Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/September 12

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This is the talk page for making suggestions or discussing improvements to Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/September 12.

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 September 12 article, see Talk:September 12 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 September 12, 2025
Wikipedia:Today's featured article/September 12, 2025 create – talk – watch
Picture of the day for September 12, 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/September 11 * Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/September 13 →

Laconia incident

I think the notice on the main page is a bad summary of the incident and what made it important. "The Laconia incident: RMS Laconia, carrying some 80 civilians and 268 British soldiers, and about 1800 Italian POWs with 160 Polish soldiers on guard, was struck by a torpedo from a U-boat off the coast of West Africa and sank." Adding something like "The U-boat was sank while trying to rescue survivors from the Laconia." might help, especially as it would be of little note had the U-boat not tried to rescue people and got sunk in the process. --Prosfilaes 19:47, 12 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The U-boat (actually four Axis subs) was bombed, but was not sunk. There were further casualties among the survivors as a result of the bombing. In any event, the article was in flux but is much more accurate and readable now. Too bad we didn't get there before it scrolled off! --Dhartung | Talk 22:53, 14 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

[copied from Talk:Main Page. -- PFHLai 16:27, 22 September 2005 (UTC)][reply]

2007 Ethiopian new year

September 12 2007 will be 1 January 2000 in the Ethiopian calendar, if someone can think of a way of wording that for inclusion. Thanks, Banyan Tree 02:57, 6 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Mid-Autumn Festival

It's a pretty significant holiday in China. Shouldn't it be up there? Serasuna (talk) 01:20, 12 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Not just China; Every country that uses the lunar calendar has a Mid-Autumn Festival NYDirk (talk) 18:39, 12 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

At the time I did the update, the article was in pretty bad shape, but it looks to have been cleaned up now, so I'll put it back in. howcheng {chat} 20:30, 12 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

2012 notes

Omitted: Battle of Marathon; Henry Hudson; Switzerland; 1980 Turkish coup d'état; Mae Jemison; Joseph Estrada
Included: Battle of North Point (first appearance); Symphony No. 8 (Mahler) (first appearance); Leó Szilárd (5th appearance, last in 2007; rescued from Ineligible); Battle of Edson's Ridge (first appearance); Haile Selassie I (9th appearance, last in 2010)

—howcheng {chat} 05:13, 11 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

2013 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Joseph Estrada (maintenance)
Omitted: Battle of North Point; Symphony No. 8 (Mahler); Lascaux (ineligible—maintenance); Battle of Edson's Ridge; Haile Selassie I
Included: First Siege of Gibraltar (first appearance); Switzerland (6th appearance, last in 2010); Laconia incident (4th appearance, last in 2006; rescued from Ineligible); Boricua Popular Army (first appearance; 30th anniversary)
Repeats: Leó Szilárd (2nd consecutive appearance, 6 total; 80th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 05:29, 11 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

2014 notes

Omitted: Cape Verde (ineligible—maintenance); First Siege of Gibraltar; Switzerland; Leó Szilárd; Laconia incident; Boricua Popular Army
Included: Henry Hudson (4th appearance, last in 2011); Battle of North Point (2nd appearance, last in 2012; 200th anniversary); Symphony No. 8 (Mahler) (2nd appearance, last in 2012); Battle of Edson's Ridge (2nd appearance, last in 2012); Haile Selassie (10th appearance, last in 2012; 40th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 04:54, 12 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

2015 notes

Omitted: Henry Hudson; Battle of North Point; Battle of Edson's Ridge; Haile Selassie
Included: Cape Verde (rescued from Ineligible); Battle of Marathon (2nd appearance, last in 2011); Battle of Vienna (8th appearance, last in 2010; rescued from Ineligible); Switzerland (10th appearance, last in 2013); Steve Biko (4th appearance, last in 2006; rescued from Ineligible)
Repeats: Symphony No. 8 (Mahler) (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total)

—howcheng {chat} 06:49, 10 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

2016 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Henry Hudson (maintenance); Battle of North Point (maintenance)
Omitted: Battle of Marathon; Battle of Vienna; Symphony No. 8 (Mahler); Steve Biko
Included: First Siege of Gibraltar (2nd appearance, last in 2013); Leo Szilard (7th appearance, last in 2013); Laconia incident (5th appearance, last in 2013); 1980 Turkish coup d'état (2nd appearance, last in 2011)
Repeats: Switzerland (2nd consecutive appearance, 11 total)

—howcheng {chat} 00:21, 12 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@Howcheng: Could you please add Eid al-Adha, the Muslim holiday? Its celebration this year is on this day. Thanks. sentausa (talk) 07:34, 12 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@Sentausa: Unfortunately, no. The article has {{refimprove}} on it, when makes it ineligible for inclusion. —howcheng {chat} 07:42, 12 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@Howcheng: Ah, too bad, since it is de facto a big holiday in Islam. But if it's the rule, I can't say anything. Thanks, anyway. sentausa (talk) 07:55, 12 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

