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.

Please add Ramadan, 1427 begins at sunset (Islam, 2006) as a holiday. Alternatively, just Ramadan begins... would work fine, if you decide to remove the Jewish and Islamic years (which may be a good idea, because it's getting quite crowded). Thanks in advance. -- tariqabjotu 14:35, 17 September 2006 (UTC)

Note, also, that the date is tentative, and so as the day moves closer, I (or someone else) may request that this event be moved to September 23, if that is what the majority of the world decides to follow. -- tariqabjotu 14:35, 17 September 2006 (UTC)

I've put it on Sept.23rd for the time being. -- PFHLai 19:19, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

Alright; that's probably the most accurate anyway. -- tariqabjotu 22:38, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Shouldn't that be "Car-Free Day" (with a hyphen), to avoid the implication that Europe and Canada are giving away free cars? See WP:HYPHEN, paragraph 3: "Sometimes the hyphen helps with disambiguation (little-used car, not a reference to the size of a used car)." Unimaginative Username 03:28, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

This issue should be addressed on the Car Free Days article first before here. Cheers. Zzyzx11 (Talk) 03:33, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Good idea. Done. Still hope they change this, as the main page is seen by many more people than the CFD article would be, and the error noted more often. Thanks for the suggestion. Unimaginative Username 22:18, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

At this day in 1980 Iraq invaded Iran. This led to eight year war between two countries which is one of the longest war of the contemporary era.--Seyyed(t-c) 05:27, 21 September 2008 (UTC)reply

Iran–Iraq War is given lower priority this year because it is currently tagged with {{longish}}, {{Split-apart}}, {{Totally-disputed}}, among others. Remember, the selected articles (bolded items) on the Main Page are chosen based more on how well they are written, not based on how much their subjects are important or significant. Zzyzx11 (Talk) 05:43, 21 September 2008 (UTC)reply

At this day in 1939, a joint Nazi-Soviet military parade in Brześć was held, to display the power of the newly formed Soviet-Nazi pact to the whole world. --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| talk} 18:01, 8 September 2009 (UTC)reply

I am perplexed by the inclusion of OneWebDay, which article reads almost like an advertisement. Is this a real thing that should be on the front page? I am wary of changing the front page with no consensus, however. 128.208.6.193 (talk) 11:40, 22 September 2009 (UTC)reply

That was me. mkehrt (talk) 11:41, 22 September 2009 (UTC)reply

• Moved to Ineligible: Gresford disaster (maintenance); Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 (maintenance)
• Omitted: French First Republic; Bombardment of Papeete; Great Fire of Smyrna (ineligible—maintenance); Peace Corps; Nordhordland Bridge
• Included: Emancipation Proclamation (7th appearance, last in 2010; 150th anniversary); German–Soviet military parade in Brest-Litovsk (first appearance); François Duvalier (first appearance); Sara Jane Moore (first appearance); Vela Incident (3rd appearance, last in 2010)

—howcheng {chat} 08:39, 21 September 2012 (UTC)reply

• Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Gresford disaster
• Omitted: Emancipation Proclamation; German–Soviet military parade in Brest-Litovsk; Sara Jane Moore; Vela Incident
• Included: OneWebDay (rescued from Ineligible); Emperor Zhaozong of Tang (first appearance); Nathan Hale (4th appearance, last in 2007); French First Republic (2nd appearance, last in 2011); Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 (3rd appearance, last in 2008; rescued from Ineligible)
• Repeats: François Duvalier (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 06:18, 21 September 2013 (UTC)reply

• Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Great Fire of Smyrna
• New articles (unused): 1993 Big Bayou Canot train wreck
• Omitted: Emperor Zhaozong of Tang; Nathan Hale; François Duvalier; Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
• Included: Bulgarian Declaration of Independence (first appearance); Battle of Zutphen (first appearance); Bombardment of Papeete (3rd appearance, last in 2011; 100th anniversary); Gresford disaster (first appearance; 80th anniversary); Nordhordland Bridge (2nd appearance, last in 2011; 20th anniversary)
• Repeats: French First Republic (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total)

—howcheng {chat} 15:03, 21 September 2014 (UTC)reply

• New articles (unused): Action of 22 September 1914
• Omitted: Battle of Zutphen; Bombardment of Papeete; Gresford disaster; Nordhordland Bridge
• Included: Emancipation Proclamation (8th appearance, last in 2012); Great Fire of Smyrna (2nd appearance, last in 2011); ITV (TV network) (first appearance; 60th anniversary); Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 (4th appearance, last in 2013; 50th anniversary)
• Repeats: French First Republic (3rd consecutive appearance, 4 total)

—howcheng {chat} 10:21, 20 September 2015 (UTC)reply

• Moved to Ineligible: Emperor Zhaozong of Tang (maintenance); Nathan Hale (maintenance); 1993 Big Bayou Canot train wreck (maintenance)
• Omitted: Bulgarian Declaration of Independence (ineligible—maintenance); French First Republic; Great Fire of Smyrna; ITV (TV network); Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
• Included: Ben Jonson (first appearance); Action of 22 September 1914 (first appearance); François Duvalier (3rd appearance, last in 2013); Nordhordland Bridge (3rd appearance, last in 2014)
• Repeats: Emancipation Proclamation (2nd consecutive appearance, 9 total)

