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.

...tennis match dubbed the "The Battle of the Sexes".

Shouldn't that just have one "the" in it? CSWarren 11:35, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

It should also link to The Battle of the Sexes (tennis), not just the disambiguation page The Battle of the Sexes. — Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 00:56, 20 September 2008 (UTC)

This is a moveable holiday, this year (2009) it is on September 20, and it is one of the two biggest (depending on branch of Islam) Muslim holidays. So it should be in this selection. I added it on the September 20 page like this:

• Eid ul-Fitr (2009), Muslim holiday, end of the Ramadan holy month of fasting.

Crnorizec (talk) 20:59, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

• Omitted: American Association for the Advancement of Science (ineligible—maintenance); Battle of Kaiapit; Xenu; Hurricane Irene–Olivia
• Included: Prussian uprisings (first appearance); Treaty of Ryswick (first appearance; rescued from Ineligible); Petrozavodsk phenomenon (first appearance); Islamabad Marriott Hotel bombing (first appearance)
• Repeats: Kōtoku-in (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 05:37, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

• Omitted: Prussian uprisings; Kōtoku-in; Treaty of Ryswick (ineligible—maintenance); Petrozavodsk phenomenon; Islamabad Marriott Hotel bombing
• Included: Battle of Fulford (first appearance); RMS Mauretania (1906) (3rd appearance, last in 2007; rescued from Ineligible); Battle of Kaiapit (2nd appearance, last in 2011; 70th anniversary); War on Terror (3rd appearance, last in 2010); 2009 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 05:08, 19 September 2013 (UTC)reply

• Omitted: RMS Mauretania (1906); Battle of Kaiapit; War on Terror; 2009 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final
• Included: Kōtoku-in (3rd appearance, last in 2012); Hurricane Irene–Olivia (2nd appearance, last in 2011); Pilot (The Cosby Show) (first appearance; 30th anniversary); Don't ask, don't tell (first appearance)
• Repeats: Battle of Fulford (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 10:07, 19 September 2014 (UTC)reply

• Omitted: Battle of Fulford; Hurricane Irene–Olivia; Pilot (The Cosby Show); Don't ask, don't tell
• Included: Prussian uprisings (2nd appearance, last in 2012); RMS Mauretania (1906) (4th appearance, last in 2013); Petrozavodsk phenomenon (2nd appearance, last in 2012); Islamabad Marriott Hotel bombing (2nd appearance, last in 2012)
• Repeats: Kōtoku-in (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total)

—howcheng {chat} 02:54, 19 September 2016 (UTC)reply

@Howcheng: Per this source, I updated the observances for September 21 by adding Eid al-Ghadeer. However, per local calendar of Iran and other sources, this observance falls on Tuesday in Iraq and Iran. Could you please change it? Thanks. --Mhhossein ^talk 10:25, 19 September 2016 (UTC)reply

• Omitted: Prussian uprisings; Kōtoku-in; Petrozavodsk phenomenon; Islamabad Marriott Hotel bombing
• Included: Battle of Fulford (3rd appearance, last in 2014; 950th anniversary); Battle of Valmy (first appearance); Hurricane Irene–Olivia (3rd appearance, last in 2014); War on Terror (4th appearance, last in 2013)
• Repeats: RMS Mauretania (1906) (2nd consecutive appearance, 5 total)

—howcheng {chat} 06:39, 20 September 2016 (UTC)reply

• New articles (ineligible): Cannes Film Festival (maintenance; moved from September 19)
• Omitted: Battle of Fulford; RMS Mauretania (1906); Hurricane Irene–Olivia; War on Terror (ineligible—maintenance)
• Included: Kōtoku-in (5th appearance, last in 2015); Xenu (2nd appearance, last in 2011; 50th anniversary); Petrozavodsk phenomenon (3rd appearance, last in 2015; 40th anniversary); Don't ask, don't tell (2nd appearance, last in 2014); Veit Stoss (first appearance); Herbert Putnam (first appearance); Edith Rogers (Alberta politician) (first appearance)
• Repeats: Battle of Valmy (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total; 225th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 06:32, 20 September 2017 (UTC)reply

