Goodbye, 2013! Top 11 most-commented WSB stories of the year

We originally drafted this story on Saturday, planning to finish and publish it on Monday. Then came The Big Power Outage, which now holds the title for “most-commented WSB story ever,” passing the previous titleholder, coverage of the November 22, 2010, snow/ice-pocalypse. As was the case with both those reports, comments on WSB stories are more often about community information-sharing than about opinions or observations, whether it’s a road report in a morning-traffic thread, or the simple “No power here/power’s back on here” updates from Monday. That said, our one-and-only look back at 2013 proceeds, with less than an hour left until 2014. It’s a Top 11 since we already had dug up the Top 10 before something new topped them all:

11: ‘Private’ fireworks display off Beach Drive, July 20, 2013 – 137 comments

10: Townhouses planned for ex-Charlestown Caf̩ site, June 4, 2013 Р143 comments
*Follow-up note: As reported here earlier this month, this project finally debuts at Design Review on January 23rd.

9: Impending opening of Bada Bistro, March 12, 2013 – 144 comments
*The announcement declared “We don’t serve merlot.” The discussion caught fire from there. The restaurant closed after less than five months.

7/8 (tie): Alan Polevia spotted in Shorewood, hours-long helicopter search ensues, March 5, 2013 – 145 comments
*After serving about four months of a six-month sentence, Polevia got out of jail October 21st. He spent a day back behind bars in early November for a DUI warrant.

7/8 (tie): Bicyclist killed on East Marginal, May 1, 2013 – 145 comments

6: ‘Takeover’ robbery at estate sale in Belvidere, January 31, 2013 – 149 comments

5: Fatburger to Alki, August 7, 2013 – 155 comments

4: Man injured by projectile in Fairmount, May 22, 2013 – 169 comments

3: Mayor tells SDOT to reject Whole Foods project’s alley vacation, July 16, 2013 – 186 comments
*No date yet for this to go to the City Council, but we expect a followup soon.

2: De-icer disaster on the West Seattle Bridge, December 2, 2013 – 206 comments
*In case you missed it, this was explained in a briefing eight days later.

1: 11,000 homes, businesses lose power in West Seattle, December 30, 2013 – 603 comments

Want to look even further back? The 2012 WSB list is here; the 2011 list is here. Thank you for all your collaboration and participation again this year; we wish you a spectacular 2014!

9 Replies to "Goodbye, 2013! Top 11 most-commented WSB stories of the year"

  • KEW December 31, 2013 (11:23 pm)

    Yay! Honored to be the first comment :) Have a great New Years everyone!

  • Technoshaman December 31, 2013 (11:33 pm)

    Wow. The Big Outage tripled Deicer D’oh? Amazeballs.

  • Jeannie January 1, 2014 (12:41 am)

    Yeah, but the wax on beaver comments were the funniest!

    • WSB January 1, 2014 (12:44 am)

      Jeannie – That was in the forum; I guess I should clarify that this only covers the news stories. The admin end for the news side of the site offers an easy way to sort for this – but the admin end of the creaky old forum software doesn’t have a similar sorting function, unfortunately … TR

  • John January 1, 2014 (5:23 am)

    I didn’t even know there was a “Big Power Outage” this week!

  • Maggie January 1, 2014 (5:34 am)

    Happy New Year, WSB!

    • WSB January 1, 2014 (6:04 am)

      You too, Maggie!

  • m2k January 1, 2014 (7:56 am)

    I love this blog!
    Anything happens in WS, this is the first place I go.
    Happy New Year!!!!,

  • zipline January 1, 2014 (8:00 am)

    Was the power outage the most commented story in the history of WSB?

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