Frequently asked questions Q1: Why is , 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 . 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 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 July 18, 2024
John Glenn (July 18, 1921 – December 8, 2016) was a United States Marine Corps aviator, engineer, astronaut, and politician. Before joining NASA, Glenn was a distinguished fighter pilot in World War II, the Chinese Civil War and the Korean War. In 1957, he made the first supersonic transcontinental flight across the United States. He was one of the Mercury Seven, military test pilots selected in 1959 by NASA as the nation's first astronauts. On February 20, 1962, Glenn flew the Friendship 7 mission, becoming the first American to orbit the Earth, and the fifth person and third American in space. After retiring from NASA, he served from 1974 to 1999 as a Democratic U.S. Senator from Ohio. In 1998, Glenn flew on the Discovery space shuttle's STS-95 mission, making him the oldest person to enter Earth orbit and the only person to fly in both the Mercury and Space Shuttle programs. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. (Full article...) Recently featured: Cora Agnes Benneson Hanford Engineer Works Jacques Offenbach Archive By email More featured articles About view – talk – edit – history – watch
Picture of the day for July 18, 2024
The featured picture for this day has not yet been chosen. In general, pictures of the day are scheduled in order of promotion to featured status. See Wikipedia:Picture of the day/Guidelines for full guidelines. create

Should the bit about the Great Fire of Rome state "while Roman Emperor Nero reportedly played his lyre and sang as he watched the blaze from a safe distance" when the article contradicts that? While "reportedly" is used, the report in question is, well, questionable, as the article explains. PoptartKing 01:59, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

• Deleted: Hideki Tōjō (moved to November 12)
• Omitted: Edict of Expulsion; Pedro II of Brazil; Nadia Comăneci; Soufrière Hills
• Included: Truce of Leulinghem (first appearance); Messerschmitt Me 262 (first appearance); San Ysidro McDonald's massacre (first appearance); 1994 AMIA bombing (first appearance)
• Repeats: Papal infallibility (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 05:22, 17 July 2012 (UTC)

• Omitted: Truce of Leulinghem; Papal infallibility (ineligible—maintenance); Messerschmitt Me 262; San Ysidro McDonald's massacre; AMIA bombing; Soufrière Hills
• Included: Edict of Expulsion (2nd appearance, last in 2011); 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry (8th appearance, last in 2010; rescued from Ineligible); Chappaquiddick incident (3rd appearance, last in 2009); Nadia Comăneci (2nd appearance, last in 2011); U.S.–India Civil Nuclear Agreement (2nd appearance, last in 2010)

—howcheng {chat} 05:15, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

• Moved to Ineligible: AMIA bombing (maintenance)
• Omitted: Edict of Expulsion; 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry; Chappaquiddick incident; Nadia Comăneci; U.S.–India Civil Nuclear Agreement
• Included: Truce of Leulinghem (2nd appearance, last in 2012; 625th anniversary); Papal infallibility (3rd appearance, last in 2012; rescued from Ineligible); Messerschmitt Me 262 (2nd appearance, last in 2012); San Ysidro McDonald's massacre (2nd appearance, last in 2012; 30th anniversary); 2012 Burgas bus bombing (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 09:51, 17 July 2014 (UTC)

Addendum: Messerschmitt Me 262 taken off due to Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 being shot down; replaced with Nadia Comăneci (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total). —howcheng {chat} 04:54, 18 July 2014 (UTC)reply

• Rescued from Ineligible (unused): AMIA bombing
• New articles (unused): Murder of Catrine da Costa
• Omitted: Truce of Leulinghem; Nadia Comăneci; San Ysidro McDonald's massacre; 2012 Burgas bus bombing
• Included: Edict of Expulsion (3rd appearance, last in 2013); Pedro II of Brazil (3rd appearance, last in 2011); Soufrière Hills (3rd appearance, last in 2012; 20th anniversary); India–United States Civil Nuclear Agreement (3rd appearance, last in 2013; 10th anniversary)
• Repeats: Papal infallibility (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total)

—howcheng {chat} 06:37, 16 July 2015 (UTC)reply

• @Howcheng: Dreaming of You was released two decades ago on this day and because of its historical achievement in the Latin music market Latin Times and Vibe magazine among others have posted about its importance to the music industry and Hispanic music population to mark its anniversary. With this, can we add Dreaming of You to the list? Best, jona^(talk) 02:15, 18 July 2015 (UTC)reply

Alas, we already have a 20th anniversary item on right now. —howcheng {chat} 05:15, 18 July 2015 (UTC)reply

I see what you are saying. Best, jona^(talk) 13:12, 18 July 2015 (UTC)reply

• Moved to Ineligible: Messerschmitt Me 262 (maintenance)
• Omitted: Edict of Expulsion; Papal infallibility; Soufrière Hills; India–United States Civil Nuclear Agreement
• Included: Constitution of Uruguay of 1830 (first appearance); Truce of Leulinghem (3rd appearance, last in 2014); 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment (9th appearance, last in 2013); Nadia Comăneci (4th appearance, last in 2014; 40th anniversary); Dreaming of You (album) (first appearance)
• Repeats: Pedro II of Brazil (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total)

