortunately on Netflix. Justina, you have Netflix, right?
Justina: I don’t want to watch!
Emu: (We now collected all of our anime hair color articles in one place)
Justina: It is a problem you have so many!
Justin: Nice to see you and the bird finally communicating.
Emu: …
22. Abraham Lincoln’s 1851 Letters on Work to John D. Johnston
| Article | Abraham Lincoln’s 1851 Letters on Work to John D. Johnston |
| Author | Nicholas A. Ferrell |
| Published | November 4, 2021 |
| Previous Year Rankings | 2022 (27th) |
| 3-Month Top 24s | 3: June-Aug (8th), July-Sep (4th), Aug-Oct (6th) |
| Monthly Top 24s | 4: July (9th), August (3rd), September (15th), October (19th) |
| Weekly Top 5s | 4: NLW 28, 30, 32, 34; best finish 1st in NLW 32 |
Justin: Old Abe Lincoln randomly caught fire in the fall of 2022 to post a 27th place year-end finish after not doing much early in the year. This year, he did even less early in the year before having a summer break-out and being just a few views away from the top spot in August.
Justina: Letters on work?
Justin: Yes, it will inspire you.
Justina: I don’t think so.
Justin: If only someone knew why this article randomly catches fire for a couple of weeks at a time.
21. A Look at ProxiTok, a TikTok Frontend
| Article | A Look at ProxiTok, a TikTok Frontend |
| Author | Nicholas A. Ferrell |
| Published | May 15, 2022 |
| Previous Year Rankings | 2022 (19th) |
| 3-Month Top 24s | 7: Jan-March (16th), Feb-April (18th), March-May (18th), July-Sep (23rd), Aug-Oct (22nd), Sep-Nov (18th), Oct-Dec (17th) |
| Monthly Top 24s | 7: Jan (12th), Feb (21st), March (12th), July (19th), Sep (19th), Oct (12th), Dec (18th) |
| Weekly Top 5s | N/A |
Justin: Next up is Nick’s 2021 review of ProxiTok, a privacy front-end for TikTok. PSA: Don’t use ProxiTok. Not because privacy front-ends are bad, but because there’s no reason to watch TikTok.
Justina: Even I don’t use TikTok. I don’t feel bad enough about my life so I’m going to tune you guys out and browse Instagram for a bit.
Justin: Ok, I’ll try to fix our firewall while I announce the next few articles.
Emu: (Good idea)
20. Ghostwriter Markdown Editor Review
| Article | Ghostwriter Markdown Editor Review |
| Author | Nicholas A. Ferrell |
| Published | October 7, 2021 |
| Previous Year Rankings | 2022 (17th) |
| 3-Month Top 24s | 9: Jan-March (15th), Feb-April (17th), March-May (16th), April-June (23rd), May-July (24th), July-Sep (21st), Aug-Oct (23rd), Sept-Nov (22nd), Oct-Dec (24th) |
| Monthly Top 24s | 8: Jan (15th), Feb (13th), March (15th), May (17th), June (22nd), Sep (16th), Nov (23rd), Dec (23rd) |
| Weekly Top 5s | N/A |
Justin: 20th is Nick’s 2021 review of the Ghostwriter markdown editor. Unlike in 2021 where it had a big surge in the early fall thanks to news that the app joined the KDE suite, it meandered along in 2023 and ended up in almost the same place.
Justina: (Barely looking up from TikTok) I use Pages.
Justin: Of course you do.
Emu: (People actually use that)
Justin: (Sadly, yes. Good think LibreOffice can handle .pages files)
Justina: I can hear you two!
19. Installing LineageOS on a 2013 Nexus 7 (Wi-Fi)
| Article | Installing LineageOS on a 2013 Nexus 7 (Wi-Fi) |
| Author | Nicholas A. Ferrell |
| Published | July 28, 2021 |
| Previous Year Rankings | 2022 (22nd) and 2021 (49th) |
| 3-Month Top 24s | 6: May-July (16th), June-Aug (20th), July-Sep (20th), Aug-Oct (18th), Sep-Nov (12th), Oct-Dec (10th) |
| Monthly Top 24s | 8: May (16th), June (23rd), July (20th), Aug (24th), Sep (21st), Oct (13th), Nov (11th), Dec (9th) |
| Weekly Top 5s | N/A |
Justin: In a mild surprise, Nick’s 2021 article on installing LineageOS on a Google Nexus 7 tablet posted its best finish yet, moving up from 22nd last year to 17th. Even more impressive is that it did not benefit from being linked in our big Hacker News share of 2022.
