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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.
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.
Today's featured article for September 19, 2024
Wikipedia:Today's featured article/September 19, 2024
As the most distinguished owner of this date (tis be my birthday!) I wish to invite you all to stand on ceremony and uphold tradition by talking like pirates during the whole course of September 19th which, in this year of 2006, shall fall on a Tuesday.
Please also bear in mind that this is the finest day in our calender and I shall not be argued with.
My thanks,
Cap'n Zoonotcher
P.s. please show your appreciation for this tremendous day by littering my vessel the Hangman with your generously donated dubloons. Fare ye well!
While Talk like a Pirate Day is very cute, it isn't a holiday. It isn't recognized by any government and it doesn't celebrate an event in history or any good done by a person or people nor is it of religious significance. As an encyclopedia one shouldn't promote this joke as veracity, because it may confuse people into believe that this day is officially recognized or that indeed this is a holiday to recognize the deeds of pirates. I do not think it belongs on On This Day.
Also, what's with the format?
September 19: Independence Day in Saint Kitts and Nevis (1983), Armed Forces Day in Chile, International Talk Like a Pirate Day, Prinsjesdag in Netherlands.
Today's date is bold, that makes sense. Why is St. Kitts Bold but not Chile or the Netherlands? Why are Armed forces day and Prinsjesdag bold, and Independence day and pirate day not bold? It seems like there should be a standard for this.
The standard is that almost all are bolded – except for Independence Day and Republic Day, since most of the content regarding the history where that specified country gained independence or first became a republic is generally posted on that country's article. As for International Talk Like a Pirate, I have no idea. Zzyzx11(Talk)06:32, 19 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Prinsjesdag is the day that the state budget for the next year is announced in the Netherlands. It is always on the third Tuesday in September, and therefore falls on a different date each year, in 2007 on September 18.
I cannot change it now, because the page is protected through cascade from the main page. Aron Beekman 11:31, 19 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Included: Battle of Poitiers (6th appearance, last in 2009; rescued from Ineligible); Giles Corey (first appearance); Our Lady of La Salette (first appearance); Nguyen Khanh (2nd appearance, last in 2010; rescued from Ineligible); Emoticon (4th appearance, last in 2006; rescued from Ineligible); Ötzi (2nd appearance, last in 2010)
The article uses a magnitude of 8.0 Mw. This is supported by multiple sources, particularly the authoritative ANSS and ISC-GEM catalogues. The Richter magnitude ML is deprecated for use in larger earthquakes. Mikenorton (talk) 08:24, 17 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]