—howcheng {chat} 08:07, 17 July 2016 (UTC)reply

• Moved to Ineligible: Papal infallibility (maintenance); Murder of Catrine da Costa (maintenance); Soufrière Hills (maintenance)
• Omitted: Constitution of Uruguay of 1830 (ineligible—maintenance); Truce of Leulinghem (ineligible—maintenance); 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment; Dreaming of You (album)
• Included: 1806 Birgu polverista explosion (first appearance); Chappaquiddick incident (4th appearance, last in 2013); 2012 Burgas bus bombing (2nd appearance, last in 2014); Boniface of Savoy (bishop) (first appearance); Jane Austen (first appearance); Clare Stevenson (first appearance)
• Repeats: Pedro II of Brazil (3rd consecutive appearance, 5 total); Nadia Comăneci (2nd consecutive appearance, 6 total)

—howcheng {chat} 07:28, 18 July 2017 (UTC)reply

• Moved to Ineligible: India–United States Civil Nuclear Agreement (maintenance)
• New articles (unused): Detroit bankruptcy
• Omitted: Pedro II of Brazil; Chappaquiddick incident (ineligible—maintenance); Nadia Comăneci; 2012 Burgas bus bombing; Boniface of Savoy (bishop); Jane Austen
• Included: Edict of Expulsion (4th appearance, last in 2015); Francisco Javier Arana (first appearance); Hough riots (first appearance); Silvio Berlusconi prostitute trial (first appearance); Bartolomé de las Casas (first appearance); Priyanka Chopra (first appearance)
• Repeats: 1806 Birgu polverista explosion (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total); Clare Stevenson (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 15:49, 18 July 2018 (UTC)reply

• Moved to Ineligible: AMIA bombing (maintenance); Detroit bankruptcy (maintenance)
• Omitted: Edict of Expulsion; 1806 Birgu polverista explosion; Francisco Javier Arana; Hough riots; Silvio Berlusconi prostitute trial; Bartolomé de las Casas; Clare Stevenson; Priyanka Chopra
• Included: Pedro II of Brazil (6th appearance, last in 2017); Nadia Comăneci (6th appearance, last in 2017); Rebecca Schaeffer (2nd appearance, last in 2009; 30th anniversary); Dreaming of You (Selena album) (2nd appearance, last in 2016); 2012 Burgas bus bombing (3rd appearance, last in 2017); Boniface of Savoy (bishop) (2nd appearance, last in 2017); Nelson Mandela (14th appearance, last in 2016; normally appears on February 11); M.I.A. (rapper) (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 16:30, 22 July 2019 (UTC)reply

• New articles (unused): Clare Stevenson (TFA for 2020-02-24)
• Omitted: Bartolomé de las Casas (ineligible—date not cited); Pedro II of Brazil; Nadia Comăneci; Rebecca Schaeffer; Dreaming of You (Selena album); 2012 Burgas bus bombing; Boniface of Savoy (bishop) (date not certain); Nelson Mandela (deleted—moved back to original date)
• Included: Edict of Expulsion (5th appearance, last in 2018); 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment (10th appearance, last in 2016); Spanish coup of July 1936/Spanish Civil War (Coup: 5th appearance; War: 11th; both last in 2019; moved from July 17); Murder of Catrine da Costa (first appearance); Silvio Berlusconi prostitution trial (2nd appearance, last in 2018); Jane Austen (2nd appearance, last in 2017); Hendrik Lorentz (first appearance)
• Repeats: M.I.A. (rapper) (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 17:45, 20 July 2020 (UTC)reply

• Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Clare Stevenson
• Omitted: Edict of Expulsion; 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment; Spanish coup of July 1936/Spanish Civil War; Murder of Catrine da Costa; Silvio Berlusconi prostitution trial; Jane Austen; Hendrik Lorentz; M.I.A. (rapper)
• Included: 1806 Birgu polverista explosion (3rd appearance, last in 2018); Pedro II of Brazil (7th appearance, last in 2019); Francisco Javier Arana (2nd appearance, last in 2018); Nadia Comăneci (7th appearance, last in 2019); Rebecca Schaeffer (3rd appearance, last in 2019); Lucy Smith Millikin (first appearance; 200th birthday); Maria von Linden (first appearance); John Glenn (6th appearance, last in 2018; normally appears on October 29; 100th birthday)

—howcheng {chat} 07:27, 20 July 2021 (UTC)reply

• Omitted: 1806 Birgu polverista explosion; Francisco Javier Arana; Nadia Comăneci; Rebecca Schaeffer; Lucy Smith Millikin; Maria von Linden; John Glenn (deleted)
• Included: Spanish coup of July 1936 (6th appearance, last in 2020); Dreaming of You (Selena album) (3rd appearance, last in 2019); 2012 Burgas bus bombing (4th appearance, last in 2019; 10th anniversary); Jane Austen (3rd appearance, last in 2020); Clare Stevenson (3rd appearance, last in 2018); Priyanka Chopra (2nd appearance, last in 2018; 40th birthday)
• Repeats: Pedro II of Brazil (2nd consecutive appearance, 8 total)

—howcheng {chat} 17:51, 21 July 2022 (UTC)reply