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.

• 1994 - At the Rose Bowl Stadion in Pasadena, Brasil wins against Italy his fourth soccer FIFA World Cup, 0–0 (AET), 3–2 (PSO). This match was the first final to be decided on a penalty shoot-out with no goals being scored either in regular time or in extra time.

This event (winning a FIFA world cup) is on the first page of all world's newspaper the day after the match. Furthermore other winners are noted in the "selected anniversaries" on wikipedia. Why this keeps on be deleted? If this is not relevant then all other finals should be removed.

How about this one?

• 1998 – A diplomatic conference adopted the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, establishing a permanent international court to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.

Polemarchus (talk) 03:03, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

• Omitted: Peter III of Russia (ineligible—maintenance); NEC; Spanish coup of July 1936/Spanish Civil War; Mohammed Zahir Shah; East Timor (deleted—already featured on May 20); TWA Flight 800
• Included: Harvard School of Dental Medicine (first appearance; rescued from Ineligible); RMS Carpathia (first appearance); Potsdam Conference (first appearance); Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr (first appearance); 2009 Jakarta bombings (first appearance)

Woohoo! All five articles are making their OTD debuts! —howcheng {chat} 05:40, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The on this day feature states that:

• 1867 – In Boston, Massachusetts, the Harvard School of Dental Medicine was established as the first dental school in the United States.

From the Wikipedia article:

The move towards university-based dental education institutions (as they exist today) began with the formation of Harvard Dental School in 1867.

The first dental school in the world was the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery in 1840, now part of the University of Maryland, Baltimore. I suggest that the line be replaced to the following more accurate statement:

• 1867 – In Boston, Massachusetts, the Harvard School of Dental Medicine was established as the first university-based dental school in the United States.

Fixed. Thanks. —howcheng {chat} 21:34, 17 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

• New articles (unused): Manchester Metrolink
• Omitted: Harvard School of Dental Medicine; RMS Carpathia; Potsdam Conference; Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr; 2009 Jakarta bombings
• Included: Scillitan Martyrs (first appearance); Battle of Castillon (first appearance); Bloody Falls Massacre (first appearance); Shooting of the Romanov family (2nd appearance, last in 2010); Mohammed Zahir Shah (3rd appearance, last in 2011; 40th anniversary); Hyatt Regency walkway collapse (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 06:23, 16 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Spanish coup of July 1936 (last appearance 2011) added in place of Shooting of the Romanov family (too close in topic to the TFA). Bencherlite^Talk 08:52, 17 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]

• Moved to Ineligible: Harvard School of Dental Medicine (maintenance); Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr (maintenance)
• Rescued from Ineligible (unused): 1998 Papua New Guinea earthquake
• Omitted: Bloody Falls Massacre; Spanish Civil War; Mohammed Zahir Shah; Hyatt Regency walkway collapse
• Included: Invasion of the Waikato (5th appearance, last in 2007; previously appeared on October 31); Shooting of the Romanov family (2nd appearance, last in 2010); Port Chicago disaster (first appearance; 70th anniversary); Manchester Metrolink (first appearance)
• Repeats: Battle of Castillon (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 06:57, 16 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

• New articles (unused): Malaysia Airlines Flight 17
• Omitted: Battle of Castillon; Shooting of the Romanov family; Port Chicago disaster; Manchester Metrolink
• Included: Bloody Falls massacre (2nd appearance, last in 2013); Potsdam Conference (6th appearance, last in 2012; 70th anniversary); Mohammed Zahir Shah (4th appearance, last in 2013); 2009 Jakarta bombings (2nd appearance, last in 2012)
• Repeats: Invasion of the Waikato (2nd consecutive appearance, 6 total)

—howcheng {chat} 06:06, 15 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

• New articles (ineligible): Baudouin of Belgium (maintenance)
• Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Harvard School of Dental Medicine
• Omitted: Bloody Falls massacre; Potsdam Conference; Mohammed Zahir Shah; 2009 Jakarta bombings
• Included: Champ de Mars Massacre (2nd appearance, last in 2010; rescued from Ineligible); RMS Carpathia (2nd appearance, last in 2012); Spanish coup of July 1936 (3rd appearance, last in 2013; 80th anniversary); TWA Flight 800 (6th appearance, last in 2011; 20th anniversary)
• Repeats: Invasion of the Waikato (3rd consecutive appearance, 7 total)

