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.

Needs to add Chinese New Year, Korean New Year and Tet. DHN ( talk) 00:50, 3 February 2011 (UTC) reply

• 1813 — José de San Martín and his Regiment of Mounted Grenadiers have their baptism of fire in the Spanish American wars of independence defeating a royalist army in the Battle of San Lorenzo

• Omitted: Tulip mania, Platine War, 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake, Embryo transfer, L'Homme qui marche I
• Included: Bartolomeu Dias (5th appearance, last in 2008; blurb previously featured Mossel Bay, which is ineligible), Capture of Sint Eustatius (first appearance), Battle of San Lorenzo (first appearance), Ronald Ryan (first appearance), Cavalese cable car disaster (1998) (first appearance)

— howcheng { chat} 05:46, 2 February 2012 (UTC) reply

• Deleted: Shays' Rebellion (moved to August 29)
• New articles (unused): February 4, 1998 Afghanistan earthquake
• Moved to Ineligible: 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake (maintenance); Embryo transfer (maintenance)
• Omitted: Bartolomeu Dias (ineligible—maintenance); Capture of Sint Eustatius; Ronald Ryan; Cavalese cable car disaster (1998)
• Included: Tulip mania (2nd appearance, last in 2011); Montevideo (first appearance); Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (first appearance; 100th anniversary); The Day the Music Died (7th appearance, last in 2010)
• Repeats: Battle of San Lorenzo (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total; 200th anniversary)

— howcheng { chat} 12:41, 2 February 2013 (UTC) reply

• Omitted: Tulip mania; Montevideo; Battle of San Lorenzo; Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
• Included: Platine War (2nd appearance, last in 2011); Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (first appearance; rescued from Ineligible); Ronald Ryan (2nd appearance, last in 2012); L'Homme qui marche I (2nd appearance, last in 2011)
• Repeats: The Day the Music Died (2nd consecutive appearance, 8 total)

— howcheng { chat} 21:26, 2 February 2014 (UTC) reply

• Omitted: Platine War; Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution; The Day the Music Died
• Included: Capture of Sint Eustatius (2nd appearance, last in 2012); Battle of San Lorenzo (3rd appearance, last in 2013); Alfredo Stroessner (first appearance)
• Repeats: Ronald Ryan (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total); L'Homme qui marche I (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total)

— howcheng { chat} 12:19, 1 February 2015 (UTC) reply

• New articles (unused): Frank Serpico
• Omitted: Capture of Sint Eustatius; Battle of San Lorenzo; L'Homme qui marche I
• Included: Tulip mania (3rd appearance, last in 2013); Montevideo (2nd appearance, last in 2013); Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (2nd appearance, last in 2013)
• Repeats: Ronald Ryan (3rd consecutive appearance, 4 total); Alfredo Stroessner (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

— howcheng { chat} 08:03, 2 February 2016 (UTC) reply

Note: Coloman, King of Hungary died on 3 February 1116, 900 years ago. -- Norden1990 ( talk) 23:57, 2 February 2016 (UTC) reply

Thanks, added. — howcheng { chat} 17:06, 3 February 2016 (UTC) reply

• Omitted: Dom Justo Takayama (ineligible–maintenance); Tulip mania; Montevideo (ineligible–maintenance); Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution; Ronald Ryan (ineligible–maintenance); Alfredo Stroessner (ineligible–maintenance)
• Included: Capture of Sint Eustatius (3rd appearance, last in 2015); Battle of San Lorenzo (4th appearance, last in 2015); Batepá massacre (first appearance); Frank Serpico (first appearance); L'Homme qui marche I (4th appearance, last in 2015)

