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.

Can an admin add "(flag pictured)" after the Independence Day in Tanzania entry, as is the usual practice. -- AJR | Talk 00:12, 5 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It's John Milton's 400th birthday. Is the author of Paradise Lost and Areopagitica famous enough to have his quatercentenary posted on SA/OTD? His wikibio doesn't mention anything about the celebrations ([1], [2], [3]), though. --PFHLai (talk) 22:16, 7 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

In the NLS item, the words “publicly demonstrated” should be linked to The Mother of All Demos. — crism (talk) 04:46, 9 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

• Catholic University of Leuven, Battle of Ayacucho, P. B. S. Pinchback, Doctors' Trial all swapped out and moved to Ineligible for maintenance reasons
• Tanganyika moved to Ineligible for being a stub
• Lech Wałęsa moved to Ineligible as it appeared on August 14
• New articles (not used): Battle of Great Bridge, Cross Mountain Mine disaster, Operation Compass, Kecksburg UFO incident, Rogers Plan
• Swapped in: Battle of Jerusalem (1917) (first appearance), Spanish Constitution of 1931 (first appearance), NLS (computer system) (2nd appearance, last in 2008), Mumia Abu-Jamal (first appearance, 20th anniversary, just had a recent update so somewhat topical)
• Left in: Smallpox (3rd consecutive appearance)
• Note: Lots of US-related articles, otherwise would have put in Cross Mountain (100th anniversary)

--howcheng {chat} 22:14, 10 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

• Omitted: Battle of Jerusalem (1917); NLS (computer system); Smallpox; Mumia Abu-Jamal
• Included: P. B. S. Pinchback (2nd appearance, last in 2010; rescued from Ineligible); Cross Mountain Mine disaster (first appearance); Operation Compass (first appearance); Rogers Plan (first appearance)
• Repeats: Spanish Constitution of 1931 (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 07:02, 8 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

• Omitted: P. B. S. Pinchback; Cross Mountain Mine disaster; Spanish Constitution of 1931; Operation Compass; Rogers Plan
• Included: Battle of Great Bridge (first appearance); Battle of Jerusalem (1917) (2nd appearance, last in 2011); Douglas Engelbart (first appearance; blurb previously featured NLS (computer system)); Smallpox (7th appearance, last in 2011); Rod Blagojevich corruption charges (2nd appearance, last in 2009)

—howcheng {chat} 06:26, 8 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

• New articles (unused): A Charlie Brown Christmas
• Omitted: Tanzania (ineligible—maintenance); Battle of Great Bridge; Douglas Engelbart/The Mother of All Demos; Rod Blagojevich corruption charges
• Included: P. B. S. Pinchback (3rd appearance, last in 2012); Spanish Constitution of 1931 (3rd appearance, last in 2012); John Birch Society (4th appearance, last in 2006)
• Repeats: Battle of Jerusalem (1917) (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total); Smallpox (2nd consecutive appearance, 8 total)

—howcheng {chat} 07:43, 8 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

• Omitted: P. B. S. Pinchback; Battle of Jerusalem (1917); John Birch Society;
• Included: Battle of Great Bridge (2nd appearance, last in 2013); Operation Compass (2nd appearance, last in 2012); A Charlie Brown Christmas (first appearance; 50th anniversary)
• Repeats: Spanish Constitution of 1931 (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total); Smallpox (3rd consecutive appearance, 9 total)

—howcheng {chat} 06:31, 8 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

• Omitted: Battle of Great Bridge; Spanish Constitution of 1931; Operation Compass; A Charlie Brown Christmas; Smallpox
• Included: P. B. S. Pinchback (4th appearance, last in 2014); 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State (6th appearance, last in 2009; rescued from Ineligible); Battle of Jerusalem (4th appearance, last in 2014); Genocide Convention (first appearance); Douglas Engelbart/The Mother of All Demos (Engelbart: 2nd appearance, last in 2013; Demos: first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 17:18, 7 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