Justina: Why would you use a 2013 tablet? Just get an iPad.
Justin: No.
Justina: Your loss.
Justin: Nick discovered that this article was linked on the linux.org forum, which may explain some of its late year success.
18. Persona 4 Golden Digital Artbook Review (Steam)
| Article | Persona 4 Golden Digital Artbook Review (Steam) |
| Author | Nicholas A. Ferrell |
| Published | November 15, 2020 |
| Previous Year Rankings | 2022 (14th), 2021 (4th), and 2020 (6th) |
| 3-Month Top 24s | 9: Jan-March (13th), Feb-April (14th), March-May (14th), April-June (21st), May-July (18th), June-Aug (18th), July-Sep (16th), Aug-Oct (17th), Sep-Nov (19th) |
| Monthly Top 24s | 9: Jan (11th), Feb (14th), March (13th), April (24th), June (20th), July (17th), Aug (18th), Sep (12th), Nov (24th) |
| Weekly Top 5s | 1: NLW 38, best finish 2nd |
Justin: Nick’s 2020 Persona 4 Golden artbook review becomes the third article to make four year-end top-24s and is the second of three 2020 articles on the list.
Justina: Again, this is just an artbook and not the game, right?
Justin: Digital artbook.
Justina: …
Justin: The more interesting physical art book article failed to make the same impression.
Emu: …
Justin: To be fair Nick did write a wonderful article about coffee in Persona 4 but it didn’t catch on. Dojima really was a hero for giving his six-year old daughter coffee on a school night.
Emu: (Sheds a tear)
Justina: That’s not heroic…
17. The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten – Anime Review
| Article | The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten – Anime Review |
| Author | Nicholas A. Ferrell |
| Published | March 30, 2023 |
| 3-Month Top 24s | 8: March-May (23rd), April-June (16th), May-July (17th), June-Aug (16th), July-Sep (14th), Aug-Oct (12th), Sep-Nov (9th), Oct-Dec (7th) |
| Monthly Top 24s | 8: April (14th), May (18th), July (16th), August (15th), Sep (11th), Oct (9th), Nov (8th), Dec (4th) |
| Weekly Top 5s | 4: NLW 39, 48, 51-52; best finish 1st in NLW 52 |
Justina: Wait, didn’t we see this Angel Next Door thing before?
Justin: Yes. This is an anime series that aired in winter. Nick wrote an article in the middle of the season about the ending theme song. It did unexpectedly well so he decided to review the whole series right after it finished.
Justina: At least the series review did better than a random article about a song…
Justin: Yeah… Nick wasn’t so confident after his full Mastodon-Twitter Crossposter article last year repeatedly lost to a one-paragraph short post about the same thing.
Emu: (Sad)
Justin: In any event, the series is getting a second season starting in a couple of days and it topped the weekly ranking last week, so we may have a threat to take the January 2024 crown here…
Justina: …At least it’s an actual review and not blabbering about hair color.
16. Biden, Lincoln, and Counting Back From the President’s Birth
| Article | Biden, Lincoln, and Counting Back From the President’s Birth |
| Author | Nicholas A. Ferrell |
| Published | April 29, 2022 |
| Previous Year Rankings | 2022 (18th) |
| 3-Month Top 24s | 5: Jan-March (8th), Feb-April (19th), March-May (6th), April-June (6th), May-July (7th) |
| Monthly Top 24s | 4: Jan (5th), Feb (18th), May (4th), June (15th) |
| Weekly Top 5s | 5: NLW 2-3, 19-21; best finish 1st in NLW 20 |
Justin: Much like last year, this peculiar article about U.S. President birthdays had a big May despite having nothing to do with May. But this time it also had a big January, so it comes in at 16th largely on two months.