2017 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Battle of Vienna (maintenance); Haile Selassie (maintenance)
New articles (unused): Yax Nuun Ahiin I
Omitted: First Siege of Gibraltar; Leo Szilard; Laconia incident
Included (extra-long today): Battle of Marathon (3rd appearance, last in 2015); Symphony No. 8 (Mahler) (4th appearance, last in 2015); Battle of Edson's Ridge (3rd appearance, last in 2015; 75th anniversary); Mae Jemison (4th appearance, last in 2011; 25th anniversary); Petlawad explosion (first appearance); Carl Eytel (first appearance); Fitz Hugh Ludlow (first appearance); Raymond Burr (first appearance)
Repeats: Switzerland (3rd consecutive appearance, 12 total); 1980 Turkish coup d'état (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total)

—howcheng {chat} 15:51, 12 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

2018 notes

New articles (ineligible): Hinton St Mary Mosaic (maintenance)
Omitted: Battle of Marathon; Symphony No. 8 (Mahler); Battle of Edson's Ridge; 1980 Turkish coup d'état; Mae Jemison; Carl Eytel; Fitz Hugh Ludlow
Included: Yax Nuun Ahiin I (first appearance); 1928 Okeechobee hurricane (first appearance; 90th anniversary); Steve Biko (5th appearance, last in 2015); 2008 Chatsworth train collision (first appearance; 10th anniversary); Grace Macurdy (first appearance); George Reid (first appearance)
Repeats: Switzerland (4th consecutive appearance, 13 total); Raymond Burr (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total; 25th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 20:56, 13 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

2019 notes

Moved to Ineligible: 1980 Turkish coup d'état (maintenance)
New articles (unused): Tarana Burke
Omitted: Yax Nuun Ahiin I; 1928 Okeechobee hurricane; Steve Biko; 2008 Chatsworth train collision
Included: First Siege of Gibraltar (3rd appearance, last in 2016); Laconia incident (6th appearance, last in 2016); We choose to go to the Moon (first appearance); Petlawad explosion (2nd appearance, last in 2017)
Repeats: Switzerland (5th consecutive appearance, 14 total); Grace Macurdy (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total); George Reid (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total); Raymond Burr (3rd consecutive appearance, 3 total)

—howcheng {chat} 16:29, 13 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

2020 notes

New articles (unused): Mary Bosanquet Fletcher; Peter Scheemakers
Omitted: Switzerland; Laconia incident; We choose to go to the Moon; Petlawad explosion; Grace Macurdy; George Reid; Raymond Burr
Included: First Siege of Gibraltar (5th appearance, last in 2017); Symphony No. 8 (Mahler) (5th appearance, last in 2017); Liaoshen campaign (first appearance); Steve Biko (6th appearance, last in 2018); Mae Jemison (5th appearance, last in 2017); Eleanora Atherton (2nd appearance, last in 2020, also appeared on February 14, her birthday; 150th anniversary); Irène Joliot-Curie (first appearance); Atef Ebeid (first appearance)
Repeats: First Siege of Gibraltar (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total)

—howcheng {chat} 16:20, 14 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

2021 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Peter Scheemakers (maintenance)
New articles (ineligible): Philip Francis Thomas (POTD for 2021)
Omitted: First Siege of Gibraltar; Liaoshen campaign; Steve Biko; Mae Jemison; Eleanora Atherton (deleted per above); Irène Joliot-Curie; Atef Ebeid
Included: Yax Nuun Ahiin I (2nd appearance, last in 2018); Switzerland (15th appearance, last in 2019); Flatwoods monster; Petlawad explosion (3rd appearance, last in 2019); Andronikos I Komnenos (first appearance); Mary Bosanquet Fletcher (first appearance); Tarana Burke (first appearance)
Repeats: Symphony No. 8 (Mahler) (2nd consecutive appearance, 6 total)

—howcheng {chat} 16:30, 13 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

2022 notes

Moved to Ineligible: George Reid (maintenance); Atef Ebeid (maintenance)
Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Philip Francis Thomas
Omitted: Yax Nuun Ahiin I; Switzerland (ineligible—maintenance); Flatwoods monster; Petlawad explosion; Andronikos I Komnenos; Mary Bosanquet Fletcher; Tarana Burke
Included: Battle of Edson's Ridge (4th appearance, last in 2017; 80th anniversary); We choose to go to the Moon; 60th anniversary); Steve Biko (7th appearance, last in 2020); Typhoon Maemi (first appearance); Carl Eytel (2nd appearance, last in 2017); Grace Macurdy (3rd appearance, last in 2019); Irène Joliot-Curie (2nd appearance, last in 2020; 125th birthday)
Repeats: Symphony No. 8 (Mahler) (3rd consecutive appearance, 7 total)

—howcheng {chat} 16:46, 21 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]