Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/November 2

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This is the talk page for making suggestions or discussing improvements to Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/November 2.

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 November 2 article, see Talk:November 2 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 November 2, 2025
Wikipedia:Today's featured article/November 2, 2025 create – talk – watch
Picture of the day for November 2, 2025
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/November 1 * Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/November 3 →

High-definition?

Is the text "The BBC Television Service launched as the world's first regular, public all-electronic high-definition television service." misleading? According to the article, the point is that it was the first all-electronic service. The article puts high-definition into quotes, because it is not HD as the term is now understood. It was just higher than previous mechanical services. --163.153.230.190 (talk) 12:39, 3 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It was certainly considered high-definition at the time. See Analog high-definition television system. howcheng {chat} 16:35, 3 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I think that "at the time" is the key phrase, and would be why it is in quotes in the article. I think that the term high-definition has a different meaning to a reader who assumes that the article was written recently. From a current POV, the technology would be described as standard-definition. Should we put quotes around the term here? --163.153.230.190 (talk) 11:58, 4 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Wouldn't hurt, I suppose. howcheng {chat} 16:45, 4 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

2012 notes

Rescued from Ineligible (unused): International Space Station
New articles (unused): Military Revolutionary Committee (moved from October 20); M1 motorway; Norman Morrison; 2007 Georgian demonstrations
Omitted: North Dakota/South Dakota; BBC One; Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference; R v Penguin Books Ltd./Lady Chatterley's Lover; Arrest and assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem
Included: Cheerleading (first appearance); Emu War (first appearance; 80th anniversary); Saud of Saudi Arabia (first appearance); Magnus Malan (first appearance); Theo van Gogh (film director) (first appearance)

All five articles making their OTD debuts! —howcheng {chat} 10:37, 1 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

2013 notes

Deleted: Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee (moved to October 29)
Moved to Ineligible: BBC One (maintenance); M1 motorway (maintenance)
New articles (unused): Levelland UFO Case
Omitted: Cheerleading (maintenance); Emu War; Saud of Saudi Arabia; Magnus Malan; Theo van Gogh (film director)
Included: Tang campaigns against the Western Turks (first appearance); North Dakota/South Dakota (both: 4th appearance, last in 2011); Balfour Declaration (8th appearance, last in 2010); Arrest and assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem (3rd appearance, last in 2011); 2007 Georgian demonstrations (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 06:58, 1 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

2014 notes

Moved to Ineligible: International Space Station (maintenance)
Omitted: Tang campaigns against the Western Turks; Balfour Declaration; Arrest and assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem; 2007 Georgian demonstrations
Included: Emu War (2nd appearance, last in 2012); Saud of Saudi Arabia (2nd appearance, last in 2012; 50th anniversary); BSkyB (first appearance); Theo van Gogh (film director) (2nd appearance, last in 2012; 10th anniversary)
Repeats: North Dakota/South Dakota (both: 2nd consecutive appearance, 5 total; 125th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 06:45, 1 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]

2015 notes

Rescued from Ineligible (unused): BBC One
Omitted: North Dakota/South Dakota; Emu War; Saud of Saudi Arabia; Theo van Gogh (film director)
Included: Tang campaigns against the Western Turks (2nd appearance, last in 2013); Balfour Declaration (9th appearance, last in 2013); Norman Morrison (first appearance; 50th anniversary); Magnus Malan (2nd appearance, last in 2012; 20th anniversary)
Repeats: Sky plc (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total; 25th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 20:43, 31 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

2016 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Saud of Saudi Arabia (maintenance)
Omitted: Balfour Declaration; Norman Morrison; Sky plc; Magnus Malan
Included: French Directory (3rd appearance, last in 2008; rescued from Ineligible); BBC One(3rd appearance, last in 2011; 80th anniversary); R v Penguin Books Ltd (first appearance); Theo van Gogh (film director) (3rd appearance, last in 2014)
Repeats: Tang campaigns against the Western Turks (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total)

—howcheng {chat} 17:39, 1 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]

