What a year!

I’m putting together a contest that invites readers to vote for the biggest story of the year out of a preordained Top 12. Between putting together the story collections out of the archives, getting the art and wrestling with this contest platform that I have never used before, it is kicking my ass.

But besides that, I’ve put together a list of the Top Viewed stories as determined by our site analytics. Its an interesting batch, despite a fellow editor’s retort “Oh, aren’t those all just silly stories?” when I announced my plan. In fact, there is some crossover with what Big-J journalists might put on their lists, as well as some of the offbeat stuff. And while they won’t be on this particular list, Opinion and user-generated content also peppers the most-viewed bunch.

The contest goes live Friday. In the meantime, here’s a really interesting take on the 20 key web events of 2008. I concur with so many of these, but my favorites are Rick Rolling, of course!,  iPhone App store, the Facebook redesign, streaming television shows, and of course Twitter.