Justina: I’m not going to ask.
Justin: Ulysses Grant comes up often.
Justina: I didn’t… wait then why isn’t he in the title?
Emu: …?
Justina: The bird agrees!
15. Installing GrapheneOS on a Google Pixel 6a
| Article | Installing GrapheneOS on a Google Pixel 6a |
| Author | Nicholas A. Ferrell |
| Published | May 15, 2023 |
| 3-Month Top 24s | 5: June-Aug (22nd), July-Sep (13th), Aug-Oct (10th), Sep-Nov (4th), Oct-Dec (3rd) |
| Monthly Top 24s | 5: Aug (13th), Sep (10th), Oct (6th), Nov (2nd), Dec (5th) |
| Weekly Top 5s | 8: NLW 41, 44-50; best finish 2nd in NLW 41, 46-48 |
Justin: The most-recent article in the top 24, an article on installing GrapheneOS on a Google Pixel 6a!
Emu: (Applauds)
Justina: Just get an iPhone instead of installing weird stuff on Androids! You still have a green bubble!
Justin: No.
Emu: (No)
Justina: Wait, the bird has a phone?
14. The Story of Billy Possum, President Hoover’s Pet Opossum
| Article | The Story of Billy Possum, President Hoover’s Pet Opossum |
| Author | Nicholas A. Ferrell |
| Published | November 30, 2021 |
| Previous Year Rankings | 2022 (33rd) |
| 3-Month Top 24s | 6: Jan-March (17th), Feb-April (13th), June-Aug (21st), Aug-Oct (19th), Sep-Nov (14th), Oct-Dec (8th) |
| Monthly Top 24s | 8: Jan (24th), Feb (7th), April (19th), June (21st), Aug (16th), Oct (20th), Nov (12th), Dec (3rd) |
| Weekly Top 5s | 3: NLW 5, 51-52; best finish 1st in NLW 51 |
Justin: Billy Possum broke out in 2022 with a big February. It did so again this year, but then came back later in the year with an even bigger November and December, taking its first-ever top weekly ranking. How’s that for a possum?
Emu: (Plays possum)
Justina: What does a possum look like?
Justin: It’s in the article.
Justina: …
Justin: You’re the one who got me a stuffed armadillo. Thank you, by the way.
Justina: I didn’t know what it was.
13. Review of /e/ – An Android Alternative For Mobile Phones
| Article | Review of /e/ – An Android Alternative For Mobile Phones |
| Author | Nicholas A. Ferrell |
| Published | November 21, 2021 |
| Previous Year Rankings | 2022 (1st) |
| 3-Month Top 24s | 10: Jan-March (10th), Feb-April (7th), March-May (10th), April-June (14th), May-July (19th), June-Aug (13th), July-Sep (12th), Aug-Oct (13th), Sep-Nov (15th), Oct-Dec (14th) |
| Monthly Top 24s | 11: Jan (17th), Feb (17th), March (5th), April (11th), June (14th), July (24th), Aug (11th), Sep (14th), Oct (15th), Nov (18th), Dec (16th) |
| Weekly Top 5s | 3: NLW 10, 12, 32; best finish 5th |
Justin: The king of 2022 comes in at 13th.
Justina: Oh right, isn’t this that article that did that Hacker News thing last year?
Justin: Someone shared it to Hacker News, but yes.
Justina: Same difference. So why didn’t it just do that again?
Justin: Because people didn’t want to share our articles this year.
Justina: Someone should share our dialogues.
Emu: (Give them the stat…)
Justina: …Stat?
Justin: Oh right. This is the last of 11 articles to have made all 10 3-month top-24s in 2023, so things are getting real now.
Articles 12-1
Justin: Do you feel the tension mounting!?
Justina: No.
Emu: (Don’t lie)
Justina: I just want to go enjoy my New Year’s!
Justin: I will note as we go into the top-12 that unlike 2021 and 2022, there was no big external sharing event at The New Leaf Journal on Hacker News or Bob Dylan fan sites, so you can rest assured that the top articles earned their positions based on their ability to generate traffic.
