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.

Rename Independence Day to National Day for Vietnam. DHN 16:41, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

Done. Thanks for pointing this out. -- PFHLai 17:55, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

The Transnistria Entry inaccurately states that it is not recognised by any country. In fact it is recognised by Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Look to the List of states with limited recognition page. Outback the koala (talk) 21:22, 5 May 2010 (UTC)

The page is generally unprotected until September 1, so feel free to make a suitable change, just as long as you keep it short as possible and it matches the article in question. Cheers. Zzyzx11 (talk) 04:23, 6 May 2010 (UTC)

Ok, thank you. Outback the koala (talk) 23:27, 6 May 2010 (UTC)

Japanese Instrument of Surrender

"The Japanese Instrument of Surrender was the written agreement that enabled the Surrender of Japan, marking the end of World War II. It was signed by representatives from the Empire of Japan, the United States of America, the Republic of China, the United Kingdom, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of Canada, the Provisional Government of the French Republic, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and the Dominion of New Zealand on the deck of the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945."

Paryusana Parva begins on 26th August and ends on 2nd September. --Redtigerxyz ^Talk 11:54, 17 August 2011 (UTC)

Paryusana Parva begins for Digambars on this day and ends for Svetambars.--Redtigerxyz ^Talk 11:59, 17 August 2011 (UTC)

• Omitted: Wars of Castro; Rock Springs massacre; Japanese Instrument of Surrender; Ngo Dinh Diem presidential visit to Australia
• Included: Great Fire of London (8th appearance, last in 2010); Big Stick ideology (3rd appearance, last in 2010); Principality of Sealand (first appearance; rescued from Ineligible); 1992 Nicaragua earthquake (first appearance)
• Repeats: Interim Government of India (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 06:49, 1 September 2012 (UTC)reply

September 2 is the National Day of Vietnam, so could anyone with authority please add this event to the Selected anniversaries? Thank you! Grenouille vert (talk) 08:34, 2 September 2012 (UTC)reply

Sorry, but National Day (Vietnam) has a big yellow maintenance tag on it, making it ineligible. Vietnam also does in the Culture section. So does Proclamation of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The end result is that it can't be included. —howcheng {chat} 18:51, 2 September 2012 (UTC)reply

Thank you for your answer but to tell the truth, it's very unhelpful since you can just change the interlink of National Day (Vietnam) to List of national independence days and remove the interlink to Vietnam (as the situation right now on September 3, for the Independence Day of Quatar and Armed Force Day of Taiwan), instead, you chose an almost unrelated article of Parliament of the Central Tibetan Administration with only one sentence mentioning the day that you added in the main page. It's not helpful, really. Grenouille vert (talk) 00:10, 3 September 2012 (UTC)reply

There's a few conventions that I didn't mention. For example, when we do an independence day, if there's no specific article for the country's holiday, the link does go to List of national independence days, but then the country is always is the bold article (like for Qatar). That won't do for Vietnam. —howcheng {chat} 03:44, 3 September 2012 (UTC)reply

Right, the article now has proper sources and cats. What else is needed ? :) In ictu oculi (talk) 05:45, 8 September 2012 (UTC)reply

BTW - What is this weird "edit protected|answered=yes " template doing here? :) In ictu oculi (talk) 05:47, 8 September 2012 (UTC)reply

The article is now listed again. Thanks for the work. Also, the {{edit protected}} tag was added by User:Grenouille vert. —howcheng {chat} 16:31, 10 September 2012 (UTC)reply

Tx, I've removed the tag, it must have been a mistake. Cheers In ictu oculi (talk) 14:24, 11 September 2012 (UTC)reply

• Omitted: Parliament of the Central Tibetan Administration (ineligible—maintenance); Great Fire of London; Big Stick ideology; Interim Government of India; Principality of Sealand; 1992 Nicaragua earthquake
• Included: Caesarion (first appearance); Wars of Castro (2nd appearance, last in 2011); Battle of Copenhagen (1807) (first appearance); Japanese Instrument of Surrender (6th appearance, last in 2011); Swissair Flight 111 (4th appearance, last in 2010)

—howcheng {chat} 05:24, 1 September 2013 (UTC)reply

• Omitted: Caesarion; Wars of Castro; Battle of Copenhagen (1807); Japanese Instrument of Surrender; Swissair Flight 111
• Included: September Massacres (first appearance); Atlanta Campaign (first appearance; 150th anniversary); Interim Government of India (3rd appearance, last in 2012); Ngo Dinh Diem presidential visit to Australia (3rd appearance, last in 2011); Transnistria (3rd appearance, last in 2010)

—howcheng {chat} 07:31, 1 September 2014 (UTC)reply

• Omitted: September Massacres; Atlanta Campaign; Interim Government of India; Ngo Dinh Diem presidential visit to Australia
• Included: Caesarion (2nd appearance, last in 2013); Battle of Copenhagen (1807) (2nd appearance, last in 2013); Rock Springs massacre (2nd appearance, last in 2011); Japanese Instrument of Surrender (7th appearance, last in 2013; 70th anniversary)
• Repeats: Transnistria (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total; 25th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 07:43, 31 August 2015 (UTC)reply

• Omitted: Caesarion (ineligible—maintenance); Battle of Copenhagen (1807); Rock Springs massacre; Japanese Instrument of Surrender; Transnistria (ineligible—maintenance)
• Included: Great Fire of London (9th appearance, last in 2012); September Massacres (2nd appearance, last in 2014); Interim Government of India (4th appearance, last in 2014; 70th anniversary); Hurricane Elena (first appearance); Swissair Flight 111 (5th appearance, last in 2013)

