Here are the most popular stories, by several measures, published by Slate in September. After compiling these lists, we asked a few Slate editors to nominate the best stories you missed. Their answers are at the bottom. —Slate Plus editors.
The 20 Most Popular Stories of the Month
1. Why Drivers in China Intentionally Kill the Pedestrians They Hit
By Geoffrey Sant, Sept. 4
2. If Every State Had an Official Word, What Would It Be? (Illinois Gets Grabowski.)
By Matthew J.X. Malady, Sept. 2
3. GOP Candidates, Asked to Name Iconic American Women, Cite Foreigners and Their Relatives
By Ben Mathis-Lilley, Sept. 16
4. Carly Fiorina Keeps Lying—and Getting Away With It
By Dahlia Lithwick, Sept. 25
5. A Bizarre Thing Happened in Texas: Wind Power Made the Price of Electricity Go Negative
By Daniel Gross, Sept. 18
6. There’s a New Office Craze Called “Hot Desking.” Guess What It Is.
By Alison Griswold, Sept. 23
7. Sarah Palin Slams Ahmed: “That’s a Clock, and I’m the Queen of England”
By Daniel Politi, Sept. 19
8. That Guy Who Is Price-Gouging AIDS Patients Also Did It to Kids With Kidney Disease
By Jeremy Stahl, Sept. 22
9. The Men of El Salvador’s Most Notorious Gang
By Jordan G. Teicher, Sept. 21
10. A Tennessee Judge Is Refusing to Let a Straight Couple Get Divorced—Because of Gay Marriage
By Mark Joseph Stern, Sept. 3
11. Iceland Caps Syrian Refugees at 50; More Than 10,000 People Respond With Support for Syrian Refugees
By Elliot Hannon, Aug. 31
12. This Video Proves Ted Cruz Is Dana Carvey’s Church Lady Reborn
By Aymann Ismail, Sept. 17
13. Caitlyn Jenner Enters the “Not That Kind of Trans Woman” Phase of Her PR Campaign
By J. Bryan Lowder, Sept. 9
14. Huckabee Claims Black People Aren’t Technically Citizens During Critique of Unjust Laws
By Ben Mathis-Lilley, Sept. 11
15. WATCH: Every Single Time a Republican Interrupted the President of Planned Parenthood
By Sam Reichman and Jessica Winter, Sept. 29
16. A Coach’s Suicide Reveals the Specter Haunting Competitive Gymnastics
By Rebecca Schuman, Sept. 22
17. Native Americans’ Terrifying Tsunami Stories Show What the Pacific Northwest Has to Fear
By Ann Finkbeiner, Sept. 15
18. Those Preposterous Victorians on Vox Have No Idea What It Was Like to Live in the 19th Century
By Rebecca Onion, Sept. 9
19. Seven Lies, Half-Truths, and Irrelevancies People Trot Out About Slavery—Debunked
By Jamelle Bouie and Rebecca Onion, Sept. 29
20. Kim Davis May Be Heading Back to Jail
By Mark Joseph Stern, Sept. 22
Notes: Stories published from Aug. 31, 2015 through Sept. 30, 2015 that had the most unique visitor traffic. Omits Dear Prudence stories.
The 10 Articles You Spent the Longest Time Reading
1. Donald Trump Is Bringing America’s Most Hateful Politics Back to Life
By Jamelle Bouie, Sept. 27
2. How the History of the Holocaust Is Abused to Cover Up Today’s Geopolitical Disasters
By Timothy Snyder, Sept. 23
3. Why Do Some Kids With Autism Seem to Grow Out of It?
By Siri Carpenter, Sept. 9 (Originally published in Spectrum)
4. A Strange New Hominid Species, Homo naledi, Deliberately Disposed of Its Dead
By Rachael Larimore, Sept. 10
5. Seven Lies, Half-Truths, and Irrelevancies People Trot Out About Slavery—Debunked
By Jamelle Bouie and Rebecca Onion, Sept. 29
6. The Highs and Lows in CNN’s Epic GOP Debate
By John Dickerson, Sept. 17
7. While Dropping Off My Son at College, I Think of the Children I Lost
By Jill Bialosky, Sept. 11
8. The University of Michigan Vacates Its Findings Against a Student Accused of Sexual Assault
By Emily Yoffe, Sept. 15
9. Why Did the Harrowing Personal Essay Take Over the Internet?
By Laura Bennett, Sept. 14
10. Native Americans’ Terrifying Tsunami Stories Show What the Pacific Northwest Has to Fear
By Ann Finkbeiner, Sept. 15
Notes: We compiled the 200 articles published in September with the most unique visitor traffic, then ranked those articles by the length of time spent on the page per unique visitor. Ranking omits Dear Prudence articles and videos. The amount of time a visitor spends on a page isn’t necessarily a measure of active reading time.
The Three Most Popular Dear Prudence Articles
1. Dear Prudence: Help! My Sister-in-Law Is Calling Me “Pervy” After Her Young Son Walked In on Me Peeing.
By Emily Yoffe, Sept. 17
2. Dear Prudence: My Friend’s Wife Stays Home and Berates Him While He Works Two Jobs.
By Emily Yoffe, Sept. 15
3. Dear Prudence: My Girlfriend Used Her iPad to Spy on My Daughter.
By Emily Yoffe, Sept. 24
Three Important Questions You Asked Google
What are the best podcast episodes ever?
Can I drink while I’m breast-feeding?
Ranking of articles Slate published before 2015 that received the highest volumes of traffic from Google in September.
You Versus Everyone Else
Total time an average visitor spent on the Slate home page in September: nine minutes.
Total time an average Slate Plus member spent on the home page in September: 17 minutes.
What You Missed, According to Three Slate Editors
The best story we published in September that didn’t make any of these lists? Here’s what our editors said.
Senior editor Jonathan Fischer thinks this piece could transform the way you think about video games.
Future Tense editor Torie Bosch hopes you’ll make yourself aware of the danger of black boxes run amok.
And senior editor Jeremy Stahl wants you to learn how to write the consummate Roger Federer think piece.
