Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/April 2

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To discuss improvements to the corresponding April 2 article, see Talk:April 2 instead.

Frequently asked questions

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?

A2: The short, basic reason is the systemic bias of Wikipedia. There are not enough good, well-written articles on 19th-century and earlier events for all 365 days in the year. Currently, a majority of users seem to be generally more interested in writing articles about recent events. If you would like to further help mitigate the systemic bias in Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Countering systemic bias.

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.

Today's featured article for April 2, 2025

Wikipedia:Today's featured article/April 2, 2025

create – talk – watch

Picture of the day for April 2, 2025

2022–2023 California floods. Landslide on April 2, 2023.

Photograph credit: King of Hearts

Recently featured:

← Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/April 1 * Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/April 3 →

This is a good entry for de León, but his article is still a stub.

1513 - Juan Ponce de León first European to enter Florida.

--mav 04:18, 1 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Oops. Juan Ponce de León was already featured last week for sighting Florida. -- PFHLai 07:19, 2005 Mar 30 (UTC)

Candidates

1801 - Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Copenhagen - The British destroy the Danish fleet.
1865 - American Civil War: Confederate President Jefferson Davis and most of his Cabinet flee the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia.
1902 - "Electric Theatre", the first movie theater in the United States , opens in Los Angeles, California.
1982 - Falklands War: Argentina invades the British-owned Falkland Islands starting the war.
1993 - Doom alpha version 0.4 is finished.
2002 - Israeli forces surrounded the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem which has around 200 Palestinians inside. A siege ensues.

2012 notes edit

Latest comment: 11 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion

Moved to Ineligible: As the World Turns (maintenance)
Omitted: Battle of Copenhagen; Liberal Movement (Australia); Siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem
Included: Suvarnadurg (first appearance); 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands (6th appearance, last in 2010); April 2, 2006 Central United States tornado outbreak
Repeats: Juan Ponce de León (4th consecutive appearance, 5 total); Census in Australia (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 10:10, 1 April 2012 (UTC)Reply

- For future updates, do consider the opening of the National Convention of New Sudan. --Soman (talk) 04:15, 2 November 2012 (UTC)Reply
  - Sorry, that article is too short. —howcheng {chat} 04:38, 1 April 2013 (UTC)Reply

2013 notes edit

Latest comment: 11 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

Moved to Ineligible: Siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem (maintenance)
Omitted: Suvarnadurg; Census in Australia; April 2, 2006 Central United States tornado outbreak
Included: Battle of Copenhagen (9th appearance, last in 2011); Frog Lake Massacre (first appearance); LexisNexis (first appearance)
Repeats: Juan Ponce de León (5th consecutive appearance, 6 total; 500th anniversary); 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands (2nd consecutive appearance, 7 total)

—howcheng {chat} 06:41, 1 April 2013 (UTC)Reply

2014 notes edit

Latest comment: 10 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

Omitted: Juan Ponce de León; LexisNexis
Included: Suvarnadurg (2nd appearance, last in 2012); Liberal Movement (Australia) (2nd appearance, last in 2011)
Repeats: Battle of Copenhagen (2nd consecutive appearance, 10 total); Frog Lake Massacre (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total); 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands (3rd consecutive appearance, 8 total)

—howcheng {chat} 07:24, 1 April 2014 (UTC)Reply

2015 notes edit

New articles (unused): Third Battle of Petersburg (normally would be included for its 150th anniversary, but Battle of Five Forks was just used on April 1)
Omitted: World Autism Awareness Day (ineligible—stub); Battle of Copenhagen (1801) (ineligible—maintenance); Liberal Movement (Australia); 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands
Included: Census in Australia (3rd appearance, last in 2012); Rakesh Sharma (2nd appearance, last in 2008; rescued from Ineligible); Oikos University shooting (first appearance)
Repeats: Suvarnadurg (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total); Frog Lake Massacre (3rd consecutive appearance, 3 total)

2016 notes edit

Latest comment: 8 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

New articles (ineligible): Onbashira (maintenance)
Omitted: Suvarnadurg; Frog Lake Massacre; Rakesh Sharma; Oikos University shooting;
Included: World Autism Awareness Day (rescued from Ineligible); Juan Ponce de León (7th appearance, last in 2013); Third Battle of Petersburg (first appearance); 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands (9th appearance, last in 2014); April 2, 2006 tornado outbreak (2nd appearance, last in 2012; 10th anniversary)
Repeats: Census in Australia (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total)

—howcheng {chat} 07:35, 31 March 2016 (UTC)Reply

2017 notes edit

Latest comment: 7 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

Moved to Ineligible: Rakesh Sharma (maintenance)
Omitted: Juan Ponce de León; Third Battle of Petersburg; 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands; April 2, 2006 tornado outbreak
Included: Suvarnadurg (4th appearance, last in 2015); Frog Lake Massacre (4th appearance, last in 2015); Bijeljina massacre (first appearance; 25th anniversary); Garissa University College attack (first appearance); Prince George of Denmark (first appearance); Max Ernst (first appearance); Elizabeth Catlett (first appearance)
Repeats: Census in Australia (3rd consecutive appearance, 5 total)

