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.
To discuss improvements to the corresponding July 20 article, see Talk:July 20 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?
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.
- This would be a good anniversaries for July 20, but the Bogotá page currently carries a ((cleanup)) tag, making it a bad item to feature on the Main Page. Maybe next year ... -- 64.229.206.164 13:15, 19 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]
The Turkish invasion of Cyprus is an event that still plays significant role in modern politics including the relations between Turkey-Greece-Cyprus and Turkish' efforts to join Europe. It is also a part of the daily life of the people of Cyprus. The topic clearly fulfills all selected anniversaries guidelines. It is not different to any other featured event describing an invasion, like for example the Iraq invasion of Kuwait. The different opinions on the issue are well documented on the main topic as of 2009. Besides, if it is presented in the "political correct" way, i.e. in the language all international media use, this should be no problem. The event, is much more important than the related coup on Makarios III included in the July 15th list of events, which can be removed in favor of this event. This is how I suggest the entry goes: "1974 – Turkey invaded Cyprus, eventually capturing 36.5% of the island, following a coup d'état against Makarios III, President of Cyprus, backed by the Greek military junta of 1967–1974 , 5 days earlier" aliverdos 12:34, 07 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
No need to worry about lunar time. The sentence mentioned where on the Moon, not when, they (subsequently) walked. No changes are needed, IMO. -- PFHLai05:43, 22 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I am a bit puzzled that the Viking lander reaching Mars is on the main page today, July 20, but the Apollo 11 landing on the moon isn't. Am I to conclude from the above that Apollo 11 will be there tomorrow on the anniversary of the first moonwalk? I would still have thought the first manned landing on the moon shuld be in the list of "on this day" events. Yngvadottir (talk) 18:33, 20 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I meant, someone has already applied that tag to the page. You need to fix the ibid references before we can include it. Thanks. —howcheng {chat}05:17, 6 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]
I believe the Apollo mission was removed from this list last year because of POTD conflict, leading to ineligiblity. I might be wrong, but I dont see any such reasons this year to exclude the same. Howcheng, can you please confirm what might be the potential reasons for removal of the blurb?
@Alanscottwalker: Thanks for that. This is not a requirement, but the references could use a little cleaning up (inconsistent citation styles, inconsistent date formats, some could be consolidated), if you have the time to spare. —howcheng {chat}17:33, 18 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]