• Moved to Ineligible: Kecksburg UFO incident (maintenance); A Charlie Brown Christmas (maintenance)
• New articles (unused): Impeachment of Park Geun-hye; Denise Phua
• Omitted: P. B. S. Pinchback; 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State; Genocide Convention; Douglas Engelbart/The Mother of All Demos
• Included: Battle of Great Bridge (3rd appearance, last in 2015); La Fronde (newspaper) (first appearance; blurb previously featured Marguerite Durand, which is currently ineligible, and last appeared in 2006); Spanish Constitution of 1931 (5th appearance, last in 2015); Smallpox (10th appearance, last in 2015); Al-Biruni (first appearance); Fritz Haber (first appearance); Joan Armatrading (first appearance)
• Repeats: Battle of Jerusalem (2nd consecutive appearance, 5 total)

—howcheng {chat} 08:22, 10 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

• Moved to Ineligible: John Birch Society (maintenance)
• Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Kecksburg UFO incident
• Omitted: Battle of Great Bridge; La Fronde (newspaper); Battle of Jerusalem; Spanish Constitution of 1931 (ineligible—maintenance); Smallpox; Al-Biruni (deleted—death date not certain); Joan Armatrading
• Included: Battle of Reading (1688); Newcastle United F.C.; Genocide Convention (2nd appearance, last in 2016; 70th anniversary); Douglas Engelbart/The Mother of All Demos (Engelbart: 3rd appearance; Demos: 2nd appearance; both last in 2016; 50th anniversary); Rod Blagojevich corruption charges (3rd appearance, last in 2013; 20th anniversary); Nasr ibn Sayyar (first appearance); Lilias Armstrong (first appearance)
• Repeats: Fritz Haber (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total; 150th birthday)

—howcheng {chat} 04:42, 10 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

• New articles (unused): Topfreedom in Canada; Same-sex marriage in Australia/Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017
• Omitted: Battle of Reading (1688); Newcastle United F.C.; Genocide Convention; Douglas Engelbart/The Mother of All Demos; Rod Blagojevich corruption charges; Nasr ibn Sayyar; Fritz Haber; Lilias Armstrong
• Included: Battle of Great Bridge (4th appearance, last in 2017); 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State (7th appearance, last in 2016); Rogers Plan (2nd appearance, last in 2012; 50th anniversary); Smallpox (11th appearance, last in 2017; 40th anniversary); Impeachment of Park Geun-hye (first appearance); Gertrude of Brunswick (first appearance); Joe Kelley (first appearance); Denise Phua (first appearance; 60th birthday)

—howcheng {chat} 16:46, 10 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

• Moved to Ineligible: P. B. S. Pinchback (maintenance)
• New articles (ineligible): Alister Murdoch (TFA for 2020); Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon (maintenance)
• Omitted: Battle of Great Bridge; 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State; Rogers Plan; Smallpox; Impeachment of Park Geun-hye; Joe Kelley; Denise Phua
• Included: La Fronde (newspaper) (2nd appearance, last in 2017); Cross Mountain Mine disaster (2nd appearance, last in 2012); Operation Compass (3rd appearance, last in 2015); Same-sex marriage in Australia/Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017 (both: first appearance); Íñigo López de Mendoza, 4th Duke of the Infantado (first appearance); Joan Armatrading (2nd appearance, last in 2017; 70th birthday)
• Repeats: Gertrude of Brunswick (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

• Moved to Ineligible: Topfreedom in Canada (maintenance)
• Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Alister Murdoch; Giacomo dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto
• Omitted: La Fronde (newspaper); Cross Mountain Mine disaster; Operation Compass; Same-sex marriage in Australia; Gertrude of Brunswick; Íñigo López de Mendoza, 4th Duke of the Infantado; Joan Armatrading
• Included: Newcastle United F.C. (2nd appearance, last in 2018); Battle of Jerusalem (6th appearance, last in 2017); Tanganyika Territory (first appearance; rescued from Ineligible; blurb previously featured Tanganyika (1961–1964), which remains ineligible, and is making its 4th appearance, last in 2008); Mumia Abu-Jamal (2nd appearance, last in 2011; 40th anniversary); Park Geun-hye/Impeachment of Park Geun-hye (Park: first appearance; Impeachment: 2nd, last in 2019); Vaišvilkas (first appearance); Joe Kelley (2nd appearance, last in 2019; 150th birthday); Feroz Khan Noon (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 07:50, 10 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]