Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/September 17

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This is the talk page for making suggestions or discussing improvements to Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/September 17.

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 17 article, see Talk:September 17 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 17, 2025
Wikipedia:Today's featured article/September 17, 2025 create – talk – watch
Picture of the day for September 17, 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 16 * Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/September 18 →

2012 notes

Moved to Ineligible: United States Constitution (maintenance)
Omitted: Battle of Myriokephalon; Boston; Operation Market Garden (ineligible—maintenance); Folke Bernadotte; Camp David Accords (ineligible—maintenance)
Included: Jean Thurel (first appearance); Harriet Tubman (first appearance); Space Shuttle Enterprise (2nd appearance, last in 2008); History of Solidarity (first appearance); 2006 protests in Hungary (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 09:38, 16 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Antietam

Not sure who will see this, but 150th anniversary of Battle of Antietam. Sure, it's bias towards the USA, but it's 19th century and milestone anniversary. --Rajah (talk) 14:52, 17 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Happily, we needed to add one more blurb to fill in some empty space on the Main Page, so Antietam is included now. —howcheng {chat} 16:25, 17 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

2013 notes

Omitted: Jean Thurel; Harriet Tubman; Battle of Antietam; Space Shuttle Enterprise; History of Solidarity; 2006 protests in Hungary
Included: Emperor Norton (4th appearance, last in 2009); Andrew Fisher (first appearance); Soviet invasion of Poland (2nd appearance, last in 2010); Camp David Accords (9th appearance, last in 2011; rescued from Ineligible); Occupy Wall Street (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 08:25, 16 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

2014 notes

Omitted: Emperor Norton; Camp David Accords; Occupy Wall Street
Included: Battle of Myriokephalon (5th appearance, last in 2011); Jean Thurel (2nd appearance, last in 2012); Harriet Tubman (2nd appearance, last in 2012)
Repeats: Andrew Fisher (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total; 100th anniversary); Soviet invasion of Poland (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total; 75th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 09:29, 16 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

2015 notes

Rescued from Ineligible (unused): United States Constitution (turns out it wasn't featured on September 1 after all)
Omitted: Jean Thurel; Harriet Tubman; Andrew Fisher; Soviet invasion of Poland
Included: Boston (3rd appearance, last in 2011); HMS Courageous (50) (first appearance); Folke Bernadotte (2nd appearance, last in 2011); History of Solidarity (2nd appearance, last in 2012)
Repeats: Battle of Myriokephalon (2nd consecutive appearance, 6 total)

—howcheng {chat} 10:15, 15 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

2016 notes

Deleted: Space Shuttle Enterprise (moved to February 18)
Moved to Ineligible: United States Constitution (maintenance); Battle of Antietam (maintenance)
Omitted: Battle of Myriokephalon; Boston; HMS Courageous (50); Folke Bernadotte (ineligible—maintenance); History of Solidarity
Included: Jean Thurel (3rd appearance, last in 2014; 300th anniversary); Harriet Tubman (3rd appearance, last in 2014); Soviet invasion of Poland (4th appearance, last in 2014); Camp David Accords (10th appearance, last in 2013); 2006 protests in Hungary (2nd appearance, last in 2012; 10th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 07:30, 17 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Jean Thurel

According to French WP, Thurel's age and length of service (scheduled to appear on the Main Page again 0n Sept 17) are a myth, and he was some 25 years younger than claimed. I can't look into it properly now - this is more of a heads-up. Awien (talk) 02:47, 10 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Does anybody see what's here? Awien (talk) 23:50, 10 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Howcheng: sorry to pester you personally, I see you're a busy person. However, French WP now has a major section claiming that Thurel's (implausible) age and service are not true but based on fraud. Given the doubt raised, maybe we should drop this item from the Main Page rotation? It's pretty unencyclopedic gee-whiz stuff anyway. Cheers, Awien (talk) 13:40, 12 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

OK, we'll take him out. —howcheng {chat} 15:32, 12 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! Awien (talk) 19:18, 13 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