Emu: (Foreshadowing?)
Justin: Well, maybe.
Justina: I still don’t get the whole Hacker News thing…
12. How the Forget-Me-Not Flower Found Its Name
| Article | How the Forget-Me-Not Flower Found Its Name |
| Author | Nicholas A. Ferrell |
| Published | March 11, 2021 |
| Previous Year Rankings | 2022 (20th), 2021 (22nd) |
| 3-Month Top 24s | 10: Jan-March (14th), Feb-April (9th), March-May (7th), April-June (7th), May-July (10th), June-Aug (14th), July-Sep (17th), Aug-Oct (20th), Sep-Nov (20th), Oct-Dec (23rd) |
| Monthly Top 24s | 10: Jan (16th), Feb (16th), March (10th), April (6th), May (5th), June (11th), July (14th), Aug (17th), Sep (18th), Nov (21st) |
| Weekly Top 5s | 3: NLW 19-20, 22; best finish 4th in NLW 22 |
Justin: Nick’s forget-me-not flower name history was one of two articles to make the top-24 in 2021 and 2022 without appearing in a weekly top-5. This year it had its best year, coming in at its best year-end finish of 12th and making three weekly top-fives.
Emu: (Cheers)
Justina: I do like forget-me-not flowers.
Justin: Did you forget to read the article?
Justina: How did you know?
Justin: Doubt me not.
Emu: …
11. Heights in “The Dangers in My Heart” Anime
| Article | Heights in “The Dangers in My Heart” Anime |
| Author | Nicholas A. Ferrell |
| Published | April 2, 2023 |
| 3-Month Top 24s | 8: March-May (13th), April-June (5th), May-July (5th), June-Aug (4th), July-Sep (11th), Aug-Oct (15th), Sep-Nov (16th), Oct-Dec (16th) |
| Monthly Top 24s | 8: May (7th), June (2nd), July (3rd), Aug (14th), Sep (17th), Oct (22nd), Nov (14th), Dec (17th) |
| Weekly Top 5s | 7: NLW 21, 23-27, 29; best finish 2nd in NLW 23-26 |
Justin: Justina, I know you think the anime hair color thing is weird, but where do you stand on heights?
Justina: Even worse.
Justin: Lucky you then. This was a short leaflet post about The Dangers in My Heart anime written as an aside after the first episode. Despite missing the first three months of the year, it comes in at 11th with two monthly top-three finishes and it twice lost the top spot in the weekly ranking in the final hours of the week.
Justina: These readers…
Justin: You can now read a full review of the anime series to prepare for the second season in January.
Justina: I could.
Emu: (Is the review going to lose to the short height post)
Justin: (…Probably)
10. The Last Stand of Constantine XI
| Article | The Last Stand of Constantine XI |
| Author | Nicholas A. Ferrell |
| Published | May 30, 2020 |
| Previous Year Rankings | 2022 (7th), 2021 (8th), and 2020 (2nd) |
| 3-Month Top 24s | 10: Jan-March (12th), Feb-April (12th), March-May (12th), April-June (10th), May-July (11th), June-Aug (15th), July-Sep (15th), Aug-Oct (14th), Sep-Nov (13th), Oct-Dec (19th) |
| Monthly Top 24s | 12: Jan (6th), Feb (15th), March (19th), April (7th), May (8th), June (9th), July (21st), Aug (19th), Sep (9th), Oct (17th), Nov (20th), Dec (24th) |
| Weekly Top 5s | 4: NLW 1, 4, 22, 39; best finish 1st in NLW 22 |
Justina: This history guy again…
Emu: (Sheds a tear)
Justin: (Blubbers)
Justina: You guys cry every year!
Justin: Constantine XI actually regressed from 2022 and even 2021, but he was still consistent throughout the year and comes in at 10, becoming the only article to make four year-end top 10s. You know Justina…
Justina: …What?
Justin: I believe in Constantine. I don’t think this will be his last stand.
Justina: It should go away so our dialogues — i.e., me — can have a turn.
