Frequently asked questions 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? 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 [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.

• Omitted: Holy Child of La Guardia; Battle of Fort Washington; Operation Queen; The Sound of Music; Wei Jingsheng
• Included: Edward I of England (4th appearance, last in 2008; moved from November 21); Louis Riel (12th appearance, last in 2010); Albert Hofmann/ LSD (Hoffman: 7th appearance; LSD: 5th appearance; both last in 2010); Murdered scholars of UCA (first appearance); Hoxne Hoard (first appearance)

— howcheng { chat} 06:11, 15 November 2012 (UTC) reply

• Omitted: Edward I of England; Louis Riel; Murder of UCA scholars; Hoxne Hoard
• Included: Holy Child of La Guardia (2nd appearance, last in 2011); Qantas/ History of Qantas (both: first appearance); Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (8th appearance, last in 2011; 40th anniversary); Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) (6th appearance, last in 2008; rescued from Ineligible)
• Repeats: Albert Hofmann (2nd consecutive appearance, 8 total; 75th anniversary; blurb also previously featured Lysergic acid diethylamide, which is currently ineligible)

— howcheng { chat} 06:59, 15 November 2013 (UTC) reply

• Omitted: Holy Child of La Guardia; History of Qantas ( Qantas was also featured previously but is no longer eligible); Albert Hofmann; Trans-Alaska Pipeline System; Severe acute respiratory syndrome
• Included: Battle of Fort Washington (2nd appearance, last in 2011); Louis Riel (13th appearance, last in 2012); Operation Queen (2nd appearance, last in 2011; 70th anniversary); The Sound of Music (2nd appearance, last in 2011); Murder of UCA scholars (2nd appearance, last in 2012)

— howcheng { chat} 07:43, 16 November 2014 (UTC) reply

• Omitted: Battle of Fort Washington; Operation Queen; The Sound of Music; Murder of UCA scholars
• Included: Battle of Cajamarca (6th appearance, last in 2010; rescued from Ineligible); UNESCO (first appearance; 70th anniversary); Bucharest Metro (4th appearance, last in 2007); Wei Jingsheng (2nd appearance, last in 2011)
• Repeats: Louis Riel (2nd consecutive appearance, 15 total)

— howcheng { chat} 08:33, 14 November 2015 (UTC) reply

• Omitted: Battle of Cajamarca; Louis Riel; UNESCO; Bucharest Metro; Wei Jingsheng
• Included: Jadwiga of Poland (6th appearance, last in 2009; rescued from Ineligible); Holy Child of La Guardia (3rd appearance, last in 2013); Victoria Falls (6th appearance, last in 2012); Albert Hofmann (9th appearance, last in 2013); Hoxne Hoard (2nd appearance, last in 2012)

— howcheng { chat} 17:05, 15 November 2016 (UTC) reply

• Moved to Ineligible: Edward I of England (maintenance); The Sound of Music (maintenance); Bucharest Metro (maintenance); 1989 murders of Jesuits in El Salvador (maintenance); Severe acute respiratory syndrome (maintenance)
• Omitted: Jadwiga of Poland (moved to October 16); Holy Child of La Guardia; Victoria Falls; Albert Hofmann
• Included: Vlad the Impaler (2nd appearance, last in 2010; moved from Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/November 26); Battle of Fort Washington (3rd appearance, last in 2014); Aeroflot Flight 2230 (first appearance; 50th anniversary); Wei Jingsheng (3rd appearance, last in 2015; 20th anniversary); Ælfric of Abingdon (first appearance); Turibius of Mogrovejo (first appearance); Caroline Birley (first appearance)
• Repeats: Hoxne Hoard (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total; 25th anniversary)

— howcheng { chat} 16:53, 16 November 2017 (UTC) reply

• Deleted: Edward I of England (date not certain)
• Omitted: Estonian Sovereignty Declaration (ineligible—maintenance); Vlad the Impaler; Aeroflot Flight 2230; Hoxne Hoard; Wei Jingsheng; Ælfric of Abingdon; Turibius of Mogrovejo; Caroline Birley
• Included: Codex Justinianus (first appearance); Louis Riel (16th appearance, last in 2015); Albert Hofmann (10th appearance, last in 2016; 80th anniversary); Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (9th appearance, last in 2013); Edmund of Abingdon (first appearance); Charles-Antoine Campion (first appearance); Chinua Achebe (first appearance)
• Repeats: Battle of Fort Washington (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total)

— howcheng { chat} 19:23, 16 November 2018 (UTC) reply

• Deleted: Bucharest Metro (moved to November 19)
• Moved to Ineligible: Victoria Falls (maintenance)
• New articles (ineligible): National Rifle Association (moved from November 17)
• Omitted: Codex Justinianus; Battle of Fort Washington; Louis Riel; Albert Hofmann; Trans-Alaska Pipeline System; Edmund of Abingdon (ineligible—maintenance); Charles-Antoine Campion; Chinua Achebe
• Included: Battle of Cajamarca (7th appearance, last in 2015); History of Qantas (2nd appearance, last in 2013); Operation Queen (3rd appearance, last in 2014; 75th anniversary); Arecibo message (first appearance); Sofonisba Anguissola (first appearance); Kalākaua (first appearance); Omayra Sánchez (2nd appearance, last in 2017; moved from August 28)

— howcheng { chat} 17:23, 18 November 2019 (UTC) reply

• Moved to Ineligible: Oklahoma (maintenance)
• New articles (unused): Nasr of Granada
• Omitted: Battle of Cajamarca; Operation Queen; Arecibo message; Sofonisba Anguissola; Kalākaua; Omayra Sánchez
• Included: Vlad the Impaler (3rd appearance, last in 2017); Louis Riel (17th appearance, last in 2018); UNESCO (2nd appearance, last in 2015; 75th anniversary); Severe acute respiratory syndrome (7th appearance, last in 2013; rescued from Ineligible); Charles-Antoine Campion (2nd appearance, last in 2018; 300th birthday); Chinua Achebe (3rd appearance, last in 2018; 90th birthday); Clark Gable (first appearance; 60th anniversary)
• Repeats: Qantas (2nd appearance, last in 2013; blurb previously featured History of Qantas and is making its 2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total; 100th anniversary)

— howcheng { chat} 03:41, 18 November 2020 (UTC) reply

@ Howcheng: 2021 is the 200th anniversary of the death of Eleanor Coade. Have added her in ready to go live. Mjroots ( talk) 18:06, 6 October 2021 (UTC) reply

• Omitted: Vlad the Impaler; Louis Riel; Qantas; UNESCO; Severe acute respiratory syndrome; Charles-Antoine Campion; Chinua Achebe; Clark Gable
• Included: Code of Justinian (2nd appearance, last in 2018); Battle of Fort Washington (5th appearance, last in 2018); Albert Hofmann (11th appearance, last in 2018); Luke and Laura (2nd appearance, last in 2004; 40th anniversary); Wei Jingsheng (4th appearance, last in 2017); Nasr of Granada (first appearance); Eleanor Coade (first appearance; 200th anniversary); Panditrao Agashe (first appearance)

— howcheng { chat} 04:46, 17 November 2021 (UTC) reply