BBC website - glitch or mischief?

Twice in the last week I have noticed something very odd happening on the BBC news website. Bottom left hand side they list the most popular news links of the day. The other day "Pope to step down" was right up there at the top of the list. Old news to say the least. This morning it's "Lloyd Webber predicts blood bath" - a story from this time two years ago, when ALW was predicting gloom and doom for the theatre trade during the Olympics. This could be a bug. But I suspect mischief in the small hours. It would only take one person at 3 a.m. to pick an old news story and click on it a few times, to get it climbing up into the top ten news stories of the day. Then others start to click on the well-chosen headline and away it goes... geometrical progression rules. Shows the power of the "click" on the Internet.
Any nominations for similar mischief making for insomniacs? "Duchess of Cambridge pregnant" would take wings and fly for instance?