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.

• Vasil Levski, added by User:Tourbillon moved to Ineligible section because it already appeared on February 18
• El Mozote massacre, Superfund and Libertarian Party (United States) moved to Ineligible for maintenance reasons
• Apollo 17 now a GA, so moved to Eligible, but not included
• Swapped out: Shuliavka Republic, UNICEF, International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust
• Swapped in: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (3rd appearance, last in 2009), History of Arsenal F.C. (1886–1966) (2nd appearance, last in 2009; 125th anniversary), Capital punishment in Canada (appeared in briefly in 2010, but removed for space reasons), 2005 Cronulla riots (first appearance), Mexican Drug War (first appearance)

-- howcheng { chat} 21:53, 10 December 2011 (UTC) reply

• Moved to Ineligible: UNICEF (maintenance)
• Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Superfund
• Omitted: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; History of Arsenal F.C. (1886–1966); Capital punishment in Canada; 2005 Cronulla riots; Mexican Drug War
• Included: Shuliavka Republic (2nd appearance, last in 2010); The Burning of Cork (first appearance); Apollo 17 (6th appearance, last in 2008; 40th anniversary); El Mozote massacre (4th appearance, last in 2010; rescued from Ineligible); International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust (4th appearance, last in 2010)

— howcheng { chat} 07:27, 10 December 2012 (UTC) reply

• Moved to Ineligible: Superfund (maintenance)
• Omitted: Shuliavka Republic; The Burning of Cork; Apollo 17; International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust
• Included: Three Kingdoms (first appearance); Conquest of Mecca (first appearance); History of Arsenal F.C. (1886–1966) (3rd appearance, last in 2011); UNICEF (6th appearance, last in 2010; rescued from Ineligible); Bernard Madoff (2nd appearance, last in 2010)
• Repeats: El Mozote massacre (2nd consecutive appearance, 5 total)

— howcheng { chat} 06:51, 10 December 2013 (UTC) reply

• Omitted: Conquest of Mecca (ineligible—maintenance); History of Arsenal F.C. (1886–1966); UNICEF; El Mozote massacre; Bernard Madoff
• Included: Burkina Faso (rescued from Ineligible); University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (4th appearance, last in 2011; 225th anniversary); Shuliavka Republic (3rd appearance, last in 2012); Capital punishment in Canada (2nd appearance, last in 2011); Mexican Drug War (2nd appearance, last in 2011)
• Repeats: Three Kingdoms (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

— howcheng { chat} 06:50, 10 December 2014 (UTC) reply

• Moved to Ineligible: UNICEF (maintenance)
• Omitted: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Shuliavka Republic; Capital punishment in Canada; Mexican Drug War
• Included: L'Escalade (first appearance); History of Arsenal F.C. (1886–1966) (4th appearance, last in 2013); Burning of Cork (2nd appearance, last in 2012); Apollo 17 (7th appearance, last in 2012); 2005 Cronulla riots (2nd appearance, last in 2011; 10th anniversary)
• Repeats: Three Kingdoms (3rd consecutive appearance, 3 total)

— howcheng { chat} 09:27, 9 December 2015 (UTC) reply

• Omitted: History of Arsenal F.C. (1886–1966); Burning of Cork; Apollo 17; 2005 Cronulla riots
• Included: Battle of Magersfontein (first appearance); Shuliavka Republic (4th appearance, last in 2014); Superfund (first appearance; rescued from Ineligible); Mexican Drug War (3rd appearnace, last in 2014; 10th anniversary)
• Repeats: Three Kingdoms (4th consecutive appearance, 4 total)

— howcheng { chat} 01:18, 11 December 2016 (UTC) reply

• New articles (ineligible): Fall of communism in Albania (maintenance)
• Omitted: Three Kingdoms (ineligible—maintenance); Battle of Magersfontein; Shuliavka Republic; Superfund (ineligible—maintenance); Mexican Drug War
• Included: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (5th appearance, last in 2014); History of Arsenal F.C. (1886–1966) (5th appearance, last in 2015); Burning of Cork (3rd appearance, last in 2015); Capital punishment in Canada (3rd appearance, last in 2014); El Mozote massacre (6th appearance, last in 2013); Colley Cibber (first appearance); Hector Berlioz (first appearance); Max Born (first appearance)

— howcheng { chat} 03:33, 11 December 2017 (UTC) reply

• Deleted: Shuliavka Republic (moved to December 12)
• Omitted: History of Arsenal F.C. (1886–1966); Burning of Cork; Capital punishment in Canada; Colley Cibber; Hector Berlioz; Max Born
• Included: Battle of Magersfontein (2nd appearance, last in 2016); Apollo 17 (8th appearance, last in 2015); Bernard Madoff (3rd appearance, last in 2013; 10th anniversary); Averroes (first appearance); Subramania Bharati (first appearance); Big Mama Thornton (first appearance)
• Repeats: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2nd consecutive appearance, 6 total); El Mozote massacre (2nd consecutive appearance, 7 total)

— howcheng { chat} 17:07, 11 December 2018 (UTC) reply

• Omitted: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Apollo 17; El Mozote massacre; Bernie Madoff; Averroes; Subramania Bharati; Big Mama Thornton
• Included: History of Arsenal F.C. (1886–1966) (6th appearance, last in 2017); Burning of Cork (4th appearance, last in 2017); Thai Airways International Flight 261 (first appearance); Mexican Drug War (4th appearance, last in 2016); Al-Fath ibn Khaqan (first appearance); George Mason (first appearance); Marco Pierre White (first appearance)
• Repeats: Battle of Magersfontein (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total)

— howcheng { chat} 16:55, 12 December 2019 (UTC) reply

• Moved to Ineligible: Capital punishment in Canada (maintenance); Subramania Bharati (maintenance)
• Omitted: Battle of Magersfontein; Thai Airways International Flight 261; Mexican Drug War; Al-Fath ibn Khaqan; George Mason; Marco Pierre White
• Included: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (7th appearance, last in 2018); 2005 Cronulla riots (3rd appearance, last in 2015); Averroes (2nd appearance, last in 2018); Webster Paulson (first appearance); Emmanuelle Charpentier (first appearance)
• Repeats: History of Arsenal F.C. (1886–1966) (2nd consecutive appearance, 7 total); Burning of Cork (2nd consecutive appearance, 5 total; 100th anniversary)

— howcheng { chat} 21:00, 12 December 2020 (UTC) reply

• Moved to Ineligible: El Mozote massacre (dates unclear)
• Omitted: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; History of Arsenal F.C. (1886–1966); Burning of Cork; 2005 Cronulla riots; Averroes; Webster Paulson
• Included: Anarchy at Samarra (first appearance); Root and Branch petition (first appearance); Parliament House, Wellington (first appearance); Quas primas (first appearance); Apollo 17 (9th appearance, last in 2018); Al-Fath ibn Khaqan (2nd appearance, last in 2019); Kamehameha V (first appearance)
• Repeats: Emmanuelle Charpentier (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

— howcheng { chat} 04:22, 13 December 2021 (UTC) reply