— howcheng { chat} 08:12, 3 February 2017 (UTC) reply

• Moved to Ineligible: Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (maintenance)
• New articles (unused): Communist Party of Vietnam; 2014 Moscow school shooting
• Omitted: Batepá massacre; Frank Serpico; L'Homme qui marche I
• Included: Centre Block (first appearance); Lebensraum (first appearance); Karla Faye Tucker (first appearance; 20th anniversary; rescued from Ineligible); Caroline von Wolzogen (first appearance); Giuseppe Moretti (first appearance); C. N. Annadurai (first appearance)
• Repeats: Capture of Sint Eustatius (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total); Battle of San Lorenzo (2nd consecutive appearance, 5 total)

— howcheng { chat} 08:27, 3 February 2018 (UTC) reply

• New articles (unused): Twin Peaks Tunnel; Dolly Rudeman
• Omitted: Capture of Sint Eustatius; Battle of San Lorenzo; Centre Block; Lebensraum; Karla Faye Tucker; Caroline von Wolzogen; Giuseppe Moretti; C. N. Annadurai
• Included: Conquest of Murcia (1265–66) (first appearance); Platine War (3rd appearance, last in 2014); Communist Party of Vietnam (first appearance); The Day the Music Died (9th appearance, last in 2014; 60th anniversary); 2014 Moscow school shooting (first appearance); Coloman, King of Hungary (2nd appearance, last in 2016); George Crabbe; (first appearance) Tatyana Velikanova (first appearance)

— howcheng { chat} 16:56, 4 February 2019 (UTC) reply

• New articles (unused): Pixar
• Omitted: Conquest of Murcia (1265–66); Platine War; The Day the Music Died; 2014 Moscow school shooting; Coloman, King of Hungary; George Crabbe; Tatyana Velikanova
• Included: Laurence of Canterbury (first appearance); Battle of San Lorenzo (6th appearance, last in 2018); Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (2nd appearance, last in 2014; 150th anniversary); L'Homme qui marche I (5th appearance, last in 2017; 10th anniversary); Scipione Rebiba (first appearance); Isaac Baker Brown (first appearance); Dolly Rudeman (first appearance)
• Repeats: Communist Party of Vietnam (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total; 90th anniversary)

— howcheng { chat} 16:54, 4 February 2020 (UTC) reply

• Moved to Ineligible: Centre Block (maintenance); Frank Serpico (maintenance)
• Omitted: Setsubun (wrong date this year); Battle of San Lorenzo; Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution; Communist Party of Vietnam; L'Homme qui marche I
• Included: Conquest of Murcia (1265–66) (2nd appearance, last in 2019); Capture of Sint Eustatius (5th appearance, last in 2018); Pixar (first appearance); 2014 Moscow school shooting (2nd appearance, last in 2019)
• Repeats: Scipione Rebiba (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total); Isaac Baker Brown (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total); Dolly Rudeman (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

Apparently forgot to change the births/deaths. — howcheng { chat} 07:48, 5 February 2021 (UTC) reply

Howcheng could you please review above? I was cleaning up at Talk:Laurence of Canterbury, which says it was used in 2021, but that is not mentioned here. Thanks, SandyGeorgia ( Talk) 18:26, 1 February 2022 (UTC) reply

@ SandyGeorgia: He's in the observances section for his feast day. I typically don't list the repeat appearances of observances in the notes — howcheng { chat} 22:41, 1 February 2022 (UTC) reply

OK, thanks; wanted to be sure the article talk page was correct. SandyGeorgia ( Talk) 23:57, 1 February 2022 (UTC) reply

• Omitted: Capture of Sint Eustatius; Pixar; 2014 Moscow school shooting; Scipione Rebiba; Isaac Baker Brown; Dolly Rudeman
• Included: Platine War (4th appearance, last in 2019); Twin Peaks Tunnel (first appearance); L'Homme qui marche I (6th appearance, last in 2020); Horace Greeley (first appearance); Tatyana Velikanova (2nd appearance, last in 2019); C. N. Annadurai (2nd appearance, last in 2018)
• Repeats: Conquest of Murcia (1265–66) (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total)

— howcheng { chat} 07:18, 4 February 2022 (UTC) reply