9. The Nice Boat 〜 A Look Back at the School Days Anime
| Article | The Nice Boat 〜 A Look Back at the School Days Anime |
| Author | Nicholas A. Ferrell |
| Published | May 6, 2021 |
| Previous Year Rankings | 2022 (24th) and 2021 (21st) |
| 3-Month Top 24s | 10: Jan-March (7th), Feb-April (6th), March-May (8th), April-June (9th), May-July (8th), June-Aug (7th), July-Sep (8th), Aug-Oct (11th), Sep-Nov (11th), Oct-Dec (12th) |
| Monthly Top 24s | 12: Jan (9th), Feb (9th), March (7th), April (8th), May (10th), June (7th), July (5th), Aug (8th), Sep (13th), Oct (10th), Nov (10th), Dec (12th) |
| Weekly Top 5s | 4: NLW 7, 11, 30-31; best finish 2nd in NLW 30 |
Justin: When I said that our forget-me-not flower was notable for making two year-end top-25s without a weekly top-five, I left off that Nick’s School Days anime and meme review also fit the bill. It one-upped forget-me-not, however, making its first four weekly top-fives to go with an all-time best year-end finish of 9th.
Justina: This article is as long as the anime.
Justin: No trust me the anime feels longer.
Emu: (The other…)
Justin: Oh yes, if you recall, a second School Days article was 37th, so it was a good year for Nice Boats.
Emu: (Snickers)
Justina: Wait, what’s the deal with the Nice Boat.
Justin: Don’t say it. It sounds ominous when you say it.
Justina: I don’t like being left out.
Emu: (Backs away)
8. Height differences in anime romances
| Article | Height differences in anime romances |
| Author | Nicholas A. Ferrell |
| Published | March 22, 2023 |
| 3-Month Top 24s | 7: April-June (13th), May-July (3rd), June-Aug (1st), July-Sep (1st), Aug-Oct (3rd), Sep-Nov (8th), Oct-Dec (13th) |
| Monthly Top 24s | 7: June (6th), July (1st), Aug (4th), Sep (2nd), Oct (11th), Nov (13th), Dec (19th) |
| Weekly Top 5s | 13: NLW 23, 27-37, 39; best finish 1st in NLW 27-30, 36-37 |
Justina: More anime heights?
Justin: The first anime height post was effectively an addendum to this full-length anime height essay. Nick actually didn’t expect anything from this essay, but because it was prompted by an anime that was airing in the summer, it did… unexpectedly well.
Justina: Wait it’s still doing well. Isn’t the anime over!?
Justin: Yes, but do you want to know something funny?
Emu: (…?)
Justina: Don’t encourage him, bird.
Justin: Nick never watched the anime.
7. An In-Depth Look at Norton Safe Search
| Article | An In-Depth Look at Norton Safe Search |
| Author | Nicholas A. Ferrell |
| Published | October 18, 2022 |
| Previous Year Rankings | N/A |
| 3-Month Top 24s | 8: March-May (15th), April-June (15th), May-July (14th), June-Aug (9th), July-Sep (7th), Aug-Oct (5th), Sep-Nov (1st), Oct-Dec (1st) |
| Monthly Top 24s | 9: March (17th), May (15th), June (12th), July (13th), Aug (6th), Sep (5th), Oct (7th), Nov (1st), Dec (2nd) |
| Weekly Top 5s | 12: NLW 33, 36-37, 40, 45-52; best finish 1st in NLW 45-49 |
Justin: So here’s a review of a search engine that Nick only used briefly to review.
Justina: Does he recommend it?
Justin: No.
Justina: So then why did he review it?
Justin: He was interested in where it’s results came from?
Justina: But he’s not using it!
Emu: …
Justin: Nick isn’t entirely sure why it improved so much in the last few months and broke out in November, but who’s counting?
Emu: (…You?)
Justina: Good point, bird.
Emu: (Thank you.)