—howcheng {chat} 19:21, 16 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

• Moved to Ineligible: Harvard School of Dental Medicine (maintenance); 2009 Jakarta bombings (maintenance)
• Omitted: Champ de Mars Massacre; Invasion of the Waikato; Spanish coup of July 1936; TWA Flight 800
• Included: Battle of Castillon (3rd appearance, last in 2014); Bloody Falls massacre (3rd appearance, last in 2015); Port Chicago disaster (2nd appearance, last in 2014); Manchester Metrolink (2nd appearance, last in 2014; 25th anniversary); Sverker II of Sweden (first appearance); Berenice Abbott (first appearance); Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia (first appearance)
• Repeats: RMS Carpathia (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total)

—howcheng {chat} 07:22, 17 July 2017 (UTC)[reply]

• Moved to Ineligible: Execution of the Romanov family (Anastasia Nikolaevna is TFA for 2018)
• New articles (ineligible): Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia (TFA)
• New articles (unused): Empress Dowager Du; Florence Fuller
• Omitted: Battle of Castillon; Port Chicago disaster; Manchester Metrolink; Sverker II of Sweden; Berenice Abbott (ineligible—maintenance); Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia
• Included: Invasion of the Waikato (8th appearance, last in 2016); Potsdam Conference (7th appearance, last in 2015); 1998 Papua New Guinea earthquake (first appearance; 20th anniversary); Dorothea Dix (first appearance); Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio (first appearance; 100th birthday); Wong Kar-wai (first appearance; 60th birthday)
• Repeats: Bloody Falls massacre (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total); RMS Carpathia (3rd consecutive appearance, 4 total; 100th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 15:48, 17 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

• Deleted: Constitution Day (South Korea) (accidental, it appears)
• Omitted: Bloody Falls massacre; Invasion of the Waikato; RMS Carpathia; Potsdam Conference; 1998 Papua New Guinea earthquake; Dorothea Dix; Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio; Wong Kar-wai
• Included: World Emoji Day (first appearance); Champ de Mars massacre (3rd appearance, last in 2016); Spanish coup of July 1936 (4th appearance, last in 2016); Hyatt Regency walkway collapse (2nd appearance, last in 2013); Manchester Metrolink (3rd appearance, last in 2017); TAM Airlines Flight 3054 (3rd appearance, last in 2010); Empress Dowager Du (first appearance); Eunice Newton Foote (first appearance; 200th birthday); Florence Fuller (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 16:18, 22 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

• Moved to Ineligible: Potsdam Conference (maintenance); Dorothea Dix (maintenance); Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio (maintenance)
• Rescued from Ineligible (unused): 17 July Revolution (blurb previously featured Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, which remains ineligible)
• New articles (unused): Mary Osborne
• Omitted: Champ de Mars massacre (ineligible—maintenance); Spanish coup of July 1936 (deleted—moved to July 18); Hyatt Regency walkway collapse; Manchester Metrolink; TAM Airlines Flight 3054; Empress Dowager Du; Eunice Newton Foote; Florence Fuller
• Included: Constitution Day (South Korea) (restored after accidental deletion); Pope Damasus II (first appearance); Battle of Castillon (4th appearance, last in 2017); Invasion of the Waikato (9th appearance, last in 2017); RMS Carpathia (5th appearance, last in 2018); Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (first appearance); James Somerville (first appearance); Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia (2nd appearance, last in 2017); António Costa (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 17:54, 18 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

• Omitted: Battle of Castillon; Invasion of the Waikato; RMS Carpathia; Malaysia Airlines Flight 17; James Somerville; Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia; António Costa
• Included: Bloody Falls massacre (5th appearance, last in 2018; 250th anniversary); 17 July Revolution (first appearance); Hyatt Regency walkway collapse (3rd appearance, last in 2019; 40th anniversary); Maurycy Gottlieb (first appearance); Mary Osborne (first appearance; 100th birthday); Florence Fuller (2nd appearance, last in 2019; 75th anniversary)
• Repeats: Pope Damasus II (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 07:08, 20 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

• Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Execution of the Romanov family
• Omitted: Pope Damasus II; Bloody Falls massacre; 17 July Revolution; Hyatt Regency walkway collapse; Maurycy Gottlieb; Mary Osborne
• Included: Battle of Castillon (5th appearance, last in 2020); Vega (first appearance); Port Chicago disaster (3rd appearance, last in 2017); Manchester Metrolink (4th appearance, last in 2019; 30th anniversary); Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (2nd appearance, last in 2020); Eunice Newton Foote (2nd appearance, last in 2019); Wong Kar-wai (2nd appearance, last in 2018)
• Repeats: Florence Fuller (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total)

—howcheng {chat} 02:44, 18 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]