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.

What days of the week were 31 January 1961, 21 December 1964, 3 December 1928 and 12 July 1935 please? Ann Stirland

Tuesday, Monday, Monday, Friday. ... (talk) 08:46, 28 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

30th January sucks! Look at all the deaths, executions, assassinations, and the release of Windows Vista!

I am needing some information when it comes to the crash with the Kenya Airway that happened in 2000. I think I had family on there and I am needing to know the names of the victims that did not make it out alive. Thanks Alecia Dawson

I also found out that Jan 31st 1961 was a tuesday and december 21 1964 was a monday. the other two i could not find

• Moved to Ineligble: Menai Suspension Bridge (maintenance)
• Rescued from Ineligible (unused): MV Wilhelm Gustloff (already have another WW2 item on), The Hallé (fixed after update was done)
• Omitted: Oliver Cromwell's head, San Francisco, William Goebel, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Bloody Sunday (1972)
• Included: Martyrs' Day (India) (new observance, first appearance) , Charles I of England (6th appearance, last in 2010), Radiosonde (5th appearance, last in 2010), Raid at Cabanatuan (2nd appearance, last in 2010), MS Hans Hedtoft (first appearance), Kenya Airways Flight 431 (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 23:24, 28 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

• Omitted: Charles I of England; Radiosonde; Raid at Cabanatuan; MS Hans Hedtoft; Kenya Airways Flight 431
• Included: Peace of Bautzen (first appearance); The Hallé (first appearance); MV Wilhelm Gustloff (first appearance); Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (10th appearance, last in 2011); Elk Cloner (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 04:54, 29 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

• New articles (unused): Tet Offensive (moved from January 31)
• Omitted: Peace of Bautzen; The Hallé (ineligible—maintenance); MV Wilhelm Gustloff; Elk Cloner
• Included: Oliver Cromwell's head (2nd appearance, last in 2011); San Francisco (2nd appearance, last in 2011); January 1964 South Vietnamese coup (2nd appearance, last in 2010; 50th anniversary); Bloody Sunday (1972) (2nd appearance, last in 2011)
• Repeats: Mahatma Gandhi (2nd consecutive appearance, 11 total)

—howcheng {chat} 11:44, 29 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

• Omitted: Oliver Cromwell's head; San Francisco; Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi (blurb previously featured Mahatma Gandhi, which is currently ineligible); January 1964 South Vietnamese coup; Bloody Sunday (1972)
• Included: Charles I of England (7th appearance, last in 2012); Menai Suspension Bridge (5th appearance, last in 2010; rescued from Ineligible); Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria (first appearance); MV Wilhelm Gustloff (2nd appearance, last in 2013; 70th anniversary); Tet Offensive (7th appearance, last in 2010)

—howcheng {chat} 08:06, 28 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

• Omitted: Charles I of England; Menai Suspension Bridge; Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria; MV Wilhelm Gustloff; Tet Offensive
• Included: Peace of Bautzen (2nd appearance, last in 2013); Richard Lawrence (failed assassin) (first appearance); Radiosonde (6th appearance, last in 2012); MS Hans Hedtoft (2nd appearance, last in 2012); Kenya Airways Flight 431 (2nd appearance, last in 2012)

—howcheng {chat} 06:51, 29 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

• Moved to Ineligible: Elk Cloner (maintenance)
• Omitted: Peace of Bautzen; Richard Lawrence (failed assassin); Radiosonde; MS Hans Hedtoft; Kenya Airways Flight 431
• Included: Oliver Cromwell's head (3rd appearance, last in 2014); San Francisco (3rd appearance, last in 2014); Raid at Cabanatuan (2nd appearance, last in 2012); Bloody Sunday (1972) (3rd appearance, last in 2014); Naro-1 (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 08:26, 30 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Could the Barbara La Marr listing please be restored? I only put that in there a few days ago; it's never been featured, before. :-( Stolengood (talk) 02:34, 30 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

• Moved to Ineligible: Menai Suspension Bridge (maintenance); Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria (maintenance); MV Wilhelm Gustloff (maintenance)
• New articles (unused): Johannes Fibiger
• Omitted: Oliver Cromwell's head; San Francisco; Raid at Cabanatuan; Bloody Sunday (1972); Naro-1
• Included: Peace of Bautzen (3rd appearance, last in 2016; 1000th anniversary); Bristol Channel floods, 1607 (first appearance); Mahatma Gandhi (12th appearance, last in 2014; 70th anniversary; blurb previously featured Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, which is currently ineligible); Tet Offensive (8th appearance, last in 2015; 50th anniversary); Kenya Airways Flight 431 (3rd appearance, last in 2016); Giovanni Pietro Francesco Agius de Soldanis (first appearance); Franklin D. Roosevelt (first appearance); Barbara La Marr (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 16:37, 30 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

