To report an error when this list is currently on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
Before making a suggestion, please read the selected anniversaries guidelines. Please remember that this list usually defers to supporting pages when there is disagreement, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
Q1: Why is [Insert event here], an event that is "more important and significant" than all the others that are currently listed, not posted?
A1: Relative article quality along with the mix of topics already listed are often deciding factors in what gets posted. Any given day of the year can have a great many important or significant historical events. The problem is that there is generally only room on the Main Page to list about 5 events at a time, so not everything can be posted.
As stated on Wikipedia:FAQ/Main Page, the items and events posted on the Main Page are chosen based more on how well they are written, not based on how much important or significant their subjects are. It is easier for admins to select a well-written, cited, verifiable article over a poor one versus trying to determine objectively how much a subject is important or significant.
Keep in mind that the quality requirements only apply to the selected bolded article, not the other links. Thus, an event may qualify for multiple dates in a year if there is an article written in a summary style and an article providing detailed content; if one of those pages have cleanup issues, the other page can be bolded as an alternate.
Another criterion is to maintain some variety of topics, and not exhibit, just for example, tech-centrism, or the belief that the world stops at the edge of the English-speaking world. Many days have a large pool of potential articles, so they will rotate in and out every year to give each one some Main Page exposure. In addition, an event is not posted if it is also the subject of this year's scheduled featured article or featured picture.
Q2: There are way too many 20th-century events listed. Why aren't there more events from the 19th century and before?
Q3: This page seems to be biased toward events based in [Insert country or region here]. What can be done about it?
A3: This again is attributed to the systemic bias of Wikipedia. Many users are generally more interested in working on good, well-written articles pertaining to their home country. Since this is the English Wikipedia, there will be more English-speaking users, and thus more articles pertaining to English-speaking countries. And if there are more users who are from the United States, there will probably be more well-written articles about events based in the United States. Again, if you would like to further help mitigate the systemic bias in Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Countering systemic bias.
Q4: Why is the birthday/death anniversary of [Insert name here] not listed?
A4: There are only four slots available for birth and death anniversaries. As with the events, article quality and diversity in time period, geography, and reason for notability are all contributing factors in whether an article gets selected for inclusion.
Q5: Are the holidays/observances listed in any particular order?
A5: Yes, there is a specified order: International observances first, then alphabetically by where observed.
Q6: Some of the holidays/observances that are listed have dates in parentheses beside them. What do they mean?
A6: There are two reasons that some holidays/observances have dates next to them:
Non-Gregorian-based holidays/observances are marked with the current year as a reminder to others that their dates do in fact vary from year to year.
National Days, Independence Days, and other holidays celebrating the nationhood of a country are generally marked by the year of the significant historic date being observed.
Two flowers of the common hepatica flower (Anemone hepatica), a plant of the Ranunculaceae (buttercup family). Depicted are the blue variety (common) and the pink variety (uncommon and rare) growing at the same location in a forest in Estonia. Traditional herbal medicine claimed it was useful in the treatment of liver disorders, hence its name (from Greek hepatikos, "of the liver").
How about making mention of the foundation of Nintendo this year, as it is their 125th anniversary? DarkToonLink 02:04, 23 September 2014 (UTC)Reply
Unfortunately, that article has a maintenance tag on it, which per the rules, makes it ineligible. —howcheng {chat} 02:53, 23 September 2014 (UTC)Reply
Ok, fair enough. I'm not fully familiar with the OTD section, so sorry about my oversight. Thanks, DarkToonLink 05:15, 23 September 2014 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 5 years ago7 comments2 people in discussion
I've added reforms related to rape in Germany, moved the 2008 shooting to eligible. GMGtalk 17:19, 22 June 2018 (UTC)Reply
@GreenMeansGo: Thanks for the suggestion. However, the 2008 shooting is going to repeat this year because it gets priority due to it being the 10th anniversary. —howcheng {chat} 16:35, 21 September 2018 (UTC)Reply
No worries Howcheng. Well, we've currently got three related to war. Could we maybe bump one of those to give a hat tip to women's rights? GMGtalk 16:49, 21 September 2018 (UTC)Reply
Alright, well, I'll take that as a no. But I don't think we're scoring any points for breadth by have 1) violence, 2) violence, 3) violence, 4) political speech, 5) violence. GMGtalk 21:36, 21 September 2018 (UTC)Reply
True, but there's a fairly small pool of eligible articles for today. The other three are war, terrorism, and execution, so the choices aren't great. —howcheng {chat} 05:47, 22 September 2018 (UTC)Reply
I'd say probably drop Battle of San Juan de Ulúa (1568). It's already appeared three times, and isn't a GA or FA. We basically trade one European topic for another (even though it technically took place in Mexico), and we end up with a list that looks a bit less like it was put together by a bunch of dudes who think violence is the most exciting thing about history. GMGtalk 11:47, 22 September 2018 (UTC)Reply
@GreenMeansGo: I totally get what you're saying, and I'm definitely one for countering systemic bias. When scheduling items, I take a lot of things into consideration: round-number/significant anniversaries get priority, then try to keep chronological, geographic, and topical diversity (typically but not always in that order). Sometimes items get left off on significant anniversaries if it messes up one of the other axes (BTW, GA/FA status does not give an article extra weight). Obviously, it's more difficult to find a good balance when the pool of eligible articles is small, so something has to get sacrificed. For this year, I picked two women for births/deaths and we have Celebrate Bisexuality Day listed, so that's why I was OK with leaving off Rape in Germany. —howcheng {chat} 16:08, 24 September 2018 (UTC)Reply