—howcheng {chat} 05:14, 22 September 2016 (UTC)reply

• Moved to Ineligible: French First Republic; Gresford disaster; ITV (TV network)
• New articles (unused): Gail Halvorsen
• Omitted: September equinox; OneWebDay; Ben Jonson; Emancipation Proclamation; Action of 22 September 1914; Nordhordland Bridge
• Included: Battle of Zutphen (2nd appearance, last in 2014); Bombardment of Papeete (4th appearance, last in 2014); Great fire of Smyrna (3rd appearance, last in 2015); 1993 Big Bayou Canot train wreck (first appearance; rescued from Ineligible); Ouyang Xiu (first appearance); Charlotte Cooper (tennis) (first appearance); Ségolène Royal (first appearance)
• Repeats: François Duvalier (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total; 60th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 07:26, 21 September 2017 (UTC)reply

• New articles (unused): Peshawar church bombing; MAVEN
• Omitted: OneWebDay (ineligible—no longer appears to be observed); Battle of Zutphen; Bombardment of Papeete; Great fire of Smyrna; François Duvalier; Ouyang Xiu (ineligible—maintenance); Charlotte Cooper (tennis); Ségolène Royal
• Included: Swabian War (first appearance); Das Rheingold (8th appearance, last in 2010; rescued from Ineligible); Gail Halvorsen (first appearance); Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 (5th appearance, last in 2015); John Biddle (Unitarian) (first appearance); Stephen D. Lee (first appearance); Aurelio López (first appearance)
• Repeats: Big Bayou Canot rail accident (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total; 25th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 05:59, 22 September 2018 (UTC)reply

• Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Gresford disaster
• Omitted: Swabian War; Gail Halvorsen; Indo-Pakistani War of 1965; Big Bayou Canot rail accident; John Biddle (Unitarian); Stephen D. Lee; Aurelio López
• Included: Baltic Unity Day (observance previously featured Battle of Saule, which can probably be converted to a blurb); Battle of Zutphen (3rd appearance, last in 2017); Action of 22 September 1914 (2nd appearance, last in 2016); Vela incident (4th appearance, last in 2012; 40th anniversary); Peshawar church bombing (first appearance); Dōgen (first appearance); Selim I (first appearance); Norma McCorvey (first appearance)
• Repeats: Das Rheingold (2nd consecutive appearance, 9 total)

—howcheng {chat} 16:05, 23 September 2019 (UTC)reply

• Moved to Ineligible: Swabian War (maintenance); Charlotte Cooper (tennis) (maintenance)
• Omitted: Das Rheingold; Action of 22 September 1914; Vela incident; Peshawar church bombing; Dōgen (ineligible—maintenance); Selim I (ineligible—maintenance); Norma McCorvey
• Included: Emancipation Proclamation (10th appearance, last in 2016); Great fire of Smyrna (4th appearance, last in 2017); Iran–Iraq War (4th appearance, last in 2006; rescued from Ineligible; 40th anniversary); John Biddle (Unitarian) (2nd appearance, last in 2018); Wilhelm Keitel (first appearance); Edna Molewa (first appearance)
• Repeats: Battle of Zutphen (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total)

—howcheng {chat} 02:44, 24 September 2020 (UTC)reply

• Moved to Ineligible: Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 (maintenance)
• Omitted: Mali (ineligible—maintenance); Baltic Unity Day (ineligible—stub); Battle of Zutphen; Emancipation Proclamation (ineligible—maintenance); Great fire of Smyrna; Iran–Iraq War; John Biddle (Unitarian); Wilhelm Keitel; Edna Molewa
• Included: Battle of Saule (9th appearance, last in 2018; previously was included as an observance); Russian ship of the line Lefort (first appearance); Gail Halvorsen (2nd appearance, last in 2018); François Duvalier (5th appearance, last in 2017); MAVEN (first appearance); Selim I (2nd appearance, last in 2019); Bernardino António Gomes Jr. (first appearance); Gladys Berejiklian (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 07:37, 23 September 2021 (UTC)reply

• Deleted: Tuscarora War (moved to September 10)
• Moved to Ineligible: Iran–Iraq War (maintenance)
• Omitted: Battle of Saule; Russian ship of the line Lefort (ineligible—maintenance); Gail Halvorsen; François Duvalier; MAVEN; Selim I; Bernardino António Gomes Jr.; Gladys Berejiklian
• Included: Battle of Zutphen (5th appearance, last in 2020); Das Rheingold (10th appearance, last in 2019); Gresford disaster (2nd appearance, last in 2014); Vela incident (5th appearance, last in 2019); Nordhordland Bridge (4th appearance, last in 2016); Wilhelm Keitel (2nd appearance, last in 2020); Norma McCorvey (2nd appearance, last in 2019; 75th birthday); Aurelio López (2nd appearance, last in 2018; 30th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 17:30, 26 September 2022 (UTC)reply