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.

Moved from Talk:Main Page

Clocks in the 12th century were not very accurate. I rewrote the text in the Charles Bridge article to make clear that this 5:31 a.m. is a "specified time". If they got it right to the nearest five minutes, then they were probably doing pretty good for that era. We do not know what really happened, but I suppose there is no need to change the text. That is, unless we care about reporting "the Truth". -- 75.26.5.242 00:57, 9 July 2006 (UTC) reply

{{ editprotected}} One of the entries on this page does not read well:

1944 – World War II: American forces defeated Japanese on the island of Saipan in the Mariana Islands.

I would suggest a change to:

1944 – World War II: American forces defeated Japanese forces on the island of Saipan in the Mariana Islands.

Yes, I know it's mind-blowingly trivial but that's the consequence of page protection! Cynical ( talk) 18:08, 9 July 2009 (UTC) reply

 Fixed, thanks. — Martin ( MSGJ ·  talk) 21:14, 9 July 2009 (UTC) reply

No reference to South Sudan's independence?-- Tim Thomason 23:07, 8 July 2011 (UTC) reply

I agree, if we indicate Argentina's independence day, we should indicate South Sudan's independence. Jaume BG 00:25, 9 July 2011 (UTC) reply

• New articles (unused): Cross of Gold speech ( TFA for 2012); Starfish Prime
• Omitted: Battle of the Monongahela; Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (ineligible—maintenance); Allied invasion of Sicily; Iran student protests, July 1999; African Union (ineligible—maintenance)
• Included: Avitus (first appearance); 869 Jogan Sanriku earthquake (first appearance); Millard Fillmore (first appearance); Campbell's Soup Cans (2nd appearance, last in 2010; 50th anniversary); Great Prophet III (first appearance)

— howcheng { chat} 04:26, 9 July 2012 (UTC) reply

• Moved to Ineligible: Iran student protests, July 1999 (maintenance)
• New articles (unused): 1877 Wimbledon Championship (blurb previously featured The Championships, Wimbledon); 1958 Lituya Bay megatsunami
• Omitted: Avitus; 869 Jogan Sanriku earthquake; Millard Fillmore; Campbell's Soup Cans; Great Prophet III
• Included: Martyrs of Gorkum (first appearance); Battle of Melle (first appearance); Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (5th appearance, last in 2010); Allied invasion of Sicily (3rd appearance, last in 2011; 70th anniversary); Donkey Kong (video game)/ Mario (both: first appearance)

— howcheng { chat} 05:44, 8 July 2013 (UTC) reply

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

Ramadan Begins on 10 July till 9 August (estimate)

81.111.208.158 ( talk) 12:22, 9 July 2013 (UTC) reply

Not done: It looks like this page was right but the Ramadan article was wrong - see this page. I've updated the article instead. Also, for next time things on the front page should be reported to WP:ERRORS. Best — Mr. Stradivarius ^{♪ talk ♪} 12:59, 9 July 2013 (UTC) reply

• Moved to Ineligible: Avitus (maintenance)
• Omitted: Martyrs of Gorkum; Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution; Allied invasion of Sicily; Donkey Kong (video game)
• Included: 1877 Wimbledon Championship (first appearance); Cross of Gold speech (first appearance); 1958 Lituya Bay megatsunami (first appearance); Navaly church bombing (first appearance)
• Repeats: Battle of Melle (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

— howcheng { chat} 06:38, 8 July 2014 (UTC) reply

• Omitted: Battle of Melle; 1877 Wimbledon Championship; Cross of Gold speech; 1958 Lituya Bay megatsunami
• Included: 869 Sanriku earthquake (2nd appearance, last in 2012); Battle of Svensksund (first appearance); Constitution of Australia (2nd appearance, last in 2010; rescued from Ineligible); Johnny Weissmuller (5th appearance, last in 2007; rescued from Ineligible)
• Repeats: Navaly church bombing (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total; 20th anniversary)

— howcheng { chat} 06:28, 7 July 2015 (UTC) reply

Addendum: Martyrs of Gorkum added later for balance (2nd appearance, last in 2013). — howcheng { chat} 03:25, 9 July 2015 (UTC) reply

• Moved to Ineligible: Battle of Saipan (maintenance)
• Omitted: 869 Sanriku earthquake; Martyrs of Gorkum; Battle of Svensksund; Constitution of Australia; Johnny Weissmuller; Navaly church bombing
• Included: Battle of Melle (3rd appearance, last in 2014); David Thompson (explorer) (first appearance); Allied invasion of Sicily (4th appearance, last in 2013; rescued from Ineligible); Donkey Kong (video game)/ Mario (both: 2nd appearance, last in 2013); Great Prophet III (2nd appearance, last in 2012)

— howcheng { chat} 16:20, 7 July 2016 (UTC) reply

• Moved to Ineligible: Battle of the Monongahela (maintenance)
• Omitted: David Thompson (explorer) (ineligible—maintenance); Allied invasion of Sicily; Donkey Kong (video game)/ Mario; Great Prophet III
• Included: 1877 Wimbledon Championship (2nd appearance, last in 2014); Constitution of Australia (3rd appearance, last in 2015); 1937 Fox vault fire (first appearance; 80th anniversary); Navaly church bombing (3rd appearance, last in 2015); Edmund Burke (first appearance); Eugenia Tadolini (first appearance0; Jessica Anderson (first appearance0
• Repeats: Battle of Melle (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total)