6. Recommended F-Droid FOSS Apps For Android-Based Devices (2021)
| Article | Recommended F-Droid FOSS Apps For Android-Based Devices (2021) |
| Author | Nicholas A. Ferrell |
| Published | November 28, 2021 |
| Previous Year Rankings | 2022 (4th) and 2021 (14th) |
| 3-Month Top 24s | 10: Jan-March (9th), Feb-April (8th), March-May (11th), April-June (11th), May-July (12th), June-Aug (11th), July-Sep (10th), Aug-Oct (8th), Sep-Nov (5th), Oct-Dec (2nd) |
| Monthly Top 24s | 12: Jan (10th), Feb (6th), March (9th), April (10th), May (11th), June (13th), July (12th), August (9th), Sep (8th), Oct (5th), Nov (3rd), Dec (1st) |
| Weekly Top 5s | 11: NLW 8, 35, 40, 43, 45-46, 48-52; best finish 1st in NLW 43 |
Justin: After a relatively slow start to the year, Nick’s now outdated review of F-Droid apps had a big October to December stretch and, after five second place month-end finishes in 2021 and 2022, finally took home its first top monthly placement.
Justina: But it’s outdated!
Justina: So? Look, it says 2021 and has a disclaimer. Nick also updated it to reflect that three apps were bought by an adware company. It’s inspiring to see an article be reused.
Justina: …
Emu: (Speaking of outdated…)
Justina: Oh no…
5. Installing Ubuntu Touch on a Google Nexus 7 (2013)
| Article | Installing Ubuntu Touch on a Google Nexus 7 (2013) |
| Author | Nicholas A. Ferrell |
| Published | July 5, 2021 |
| Previous Year Rankings | 2022 (5th) and 2021 (9th) |
| 3-Month Top 24s | 10: Jan-March (5th), Feb-April (5th), March-May (5th), April-June (8th), May-July (9th), June-Aug (10th), July-Sep (9th), Aug-Oct (7th), Sep-Nov (6th), Oct-Dec (5th) |
| Monthly Top 24s | 12: Jan (4th), Feb (3rd), March (6th), April (5th), May (9th), June (8th), July (10th), Aug (12th), Sep (6th), Oct (4th), Nov (4th), Dec (7th) |
| Weekly Top 5s | 21: NLW 1-2, 4-6, 8-10, 14, 18, 38, 41-48, 51; best finish 1st in NLW 1, 42 |
Justin: Nick’s guide to installing Ubuntu Touch on a Google Nexus 7, which doesn’t actually support the current version of Ubuntu Touch anymore!
Emu: (Celebrates)
Justina: No! Why!?
Justin: I don’t know. And I’ll note the LineageOS install guide for the same device is still relevant.
Justina: These people…
Justin: It had small break-through en route to repeating its 5th place finish from 2021, topping two weekly rankings 41 weeks apart after not topping one in one of its many weekly appearances in the previous two years.
4. The Pokémon Special Split in Generation 2 – Statistics and Analysis
| Article | The Pokémon Special Split in Generation 2 – Statistics and Analysis |
| Author | Nicholas A. Ferrell |
| Published | January 18, 2022 |
| Previous Year Rankings | 2022 (12th) |
| 3-Month Top 24s | 10: Jan-March (3rd), Feb-April (4th), March-May (4th), April-June (4th), May-July (6th), June-Aug (3rd), July-Sep (3rd), Aug-Oct (1st), Sep-Nov (2nd), Oct-Dec (4th) |
| Monthly Top 24s | 12: Jan (3rd), Feb (4th), March (4th), April (4th), May (6th), June (5th), July (4th), Aug (2nd), Sep (3rd), Oct (1st), Nov (5th), Dec (8th) |
| Weekly Top 5s | 39: NLW 1-7, 11-18, 24-26, 28-38, 40-47, 49, 52; best finish 1st for NLW 33, 40-41, 44 |
Justina: So if I understand correctly, this is about stats in two games that are more than 20 years old?
Justin: Look, say what you will about the last two articles, but people still play the classic Pokémon games. These are evergreen.
Justina: I’m not buying it.
Justin: You may not like what Nick has planned for 2024 then.
Emu: (Foreshadowing 2024…)
Justina: As long as I don’t have to deal with it here.
Justin: With 39 weekly top-fives, it now holds the record for the fourth most top-fives in one year. The first and third came last year.
Justina: What about second?