2017 notes

Moved to Ineligible: North Dakota/South Dakota (ND: maintenance); Balfour Declaration (TFA for 2017); Hughes H-4 Hercules (maintenance); Charles Van Doren (maintenance); Norman Morrison (maintenance); Sky plc (maintenance)
Omitted: All Souls' Day (ineligible—maintenance); Day of the Dead (ineligible—maintenance); French Directory (ineligible—maintenance); BBC One (ineligible—maintenance); R v Penguin Books Ltd; Theo van Gogh (film director)
Included: Emu War (3rd appearance, last in 2014); Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference (2nd appearance, last in 2011); Levelland UFO Case (first appearance; 60th anniversary); 2007 Georgian demonstrations (2nd appearance, last in 2013; 10th anniversary); Daniel Boone (first appearance); Alfred Domett (first appearance); Harriet Bosse (first appearance)
Repeats: Tang campaigns against the Western Turks (3rd consecutive appearance, 4 total)

—howcheng {chat} 02:44, 2 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]

2018 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Theo van Gogh (film director) (maintenance)
Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Magnus Malan
Omitted: Emu War; Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference; Levelland UFO Case; 2007 Georgian demonstrations; Daniel Boone; Alfred Domett; Harriet Bosse
Included: Balfour Declaration (10th appearance, last in 2015; rescued from Ineligible); Battle of Empress Augusta Bay (first appearance; 75th anniversary); Sky plc (3rd appearance, last in 2015; rescued from Ineligible); Expedition 1 (first appearance; blurb previously featured International Space Station, which normally appears on November 20 and is currently ineligible anyway, and last appeared in 2010); Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange (first appearance); John J. Loud (first appearance); Charmaine Dragun (first appearance)
Repeats: Tang campaigns against the Western Turks (4th consecutive appearance, 5 total)

—howcheng {chat} 16:07, 2 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

2019 notes

Omitted: Balfour Declaration; Battle of Empress Augusta Bay; Sky (company); Expedition 1; Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange; John J. Loud; Charmaine Dragun
Included: Emu War (4th appearance, last in 2017); Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference (3rd appearance, last in 2017; 70th anniversary); Charles Van Doren (first appearance; 60th anniversary; rescued from Ineligible); Bettisia Gozzadini (first appearance); Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin (first appearance); Hélène de Pourtalès (first appearance)
Repeats: Tang campaigns against the Western Turks (5th consecutive appearance, 6 total; 1400th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 21:19, 4 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

2020 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Magnus Malan (maintenance)
Omitted: Tang campaigns against the Western Turks; Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference; Charles Van Doren; Bettisia Gozzadini; Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin
Included: Balfour Declaration (11th appearance, last in 2018); R v Penguin Books Ltd (2nd appearance, last in 2016; 60th anniversary); 2016 World Series (first appearance); Matilda of Flanders (first appearance); James K. Polk (2nd appearance, last in 2018; normally appears on June 15; 225th birthday)
Repeats: Emu War (2nd consecutive appearance, 5 total); Hélène de Pourtalès (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total; 75th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 19:19, 3 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

2021 notes

Omitted: Emu War; R v Penguin Books Ltd; 2016 World Series; Matilda of Flanders; James K. Polk (deleted as it was a special inclusion); Hélène de Pourtalès
Included: Tang campaigns against the Western Turks (7th appearance, last in 2019); Arrest and assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem (6th appearance, last in 2013); Velma Barfield; 2007 Georgian demonstrations (3rd appearance, last in 2017); Bettisia Gozzadini (2nd appearance, last in 2019); Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange (2nd appearance, last in 2018); Harriet Bosse (2nd appearance, last in 2017; 60th anniversary)
Repeats: Balfour Declaration (2nd consecutive appearance, 12 total)

—howcheng {chat} 16:09, 3 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

'Allegedly corrupt'

'In Tbilisi, Georgia, tens of thousands of people demonstrated against the allegedly corrupt government of president Mikheil Saakashvili.'

'Allegedly' has come to have the effect of scare quotes these days, basically sounding like a denial on the part of Wikipedia. As a neutral-sounding rewording I would suggest 'In Tbilisi, Georgia, tens of thousands of people demonstrated against the government of president Mikheil Saakashvili, which they considered corrupt.' Or, if room is to be left for ascribing other motives to the protestors than the ones they declared, 'In Tbilisi, Georgia, tens of thousands of people demonstrated against the government of president Mikheil Saakashvili, accusing it of being corrupt'. 62.73.72.3 (talk) 11:45, 2 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]