—howcheng {chat} 07:00, 2 September 2016 (UTC)reply

• Moved to Ineligible: Wars of Castro; Battle of Copenhagen (1807); Japanese Instrument of Surrender; Principality of Sealand
• Rescued from Ineligible (unused): 1935 Labor Day hurricane
• Omitted: Great Fire of London; Hurricane Elena; Swissair Flight 111
• Included: Atlanta Campaign (2nd appearance, last in 2014); Ngo Dinh Diem presidential visit to Australia (4th appearance, last in 2014); 1992 Nicaragua earthquake (2nd appearance, last in 2014; 25th anniversary); Mary Cecil Allen (first appearance); Roekiah (first appearance); Barbara McClintock (first appearance; 25th anniversary)
• Repeats: September Massacres (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total; 225th anniversary); Interim Government of India (2nd consecutive appearance, 5 total)

—howcheng {chat} 06:25, 3 September 2017 (UTC)reply

• New articles (unused): Arthur Rose Eldred/Eagle Scout
• Omitted: Atlanta Campaign; Interim Government of India (ineligible—maintenance); Ngo Dinh Diem presidential visit to Australia; 1992 Nicaragua earthquake; Roekiah; Barbara McClintock
• Included: Rock Springs massacre (3rd appearance, last in 2015); Principality of Sealand (2nd appearance, last in 2012; rescued from Ineligible); Swissair Flight 111 (6th appearance, last in 2016; 20th anniversary); Bhaktivinoda Thakur (2nd appearance, last in 2012; previously appeared on June 23, his death anniversary); Carlos Valderrama (first appearance)
• Repeats: September Massacres (3rd consecutive appearance, 4 total); Mary Cecil Allen (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total; 125th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 02:52, 2 September 2018 (UTC)reply

• Deleted: Battle of Copenhagen (1807) (moved to September 5)
• Moved to Ineligible: 1935 Labor Day hurricane (maintenance)
• New articles (unused): Joey Barton
• Omitted: September Massacres; Rock Springs massacre; Principality of Sealand; Swissair Flight 111; Bhaktivinoda Thakur; Mary Cecil Allen; Carlos Valderrama
• Included: Great Fire of London (2nd appearance, last in 2016); Battle of Sedan (first appearance; rescued from Ineligible); Arthur Rose Eldred/Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts of America) (both: first appearance); Hurricane Elena (2nd appearance, last in 2016); 2011 Chilean Air Force C-212 crash (first appearance); Constantius III (first appearance); Horace Silver (first appearance); Roekiah (2nd appearance, last in 2017)

—howcheng {chat} 23:35, 6 September 2019 (UTC)reply

• Omitted: Great Fire of London (ineligible—maintenance); Arthur Rose Eldred (blurb also previously featured Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts of America) which is now ineligible); Hurricane Elena; 2011 Chilean Air Force C-212 crash; Constantius III; Horace Silver
• Included: Caesarion (3rd appearance, last in 2015; rescued from Ineligible); Ngo Dinh Diem presidential visit to Australia (5th appearance, last in 2017); 1992 Nicaragua earthquake (3rd appearance, last in 2017); Swissair Flight 111 (7th appearance, last in 2018); Kösem Sultan (first appearance); Wilhelm Ostwald (first appearance)
• Repeats: Battle of Sedan (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total; 150th anniversary); Roekiah (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total; 75th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 16:35, 3 September 2020 (UTC)reply

• Moved to Ineligible: Principality of Sealand (maintenance)
• Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Great Fire of London
• Omitted: Battle of Sedan; Ngo Dinh Diem presidential visit to Australia; 1992 Nicaragua earthquake; Swissair Flight 111; Kösem Sultan; Wilhelm Ostwald; Roekiah
• Included: Rock Springs massacre (4th appearance, last in 2018); Japanese Instrument of Surrender (8th appearance, last in 2015; rescued from Ineligible); 2011 Chilean Air Force C-212 crash (2nd appearance, last in 2019; 10th anniversary); Constantius III (2nd appearance, last in 2019; 1600th anniversary); Jean Victor Marie Moreau (first appearance); Carlos Valderrama (2nd appearance, last in 2018; 60th birthday)
• Repeats: Caesarion (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total)

—howcheng {chat} 07:10, 3 September 2021 (UTC)reply

• Moved to Ineligible: Atlanta campaign (maintenance); Swissair Flight 111 (maintenance); Joey Barton (maintenance)
• Omitted: Caesarion (ineligible—maintenance); Rock Springs massacre; Japanese Instrument of Surrender; 2011 Chilean Air Force C-212 crash; Constantius III; Jean Victor Marie Moreau; Carlos Valderrama
• Included: Great Fire of London (11th appearance, last in 2019); Battle of Sedan (3rd appearance, last in 2020); Ngo Dinh Diem presidential visit to Australia (6th appearance, last in 2020); Hurricane Elena (3rd appearance, last in 2019); 1992 Nicaragua earthquake (4th appearance, last in 2020; 30th anniversary); Wilhelm Ostwald (2nd appearance, last in 2020); Horace Silver (2nd appearance, last in 2019); Roekiah (4th appearance, last in 2020)

—howcheng {chat} 19:57, 19 September 2022 (UTC)reply