—howcheng {chat} 07:57, 2 April 2017 (UTC)Reply

2018 notes edit

Latest comment: 6 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

Rescued from Ineligible (unused): John Gotti
New articles (unused): Sverdlovsk anthrax leak
Omitted: World Autism Awareness Day (ineligible—maintenance); Suvarnadurg (ineligible—maintenance); Frog Lake Massacre (ineligible—maintenance); Census in Australia (ineligible—maintenance); Garissa University College attack; Prince George of Denmark; Max Ernst (ineligible—maintenance); Elizabeth Catlett
Included: Juan Ponce de León (8th appearance, last in 2016); Southern bread riots (first appearance); Liberal Movement (Australia) (3rd appearance, last in 2014); Siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem (4th appearance, last in 2011; rescued from Ineligible); Maria Sibylla Merian (first appearance); Clément Ader (first appearance); Ranjitsinhji (first appearance)
Repeats: Bijeljina massacre (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 16:24, 2 April 2018 (UTC)Reply

2019 notes edit

Latest comment: 5 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

Moved to Ineligible: LexisNexis (maintenance)
Omitted: Liberal Movement (Australia); Bijeljina massacre; Siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem; Maria Sibylla Merian; Clément Ader; Ranjitsinhji
Included: World Autism Awareness Day (rescued from Ineligible); Norodom Sihanouk (7th appearance, last in 2017; moved from April 4); Sverdlovsk anthrax leak (first appearance; 40th anniversary); Hatton Garden safe deposit burglary (first appearance); Wilhelmine Reichard (first appearance); Sir James Montgomery, 1st Baronet (first appearance); Juanito (footballer, born 1954) (first appearance)
Repeats: Juan Ponce de León (2nd consecutive appearance, 9 total); Southern bread riots (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 15:36, 3 April 2019 (UTC)Reply

2020 notes edit

Latest comment: 4 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

Moved to Ineligible: 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands (maintenance)
Omitted: Southern bread riots; Norodom Sihanouk; Sverdlovsk anthrax leak; Hatton Garden safe deposit burglary; Wilhelmine Reichard; Sir James Montgomery, 1st Baronet; Juanito (footballer, born 1954)
Included: Malvinas Day (rescued from Ineligible); Third Battle of Petersburg (2nd appearance, last in 2016); Liberal Movement (Australia) (4th appearance, last in 2018); Rakesh Sharma (3rd appearance, last in 2015; rescued from Ineligible); Siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem (5th appearance, last in 2018); Muflih al-Turki (first appearance); Arthur, Prince of Wales (first appearance); Lise Thibault (first appearance)
Repeats: Juan Ponce de León (3rd consecutive appearance, 10 total)

—howcheng {chat} 16:59, 3 April 2020 (UTC)Reply

2021 notes edit

Latest comment: 3 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

Moved to Ineligible: Southern bread riots (maintenance); Norodom Sihanouk (date not certain)
New articles (ineligible): Giacomo Casanova (maintenance)
New articles (unused): Charlemagne; Paškal Buconjić
Omitted: Malvinas Day (ineligible—maintenance); Juan Ponce de León; Liberal Movement (Australia); Rakesh Sharma; Siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem; Muflih al-Turki; Arthur, Prince of Wales; Lise Thibault
Included: 1911 Australian census (first appearance; blurb previously featured Census in Australia and its making its 5th appearance, last in 2017); Sverdlovsk anthrax leak (2nd appearance, last in 2019); Bijeljina massacre (3rd appearance, last in 2018); Hatton Garden safe deposit burglary (2nd appearance, last in 2019); Maria Sibylla Merian (2nd appearance, last in 2018); Albert Pike (first appearance); Sue Townsend (first appearance; 75th birthday)
Repeats: Third Battle of Petersburg (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total)

—howcheng {chat} 18:04, 3 April 2021 (UTC)Reply

2022 notes edit

Latest comment: 2 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

New articles (unused): Arthur Kopit
Omitted: Third Battle of Petersburg; 1911 Australian census; Sverdlovsk anthrax leak; Bijeljina massacre; Hatton Garden safe deposit burglary; Maria Sibylla Merian; Albert Pike; Sue Townsend
Included: Malvinas Day (rescued from Ineligible); Treaty of Constantinople (1800) (first appearance); Southern bread riots (3rd appearance, last in 2019; rescued from Ineligible); 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands (6th appearance, last in 2016; 40th anniversary); John Gotti (10th appearance, last in 2009; 30th anniversary); Siege of the Church of the Nativity (first appearance); Charlemagne (7th appearance, last in 2009; previously appeared on December 25); Paškal Buconjić (first appearance); Juanito (footballer, born 1954) (2nd appearance, last in 2019; 30th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 07:35, 3 April 2022 (UTC)Reply

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