• Use Charles I (featured article), 370th anniversary of his beheading, for the picture. Made a number of other changes. Feedback welcomed. Jonathunder (talk) 23:42, 22 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • @Jonathunder: Nice work. Some notes:
    1. The fact that Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi has ((refimprove)) is not a reason to take it out, because it's not the bold article.
    2. Normally I like have two pre-20th century articles (three at most), but we have four here. The 1018 item didn't need to repeat because there's a large number of eligible articles in the pool, so let's replace that with a more modern one.
    3. Because we have a large pool of eligible articles, look at the notes from previous years so that we can show articles that have been left off for several years.
    4. I picked a different image because 1) as a TIFF, it was kind of fuzzy in the thumbnail, and 2) that one had a lot of dead space.
  • Thanks. —howcheng {chat} 23:04, 25 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

• Omitted: Peace of Bautzen; Bristol Channel floods, 1607; Mahatma Gandhi; Tet Offensive; Kenya Airways Flight 431; Giovanni Pietro Francesco Agius de Soldanis; Franklin D. Roosevelt; Barbara La Marr
• Included: Wareru (2nd appearance, last in 2013; previously appeared on April 4); Charles I of England (9th appearance, last in 2017; last time appeared on January 4 because we were desperate for articles that day); Richard Lawrence (failed assassin) (2nd appearance, last in 2016); MS Hans Hedtoft (3rd appearance, last in 2016; 60th anniversary); Everard Digby (first appearance); Johannes Fibiger (first appearance); Arthur Chu (first appearance)
• Repeats: Kenya Airways Flight 431 (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total)

—howcheng {chat} 18:26, 30 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

• Omitted: Wareru; Charles I of England; MS Hans Hedtoft; Everard Digby; Johannes Fibiger; Arthur Chu
• Included: Oliver Cromwell's head (4th appearance, last in 2017); Raid at Cabanatuan (3rd appearance, last in 2017; 75th anniversary); Rudolf Caracciola (first appearance); Patrick Heron (first appearance; 100th birthday); Professor Longhair (first appearance; 40th anniversary)
• Repeats: Richard Lawrence (failed assassin) (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total); Kenya Airways Flight 431 (3rd consecutive appearance, 5 total; 20th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 16:45, 31 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

• Moved to Ineligible: William Goebel (maintenance)
• New articles (ineligible): 30 January 1939 Reichstag speech/Hitler's prophecy (TFA for 2021); Balthild (date not certain)
• Omitted: Richard Lawrence (failed assassin); Raid at Cabanatuan; Kenya Airways Flight 431; Rudolf Caracciola; Patrick Heron; Professor Longhair
• Included: Peace of Bautzen (4th appearance, last in 2018); Bloody Sunday (1972) (4th appearance, last in 2017); Naro-1 (2nd appearance, last in 2017); Giovanni Pietro Francesco Agius de Soldanis (3rd appearance, last in 2020; also appeared on October 30, his birthday); Franklin D. Roosevelt (2nd appearance, last in 2018); John Bardeen (first appearance, 30th anniversary)
• Repeats: Oliver Cromwell's head (2nd consecutive appearance, 5 total)

—howcheng {chat} 03:53, 2 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

• Moved to Ineligible: San Francisco (maintenance)
• Omitted: Peace of Bautzen; Oliver Cromwell's head; Naro-1; Giovanni Pietro Francesco Agius de Soldanis; Franklin D. Roosevelt; John Bardeen
• Included: 1607 Bristol Channel floods (2nd appearance, last in 2018); Richard Lawrence (failed assassin) (4th appearance, last in 2020); 30 January 1939 Reichstag speech/Hitler's prophecy (both: first appearance; rescued from Ineligible); William More (died 1600) (first appearance); Angela of the Cross (first appearance); Abdullah II of Jordan (first appearance)
• Repeats: Bloody Sunday (1972) (2nd consecutive appearance, 5 total; 50th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 06:56, 31 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Copying over an unresolved WP:ERRORS discussion:

Richard Lawrence (failed assassin)

"1835 – Richard Lawrence became the first person to attempt to assassinate a sitting US president when he failed to kill Andrew Jackson at the US Capitol (assassination attempt pictured) and was subdued by the crowd."

The word "sitting" is ambiguous here. Did the attempted assassination occur while he was in office, or while he was on a chair? Maybe there's a better word we could use? -- RoySmith (talk) 00:56, 30 January 2023 (UTC)

Replace "sitting" with "current"? Schwede66 02:42, 31 January 2023 (UTC)

Firefangledfeathers (talk / contribs) 02:55, 31 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

And another:

1607 Bristol Channel floods The SA guidelines state "the event should have occurred on the day in question in the calendar in use at the time (per MOS:JG)". England did not switch to the Gregorian calendar until 1750 so this should feature on 20 January - Dumelow (talk) 06:42, 28 January 2023 (UTC)

Firefangledfeathers (talk / contribs) 02:57, 31 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]