— howcheng { chat} 08:27, 9 July 2017 (UTC) reply

• Moved to Ineligible: Johnny Weissmuller (maintenance)
• New articles (unused): John Punch (slave)
• Omitted: Battle of Melle; 1877 Wimbledon Championship; Constitution of Australia; 1937 Fox vault fire; Navaly church bombing; Edmund Burke; Eugenia Tadolini (deleted—date of birth not verifiable); Jessica Anderson (ineligible—maintenance)
• Included: Martyrs of Gorkum (3rd appearance, last in 2015); Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (6th appearance, last in 2013; 150th anniversary); Allied invasion of Sicily (5th appearance, last in 2016; 75th anniversary); 1958 Lituya Bay megatsunami (2nd appearance, last in 2014; 60th anniversary); Great Prophet III (3rd appearance, last in 2016; 10th anniversary); Jan van Eyck (first appearance); Elizabeth of Austria (1526–1545) (first appearance); Tom Hanks (first appearance)

— howcheng { chat} 16:07, 10 July 2018 (UTC) reply

• New articles (unused): 551 Beirut earthquake
• Omitted: Martyrs of Gorkum; Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution; Allied invasion of Sicily (ineligible—maintenance); 1958 Lituya Bay megatsunami; Great Prophet III; Jan van Eyck; Elizabeth of Austria (1526–1545); Tom Hanks
• Included: 869 Sanriku earthquake (3rd appearance, last in 2015; 1150th anniversary); Battle of Carpi (first appearance); Battle of Svensksund (2nd appearance, last in 2015); Starfish Prime (first appearance); Donkey Kong (video game)/ Mario (both: 3rd appearance, last in 2016); Ann Radcliffe (first appearance); Clarence Campbell (first appearance); Shin Jae-chul (first appearance)

— howcheng { chat} 17:53, 17 July 2019 (UTC) reply

• Deleted: Jessica Anderson (moved to September 25)
• Moved to Ineligible: Martyrs of Gorkum (maintenance); Millard Fillmore ( TFA for 2020-01-07)
• New articles (unused): Anastasius I Dicorus; Sebald Heyden
• Omitted: 869 Sanriku earthquake; Battle of Carpi; Battle of Svensksund (ineligible—maintenance); Starfish Prime; Donkey Kong (video game)/ Mario; Ann Radcliffe; Clarence Campbell (ineligible—maintenance); Shin Jae-chul
• Included: 551 Beirut earthquake (first appearance); Battle of Melle (5th appearance, last in 2017; 275th anniversary); 1877 Wimbledon Championship (3rd appearance, last in 2017); Russell–Einstein Manifesto (4th appearance, last in 2008; rescued from Ineligible); Navaly church bombing (4th appearance, last in 2017); Ariwara no Narihira (first appearance); Elias Howe (2nd appearance, last in 2004; previously appeared on September 10); Margie Gillis (first appearance)

— howcheng { chat} 22:21, 10 July 2020 (UTC) reply

• Moved to Ineligible: Battle of Carpi (maintenance)
• Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Millard Fillmore
• New articles (unused): Shelton Benjamin
• Omitted: 551 Beirut earthquake; Battle of Melle; 1877 Wimbledon Championship; Russell–Einstein Manifesto; Ariwara no Narihira; Elias Howe; Margie Gillis
• Included: South Sudan (rescued from Ineligible); John Punch (slave) (first appearance); Battle of Svensksund (3rd appearance, last in 2019; rescued from Ineligible); 1958 Lituya Bay earthquake and megatsunami (3rd appearance, last in 2018); Donkey Kong (video game)/ Mario (both: 4th appearance, last in 2019); Anastasius I Dicorus (first appearance); Sebald Heyden (first appearance); Mercedes Sosa (first appearance)
• Repeats: Navaly church bombing (2nd consecutive appearance, 5 total)

— howcheng { chat} 17:36, 10 July 2021 (UTC) reply

• Rescued from Ineligible (unused): David Thompson (explorer)
• Omitted: Argentina (ineligible—maintenance); South Sudan (ineligible—maintenance); John Punch (slave); Battle of Svensksund; 1958 Lituya Bay earthquake and megatsunami; Donkey Kong (video game)/ Mario; Navaly church bombing; Anastasius I Dicorus; Sebald Heyden; Mercedes Sosa
• Included: Mozart family grand tour (first appearance); 1877 Wimbledon Championship (4th appearance, last in 2020); Cross of Gold speech (2nd appearance, last in 2014); 1937 Fox vault fire (2nd appearance, last in 2017); Campbell's Soup Cans (3rd appearance, last in 2012; 60th anniversary); Ariwara no Narihira (2nd appearance, last in 2020); Elizabeth of Austria (1526–1545) (2nd appearance, last in 2018); John Archibald Wheeler (first appearance)

— howcheng { chat} 04:43, 10 July 2022 (UTC) reply