Theres more to this than seems to be on the face of it. COTM was briefly a success around 2009 when we had active online editors. Sadly, today we dont - and that reflects in the response. As you mentioned, Mullaperiyar is getting attention because its in the news. The real test is getting those active editors. Announcing it on mailing lists such as this would be useless if there are no editors who will respond to calls on the list. Here is where a few IEP editors could possibly fit in, had it been successful. It would be a perfect opportunity for those newbies to work with veteran editors and learn tricks of the trade first hand. Then again, you need veteran editors :) Vicious circle!

For future COTMs, we also need to look at the goal. What do we aim to achieve by the end of the month? Are we aiming for more FAs/GAs status or just a Cleanup or an expansion/improvement of a start class article? For example, however much we work on something in the news like Millaperiyar, it will be difficult to get it to GA status because its a current topic, the article will not be stable - a GAR requirement. We will however be able to clean it up, wikify and expand it, so we need to set out a goal before selecting the article else COTM seems heading in no direction, atleast to me.