Hi Howcheng, can you please look at the edit prior to yours on Rose Francine Rogombé - possibly a date vandal? I checked 3 refs which all have 1942 as birth year. Main page OTD needs to change to 1942? (PS let me know if you prefer I mention queries such as this on your TP or at Errors or article TP.) Thanks, JennyOz (talk) 03:07, 19 September 2018 (UTC)reply

@JennyOz: Done. Nice catch! —howcheng {chat} 18:12, 19 September 2018 (UTC)reply

• Omitted: Battle of Valmy; Xenu; Petrozavodsk phenomenon; Don't ask, don't tell; Veit Stoss (deleted—exact death date unknown); Herbert Putnam; Edith Rogers (Alberta politician)
• Included: Prussian uprisings (3rd appearance, last in 2015); RMS Mauretania (1906) (6th appearance, last in 2016); Battle of Kaiapit (3rd appearance, last in 2013; 75th anniversary); Islamabad Marriott Hotel bombing (3rd appearance, last in 2015); John Patteson (bishop) (first appearance); Éva Gauthier (first appearance); Rose Francine Rogombé (first appearance)
• Repeats: Kōtoku-in (2nd consecutive appearance, 6 total)

—howcheng {chat} 15:51, 20 September 2018 (UTC)reply

• Omitted: Kōtoku-in; RMS Mauretania (1906); Battle of Kaiapit; Islamabad Marriott Hotel bombing; John Patteson (bishop); Éva Gauthier; Rose Francine Rogombé
• Included: Peace of Ryswick (2nd appearance, last in 2012; rescued from Ineligible); Battle of San Marino (first appearance; 75th anniversary); Battle of the Sexes (tennis) (2nd appearance, last in 2008); 2000 MI6 attack (first appearance); Maurice Benyovszky (first appearance); Jacob Grimm (first appearance); Tereska Torrès (2nd appearance, last in 2017; also appears on September 3, her birthday)
• Repeats: Prussian uprisings (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total)

—howcheng {chat} 15:45, 23 September 2019 (UTC)reply

• New articles (unused): Erich Hartmann
• Omitted: Prussian uprisings; Peace of Ryswick; Battle of San Marino; Battle of the Sexes (tennis); Maurice Benyovszky; Jacob Grimm; Rose Francine Rogombé
• Included: Kōtoku-in (7th appearance, last in 2018); First Battle of Newbury (first appearance); Sack of Balbriggan (first appearance; 100th anniversary); Petrozavodsk phenomenon (4th appearance, last in 2017); Gozbald (first appearance); Enrico Mizzi (first appearance); Dennis Viollet (first appearance)
• Repeats: 2000 MI6 attack (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total; 20th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 03:18, 22 September 2020 (UTC)reply

• Moved to Ineligible: RMS Mauretania (1906) (maintenance)
• Omitted: Kōtoku-in; First Battle of Newbury; Sack of Balbriggan; 2000 MI6 attack; Gozbald; Enrico Mizzi; Dennis Viollet
• Included: Battle of Fulford (4th appearance, last in 2016); Battle of Valmy (3rd appearance, last in 2017); Hurricane Irene–Olivia (4th appearance, last in 2016; 50th anniversary); Don't ask, don't tell (2nd appearance, last in 2017; 10th anniversary); Maurice Benyovszky (2nd appearance, last in 2019; 275th birthday); John Patteson (bishop) (2nd appearance, last in 2018; 150th anniversary); Erich Hartmann (first appearance)
• Repeats: Petrozavodsk phenomenon (2nd consecutive appearance, 5 total)

—howcheng {chat} 07:53, 21 September 2021 (UTC)reply

• Omitted: Battle of Fulford; Battle of Valmy; Hurricane Irene–Olivia; Don't ask, don't tell; Maurice Benyovszky; John Patteson (bishop)
• Included: Prussian uprisings (5th appearance, last in 2019); First Battle of Newbury (2nd appearance, last in 2020); Battle of Kaiapit (4th appearance, last in 2018); Xenu (2nd appearance, last in 2017); Éva Gauthier (2nd appearance, last in 2018); Masashi Hamauzu (first appearance)
• Repeats: Petrozavodsk phenomenon (3rd consecutive appearance, 6 total); Erich Hartmann (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 17:55, 21 September 2022 (UTC)reply