Justin: Shhhh…
Emu: (Foreshadowing…)
Justina: …
3. Peekier Search Engine Review
| Article | Peekier Search Engine Review |
| Author | Nicholas A. Ferrell |
| Published | February 26, 2022 |
| Previous Year Rankings | 2022 (15th) |
| 3-Month Top 24s | 10: Jan-March (4th), Feb-April (3rd), March-May (3rd), April-June (3rd), May-July (2nd), June-Aug (6th), July-Sep (6th), Aug-Oct (4th), Sep-Nov (7th), Oct-Dec (6th) |
| Monthly Top 24s | 12: Jan (8th), Feb (5th), March (3rd), April (3rd), May (1st), June (3rd), July (11th), Aug (7th), Sep (4th), Oct (2nd), Nov (7th), Dec (13th) |
| Weekly Top 5s | 27: NLW 5, 9-26, 35-36, 38-43; best finish 1st in NLW 18-19, 21 |
Justin: If you thought the 2021 F-Droid app article was outdated despite the fact that almost all of the apps are still maintained, and if you thought the Ubuntu Touch install guide for a device that doesn’t support the newest version of Ubuntu Touch was outdated…
Justina: …
Justin: Here’s a review of a search engine that no longer exists!
Justina: Third! It doesn’t exist!
Justin: What’s worse is that it was discontinued in February. But people keep reading this article, which in fact explains it was discontinued and links to an article about the discontinuation. But the article about the discontinuation only came in 39th.
Justina: It seems to have performed best after being discontinued.
Justin: Look, I think with all the screenshots and notes that this stands as a very informative history piece.
Justina: …It better not be back next year.
Emu: (…I still like the owl mascot…)
Justina: (It is cute…)
Justin: Look at you two get along!
2. Tiki paralogue trick in Fire Emblem Engage
| Article | Tiki paralogue trick in Fire Emblem Engage |
| Author | Nicholas A. Ferrell |
| Published | February 3, 2023 |
| 3-Month Top 24s | 10: Jan-March (2nd), Feb-April (1st), March-May (1st), April-June (1st), May-July (4th), June-Aug (5th), July-Sep (5th), Aug-Oct (9th), Sept-Nov (10th), Oct-Dec (11th) |
| Monthly Top 24s | 11: Feb (1st), March (1st), April (1st), May (2nd), June (4th), July (6th), Aug (5th), Sep (7th), Oct (21st), Nov (9th), Dec (10th) |
| Weekly Top 5s | 26: NLW 6-25, 29-31, 33-34, 37; best finish 1st in NLW 7-17 |
Justin: The top new article of the year was Nick’s long strategy guide detailing a trick for beating one part of a paralogue in Fire Emblem Engage.
Justina: In English.
Justin: He stumbled on a convenient way to deal with two monsters at the end of a very long fight where you could lose a couple of hours of work.
Justina: I see.
Justin: This article dominated the first half of the year, stringing together three consecutive top 3-month and single-month-end finishes and 11 consecutive weekly first-place finishes, which is our second-longest all-time streak.
Justina: So what happened?
Justin: It actually stayed stronger than Nick expected in the second half of the year but it lost its overall yearly lead in July and gradually lost a bit of ground going forward, although I will note that the gap between 2nd and 3rd was more than twice as big as the relatively small gap between 1st and 2nd.
Justina: I see.
Justin: Want a fun fact?
Emu: (…?)
Justina: No, no! Don’t encourage him.
Justin: Nick still hasn’t finished his play-through.
Justina: …Finish things you start.
Emu: (…Yeah…)
1. The Mystery of Sōseki and Tsuki ga Kirei
| Article | The Mystery of Sōseki and Tsuki ga Kirei |
| Author | Nicholas A. Ferrell |
| Published | March 14, 2021 |
| Previous Year Rankings | 2022 (2nd) and 2021 (2nd) |
| 3-Month Top 24s | 10: Jan-March (1st), Feb-April (2nd), March-May (2nd), April-June (2nd), May-July (1st), June-Aug (2nd), July-Sep (2nd), Aug-Oct (2nd), Sep-Nov (3rd), Oct-Dec (8th) |
| Monthly Top 24s | 12: Jan (1st), Feb (2nd), March (2nd), April (2nd), May (3rd), June (1st), July (2nd), Aug (1st), Sep (1st), Oct (3rd), Nov (6th), Dec (11th) |
| Weekly Top 5s | 44: NLW 1-29, 31-44, 47; best finish 1st in NLW 2-6, 23-26, 31, 34-35, 38-39 |
Justina: Finally… so it didn’t get robbed by that Hacker News thing this year?
