The most popular articles on Huffington Post

*Slow clap* Congratulations, Arianna. We see that you've beat the dreaded "Original Holiday Content" beast that has driven down traffic at so many other Internet hubs. And you were so clever about it, too! Why make one post merely listing Walmart's schedule today, when you can create a sort of listicle-generator that randomizes and promotes every pairing of store hours possible?

Here's how the link-bait portal just found a new way to game the system.

On December 5, HuffPost Home put up a piece called Holiday Store Hours 2012: Walmart, Target, Costco And Other Major Retailers (PHOTOS). Since this was on the "Home" section, no one saw it. (Check out the number of tweets, emails and Facebook shares it received.)

HOWEVER, someone must have noticed the clever S.E.O. from the post, which put it on the top of the list when you Google "Most Popular Holiday Store Hours."

Then the program began to self-replicate: On the 22nd, HuffPost Home basically rebooted the same article, calling it "Christmas Eve Store Hours For Target, Walmart, Costco And Other Major Retailers." That rocketed up to the site's "Most Viewed" page, so the next day, there was a new list: "Christmas Eve Store Hours For Target, Walmart, Costco, Toys R Us."

And in case you still haven't gotten the drift of what's going on, the most popular story on all of Huffington Post this morning is in HuffPost Business, and it's literally just a listing from the 23rd of Walmart's hours on Christmas Eve/Day.

The most popular articles on Huffington Post

Quick, try to guess the content of this very popular article! Give up?

"Walmart will not be open on Christmas Day. Most stores will close at 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve, but be sure to check your local listings before heading out to do last-minute Christmas shopping. Walmart stores will reopen on December 26."

Whoever came up with this formula, give the (wo)man a bonus!

The girl didn’t have long to respond. After observing the interaction, a carriage driver finally swooped in. “Let me give our side of the story now,” he said before leading the family to his brown horse and extravagant carriage, explaining that the horse used to work in Amish country. The driver set the girl up with a carrot to feed his horse and before long the family climbed in for their twenty-minute ride through Central Park. 

“It’s time for us to educate back,” explained the driver, Erez Ziv, before leading his horse down the street.

And so went most of Sunday afternoon as volunteers with New Yorkers for Clean, Livable & Safes Streets (NYCLASS) educated passersby—mostly tourists—on how the animals “suffer from injury, abuse and neglect.” Just a week after one horse fell, and two months since the on-the-job death of another, Charlie, the gathering was part of four holiday “Teach the Tourists” events this month where volunteers distribute anti-horse carriage flyers, triggering steely looks and curt comments from drivers.

“We’re not in your face,” Allie Feldman, the group’s lead organizer, told The Transom. “It would be counter-productive to scream.”

Before sending out volunteers, Ms. Feldman explained that their strategy should be creating a conversation with people. Talking points should include the abuse of the horses, as well as the group’s solution: a City Council bill, Intro. 86A, which would increase restrictions on horse carriages and eventually replace them with electric, antique cars or  “horseless carriages.”

While most drivers managed to ignore the public relations nightmare happening not three feet from their customers, a few shouted or grumbled in the volunteers’ direction. We heard a few “Fuck you”s—at least one shouted in a thick Irish brogue.

Ashley Arias, a student at Fordham University, said that a driver called her a “lying little bitch” on Saturday. But Ms. Arias didn’t seem to mind their comments or being a harasser herself—the holiday season was the best time to get the group’s message across. “This is when they want to ride the horses the most,” she said.

About ten volunteers showed up on Sunday, but pedicab solicitors soon joined their ranks. “This guy’s an entrepreneur,” said volunteer Erika Mansourian, pointing at one. “He’s working the abuse into his pitch.”

(Stephen Malone, president of the Horse and Carriage Association of New York City said, "NYCLASS is getting in the faces of our customers and interfering with our business, claiming that our horses are 'abused and suffering."' If we try to correct them on their so-called facts, I'm labeled an 'animal abuser' as are my customers.  No New York City carriage driver, owner or stable has ever been cited for cruelty.  Pulling a carriage through Central Park does not constitute abuse.")

One carriage driver stood a few feet from a cluster of volunteers, rolling his eyes. Did he think the flyers were going to hurt his business? “Look around,” he said with a gruff chuckle. As for the accusations of abuse, the driver said he takes such good care of his horse, Cosmo, that he’s overweight. “It’s convenient for them to have other facts,” the driver said.

Cosmo’s owner wouldn’t give us his name because he wasn’t so sure we weren’t part of an undercover anti-carriage operation, rather than a reporter. If we weren’t distracted by the earthy smell of horse dung, we’d probably have been more offended.

The above article has been updated to include a comment from Stephen Malone of the Horse and Carriage Association of New York as it appears in the print edition of The New York Observer.

You know their bylines and air personas. Here are some photos of the reporters who stalk the Capitol.

Happy Holidays!