2017 notes

New articles (unused): Battle of Vilanova; Ararat rebellion
Omitted: Jean Thurel (ineligible—fact may be a hoax); Harriet Tubman; Soviet invasion of Poland; Camp David Accords (ineligible—maintenance); 2006 protests in Hungary (ineligible—maintenance)
Included: Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (first appearance); Battle of Antietam (3rd appearance, last in 2012; rescued from Ineligible); Race to the Sea (first appearance); Black September (first appearance); Occupy Wall Street (2nd appearance, last in 2013); Elizabeth Canning (first appearance); Hook Nose (first appearance); David Craig, Baron Craig of Radley (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 15:34, 17 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

2018 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Ararat rebellion (maintenance)
New articles (unused): Battle of Peyrestortes
Omitted: Antonie van Leeuwenhoek; Battle of Antietam; Race to the Sea; Black September; Occupy Wall Street; Elizabeth Canning; Hook Nose (ineligible—maintenance); David Craig, Baron Craig of Radley
Included: Battle of Myriokephalon (7th appearance, last in 2015); Siege of Fort St. Jean (first appearance); Emperor Norton (5th appearance, last in 2013); Andrew Fisher (3rd appearance, last in 2014); History of Solidarity (3rd appearance, last in 2015); Stephen Hales (first appearance); Jonathan Alder (first appearance); Henri Julien (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 16:17, 17 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

2019 notes

Deleted: Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (moved to October 9)
Moved to Ineligible: Occupy Wall Street (maintenance)
New articles (unused): Periyar E. V. Ramasamy; Thomas P. Stafford; Narendra Modi
Omitted: Battle of Myriokephalon; Siege of Fort St. Jean; Emperor Norton; History of Solidarity; Stephen Hales; Jonathan Alder; Henri Julien
Included: Battle of Vilanova (first appearance); Battle of Peyrestortes (first appearance); Soviet invasion of Poland (5th appearance, last in 2016; 80th anniversary); Black September (2nd appearance, last in 2017); Elizabeth Canning (2nd appearance, last in 2017); Frederick Corbett (first appearance); Mandawuy Yunupingu (first appearance)
Repeats: Andrew Fisher (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total)

—howcheng {chat} 15:55, 18 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

2020 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Race to the Sea (date not certain)
Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Constitution of the United States
New articles (unused): Robert Bellarmine; Red Skelton
Omitted: Battle of Vilanova; Battle of Peyrestortes; Andrew Fisher; Soviet invasion of Poland; Elizabeth Canning; Frederick Corbett; Mandawuy Yunupingu
Included: Battle of Myriokephalon (8th appearance, last in 2018); Boston (4th appearance, last in 2015); History of Solidarity (4th appearance, last in 2018; 40th anniversary); Earl Van Dorn (first appearance; 200th birthday); Narendra Modi (first appearance; 70th birthday); Eiji Toyoda (first appearance)
Repeats: Black September (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total; 50th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 03:17, 19 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

2021 notes

New articles (unused): Mykonos restaurant assassinations; Syria missile strikes (September 2018)
Omitted: Battle of Myriokephalon; Boston; Black September; Earl Van Dorn; Narendra Modi; Eiji Toyoda
Included: Battle of Peyrestortes (2nd appearance, last in 2019); Harriet Tubman (4th appearance, last in 2016); Soviet invasion of Poland (6th appearance, last in 2019); Occupy Wall Street (3rd appearance, last in 2017; 10th anniversary; rescued from Ineligible); Robert Bellarmine (first appearance; 400th anniversary); Vera Yevstafievna Popova (first appearance); Red Skelton (first appearance)
Repeats: History of Solidarity (2nd consecutive appearance, 5 total)

—howcheng {chat} 07:44, 18 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

2022 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Constitution of the United States (maintenance); Mykonos restaurant assassinations (maintenance)
New articles (ineligible): Robert Roberts (author) (TFA for 2022-03-07)
Omitted: Battle of Peyrestortes; Harriet Tubman; History of Solidarity; Occupy Wall Street; Robert Bellarmine; Vera Yevstafievna Popova; Red Skelton
Included: Boston (5th appearance, last in 2020); Siege of Fort St. Jean (2nd appearance, last in 2018); Tintin in Tibet (first appearance); Black September (4th appearance, last in 2020); Elizabeth Canning (3rd appearance, last in 2019); Narendra Modi (2nd appearance, last in 2020); Mandawuy Yunupingu (2nd appearance, last in 2019)
Repeats: Soviet invasion of Poland (2nd consecutive appearance, 7 total)

—howcheng {chat} 17:34, 21 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]