Justin: After finishing second to Hacker News page 1 blow-ups in 2021 and 2022 — and I will note that it actually had to pass three Hacker News page 1 articles in 2022 to get to second — Nick’s history of tsuki ga kirei is tsuki ga king, congratulations to our article of the year!
Emu: (…That was awful.)
Justina: (…Yeah.)
Justin: Look, I love bad puns. You guys teaming up on me won’t take me away from bad puns.
Justina: I’m looking at this… didn’t it do worse than 2021 and 2022?
Justin: Yes, but it’s all relative. It did worse compared to itself in 2021 and 2022 but without Hacker News weirdness, it was competing on a level playing field. It finished in the top-3 of 8 of 10 3-month rankings, took four monthly first-place finishes, and had the second most weekly top 5s ever with 44 to go along with 14 first-place finishes. It flagged a bit by its standards in the last 3 months, but you can’t beat that consistency.
Justina: I see…
Justin: There is a small technicality, however.
Justina: What’s that?
Justin: The Fire Emblem Engage guide actually had a very slightly higher number of views per day, so I suppose it is possible that had Nick published it two weeks earlier, maybe it would have had enough of a cushion to hang on. But then again, Engage was released in mid-January, so when you think about it February 3 was a pretty early publication date for the guide.
Justina: You know, this article has suffered so much injustice the last two years. I’m moved.
Emu: No technicalities.
Justin and Justina Conclusion
Justin: Whew. Another year in the books. Look, the emu is bringing our New Year’s soba.
Justina: Finally! You were talking so much I forgot about food. Another thing is bothering me, by the way.
Justin: What’s that?
Justina: We didn’t make the top 54!
Justin: True. Consider this a small preview of our dialogues. However, our regular dialogues are about our normal conversations in New York City. We typically only play New Leaf Journal commentator on New Years. See our whole collection with descriptions here and help us make the 2024 list!
Emu: (Please help these two)
Justina: I don’t like that I’m being pitied by a bird but it seems like we need all the help we can get…
Justin: Well that was a clutch list. Justina, Emu, and I are going to enjoy our New Year’s dinner now. We turn it over to Nick for some parting thoughts.
Nick’s Conclusion
If you found this year-end review, I thank you for reading and hope that you are enjoying The New Leaf Journal’s varied writing content. 2024 was a strange year due to our being unceremoniously blacklisted from Bing for much of the year, which cost us significant traffic from both Bing and its derivative, DuckDuckGo. However, November and December were two of our best months on record, and I would go so far as to say that December was our best month that did not have a big Hacker News sharing event, all things considered. I think we have some momentum going into the new year and I have what I think will be some very interesting article ideas that you will start seeing in the near future. As always, I think one fun part of The New Leaf Journal is that you never know what you will find. The last few days of 2023 brought articles about anime, visual novels, Christmas photos from Brooklyn, and thoughts about blogging. Late November saw two of my longest history articles, one covering Thanksgiving in Grenada and other being a carefully-researched piece about New York’s former Evacuation Day holiday. While I doubt that anyone will be interested in all of our articles, I am confident that we have articles for everyone.
2025 predictions? Because my tsuki ga kirei article is no longer the dominant force it once was, and in light of many new articles gaining views in November and December, I think the race for the top spot is wide open in 2024. With that being said, to be the king you have to beat the king. While my tsuki ga kirei post lost some steam in the last three months of 2023, it was still strong by normal standards and if the late-year revival of my now-outdated F-Droid article proves anything, decline is not permanent. I will mark my tsuki ga kirei article as the New Year’s favorite to repeat its top ranking in 2024.
Thank you again, and I look forward to seeing how our popular article list shakes out one year from today.