Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/December 31

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This is the talk page for making suggestions or discussing improvements to Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/December 31.

To report an error when this list is currently on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
Before making a suggestion, please read the selected anniversaries guidelines. Please remember that this list usually defers to supporting pages when there is disagreement, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
To discuss improvements to the corresponding December 31 article, see Talk:December 31 instead.

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.

Today's featured article for December 31, 2024
Wikipedia:Today's featured article/December 31, 2024 create – talk – watch
Picture of the day for December 31, 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

← Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/December 30 * Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/January 1 →

SVG Image available[edit]

The image Image:British East India Company flag.png has been superseded by the SVG image Image:British East India Company flag.svg. Would somebody please make this change? --W. Flake ( talk | contribs ) 04:05, 5 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Edit made. EVula // talk // ☯ // 05:21, 5 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Boris Yeltsin, the first democratically elected President of Russia[edit]

It is widely believed in Russia that the elections of 1996 were not democratic and also it is known that Yeltsin unconstitutionally usurped power in 1993, ordering tanks to fire at parliament. Can anybody please remove the "democratically elected" in favor of neutrality?--Dojarca (talk) 04:18, 31 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

2011 notes[edit]

Moved to Ineligible: Farthing (British coin) (maintenance)
Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Battle of Stones River
Omitted: Ly Chieu Hoang, Ottawa, Times Square (ineligible—POTD for 2011), Roy Welensky, euro, Taipei 101
Included: Guinness (first appearance, blurb previously featured Arthur Guinness, which is now ineligible), Battle of Quebec (1775) (4th appearance, last in 2009), Saint-Sylvestre coup d'état (first appearance), Roberto Clemente (7th appearance, last in 2009), Panama Canal Zone (first appearance)

--howcheng {chat} 19:00, 30 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

2012 notes[edit]

Moved to Ineligible: Taipei 101 (maintenance)
New articles (unused): Muhammadu Buhari (saving for 150th anniversary in 2013)
Omitted: Ly Chieu Hoang; Guinness (ineligible—maintenance); Battle of Quebec (1775); Saint-Sylvestre coup d'état; Panama Canal Zone
Included: Ottawa (5th appearance, last in 2010); Battle of Stones River (first appearance; 150th anniversary); Euro (2nd appearance, last in 2010); Vladimir Putin (first appearance)
Repeats: Roberto Clemente (2nd consecutive appearance, 8 total; 40th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 07:51, 30 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

2013 notes[edit]

Moved to Ineligible: Panama Canal Zone (maintenance)
Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Times Square Ball
Omitted: Hogmanay (ineligible—maintenance); Battle of Stones River; Roberto Clemente; European Exchange Rate Mechanism/Euro; Vladimir Putin
Included: Lý Chiêu Hoàng (3rd appearance, last in 2011); Roy Welensky (2nd appearance, last in 2010; 50th anniversary); Muhammadu Buhari (first appearance); Brandon Teena (first appearance)
Repeats: Ottawa (2nd consecutive appearance, 6 total)

—howcheng {chat} 08:05, 30 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

2014 notes[edit]

Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Panama Canal Zone
Omitted: New Year's Eve (ineligible—maintenance); Lý Chiêu Hoàng; Roy Welensky; Muhammadu Buhari; Brandon Teena
Included: Battle of Quebec (1775) (5th appearance, last in 2011); Times Square Ball (first appearance); Dupont Plaza Hotel arson (first appearance); Taipei 101 (7th appearance, last in 2010)
Repeats: Ottawa (3rd consecutive appearance, 7 total)

—howcheng {chat} 08:48, 29 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

2015 notes[edit]

New articles (unused): Manhattan Bridge
Omitted: Battle of Quebec (1775); Ottawa; Times Square Ball; Dupont Plaza Hotel arson; Taipei 101 (ineligible—maintenance)
Included: Lý Chiêu Hoàng (4th appearance, last in 2013); Guinness (2nd appearance, last in 2011; rescued from Ineligible); Battle of Stones River (2nd appearance, last in 2012); Saint-Sylvestre coup d'état (2nd appearance, last in 2011; 50th anniversary); Panama Canal Zone (2nd appearance, last in 2011)

—howcheng {chat} 10:39, 29 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

2016 notes[edit]

Moved to Ineligible: Manhattan Bridge (maintenance); Dupont Plaza Hotel arson (maintenance); Vladimir Putin (maintenance)
Omitted: Lý Chiêu Hoàng; Guinness; Battle of Stones River; Saint-Sylvestre coup d'état; Panama Canal Zone
Included: Crossing of the Rhine (first appearance; blurb previously featured Gaul, which is currently ineligible and last appeared in 2006); Ottawa (8th appearance, last in 2014); Times Square Ball (2nd appearance, last in 2014); Roberto Clemente (9th appearance, last in 2012); European Exchange Rate Mechanism/Euro (EERM: first appearance; Euro: 3rd appearance, last in 2012)

—howcheng {chat} 08:00, 31 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

2017 notes[edit]

Moved to Ineligible: Guinness (maintenance); Muhammadu Buhari (maintenance)
Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Manhattan Bridge
Omitted: Hogmanay (ineligible—maintenance); Crossing of the Rhine; Lý Chiêu Hoàng; Times Square Ball; Roberto Clemente; European Exchange Rate Mechanism (blurb also previously featured Euro, which is now ineligible)
Included: Battle of Quebec (1775) (6th appearance, last in 2014); Roy Welensky (3rd appearance, last in 2013); Dupont Plaza Hotel arson (2nd appearance, last in 2014; rescued from Ineligible); Panama Canal Zone (3rd appearance, last in 2015); Carlo Gimach (first appearance); Mary Logan Reddick (first appearance); Diane von Fürstenberg (first appearance)
Repeats: Ottawa (2nd consecutive appearance, 9 total)

—howcheng {chat} 01:59, 1 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

2018 notes[edit]

Omitted: Battle of Quebec (1775); Ottawa; Roy Welensky; Panama Canal Zone; Carlo Gimach; Mary Logan Reddick; Diane von Fürstenberg
Included: Lý Chiêu Hoàng (6th appearance, last in 2016); Battle of Stones River (3rd appearance, last in 2015); Saint-Sylvestre coup d'état (3rd appearance, last in 2015); European Exchange Rate Mechanism (2nd appearance, last in 2016; 20th anniversary); Richard Montgomery (first appearance); Henri Matisse (first appearance); Junot Díaz (first appearance; 50th birthday)
Repeats: Dupont Plaza Hotel arson (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total)

—howcheng {chat} 19:30, 31 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

2019 notes[edit]

Moved to Ineligible: Crossing of the Rhine (maintenance)
Omitted: Battle of Stones River; Saint-Sylvestre coup d'état; Dupont Plaza Hotel arson; European Exchange Rate Mechanism; Richard Montgomery; Junot Díaz
Included: Ottawa (10th appearance, last in 2017); Times Square Ball (3rd appearance, last in 2016); Panama Canal Zone (4th appearance, last in 2017; 20th anniversary); Ahmad Maymandi (first appearance); Henry Gerber (first appearance)
Repeats: Lý Chiêu Hoàng (2nd consecutive appearance, 7 total); Henri Matisse (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total; 150th birthday)

—howcheng {chat} 18:36, 1 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

2020 notes[edit]

Moved to Ineligible: Roy Welensky (maintenance); Diane von Fürstenberg (maintenance)
New articles (ineligible): Ibn Hawshab (DYK on 2020-07-24)
New articles (unused): Junot Díaz
Omitted: Lý Chiêu Hoàng; Times Square Ball; Panama Canal Zone (ineligible—maintenance); Ahmad Maymandi; Henri Matisse; Henry Gerber
Included: Battle of Quebec (1775) (7th appearance, last in 2017); Manhattan Bridge (first appearance); Saint-Sylvestre coup d'état (4th appearance, last in 2018); Vladimir Putin (2nd appearance, last in 2012; rescued from Ineligible); Kapiʻolani (first appearance); Ion Creangă (first appearance); Cornelia Clapp (first appearance)
Repeats: Ottawa (2nd consecutive appearance, 11 total)

—howcheng {chat} 04:32, 2 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

2021 notes[edit]

Omitted: Battle of Quebec (1775); Ottawa; Manhattan Bridge; Vladimir Putin; Kapiʻolani; Ion Creangă; Cornelia Clapp
Included: Lý Chiêu Hoàng (8th appearance, last in 2019); Battle of Stones River (4th appearance, last in 2018); Dupont Plaza Hotel arson (4th appearance, last in 2018); European Exchange Rate Mechanism (3rd appearance, last in 2018); Ibn Hawshab (first appearance); Samuel Ajayi Crowther (first appearance); Junot Díaz (2nd appearance, last in 2018)
Repeats: Saint-Sylvestre coup d'état (2nd consecutive appearance, 5 total)

—howcheng {chat} 04:14, 2 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]