Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/September 23

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This is the talk page for making suggestions or discussing improvements to Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/September 23.

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 23 article, see Talk:September 23 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 23, 2025
Wikipedia:Today's featured article/September 23, 2025 create – talk – watch
Picture of the day for September 23, 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 22 * Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/September 24 →

2012 notes

New articles (unused): Gulf Air Flight 771
Omitted: Concordat of Worms; Benedict Arnold (John André now ineligible); Ramón Emeterio Betances; Unification of Saudi Arabia
Included: Battle of San Juan de Ulúa (1568) (first appearance); Battle of Flamborough Head (first appearance); Discovery of Neptune (4th appearance, last in 2010); Checkers speech (3rd appearance, last in 2010; 60th anniversary); Kauhajoki school shooting (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 10:10, 22 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Also omitted but not listed above: Battle of Assaye. --Barret (talk) 22:28, 22 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

2013 notes

Omitted: Battle of San Juan de Ulúa (1568); Battle of Flamborough Head; Discovery of Neptune (ineligible—maintenance); Checkers speech
Included: Battle of Blore Heath (8th appearance, last in 2010; rescued from Ineligible); Ramón Emeterio Betances (5th appearance, last in 2011); Battle of Olongapo (first appearance); Gulf Air Flight 771 (first appearance; 30th anniversary)
Repeats: Kauhajoki school shooting (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 05:11, 22 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

2014 notes

Omitted: Battle of Blore Heath; Ramón Emeterio Betances (ineligible—maintenance); Battle of Olongapo; Kauhajoki school shooting
included: Concordat of Worms (2nd appearance, last in 2011); Benedict Arnold (6th appearance, last in 2011); Battle of Assaye (6th appearance, last in 2011); Unification of Saudi Arabia (2nd appearance, last in 2011)
Repeats: Gulf Air Flight 771 (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 20:39, 21 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

How about making mention of the foundation of Nintendo this year, as it is their 125th anniversary? Dark Toon Link 02:04, 23 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Unfortunately, that article has a maintenance tag on it, which per the rules, makes it ineligible. —howcheng {chat} 02:53, 23 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Ok, fair enough. I'm not fully familiar with the OTD section, so sorry about my oversight. Thanks, Dark Toon Link 05:15, 23 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

2015 notes

Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Ramón Emeterio Betances
Omitted: Concordat of Worms; Benedict Arnold; Battle of Assaye; Gulf Air Flight 771 (appeared twice 2013, 2014)
Included: Battle of Blore Heath (9th appearance, last in 2013); Battle of San Juan de Ulúa (1568) (2nd appearance, last in 2012); Billy the Kid (first appearance); Teresa Lewis (first appearance)
Repeats: Unification of Saudi Arabia (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total)

—howcheng {chat} 06:07, 21 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

2016 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Concordat of Worms (maintenance)
Omitted: Battle of Blore Heath; Billy the Kid; Unification of Saudi Arabia; Teresa Lewis
Included: Saudi Arabia (rescued from Ineligible); Battle of Flamborough Head (2nd appearance, last in 2012); Ramón Emeterio Betances (6th appearance, last in 2013); Checkers speech (4th appearance, last in 2012); Gulf Air Flight 771 (3rd appearance, last in 2014)
Repeats: Battle of San Juan de Ulúa (1568) (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total)

—howcheng {chat} 06:44, 22 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

2017 notes

Moved to Inelilgible: Battle of Blore Heath (maintenance); Battle of Olongapo (maintenance); Unification of Saudi Arabia (maintenance)
New articles (ineligible): El Santo (maintenance)
Omitted: Battle of San Juan de Ulúa (1568); Battle of Flamborough Head (ineligible—maintenance); Checkers speech
Included: Benedict Arnold (8th appearance, last in 2014); Battle of Assaye (7th appearance, last in 2014); Kauhajoki school shooting (3rd appearance, last in 2013); Vincenzo Bellini (first appearance); Louise Nevelson (first appearance); Cherie Blair (first appearance)
Repeats: Ramón Emeterio Betances (2nd consecutive appearance, 7 total); Gulf Air Flight 771 (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total)

—howcheng {chat} 05:49, 24 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

2018 suggestion

I've added reforms related to rape in Germany, moved the 2008 shooting to eligible. GMG^talk 17:19, 22 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]
- @GreenMeansGo: Thanks for the suggestion. However, the 2008 shooting is going to repeat this year because it gets priority due to it being the 10th anniversary. —howcheng {chat} 16:35, 21 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  - No worries Howcheng. Well, we've currently got three related to war. Could we maybe bump one of those to give a hat tip to women's rights? GMG ^talk 16:49, 21 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  - Alright, well, I'll take that as a no. But I don't think we're scoring any points for breadth by have 1) violence, 2) violence, 3) violence, 4) political speech, 5) violence. GMG^talk 21:36, 21 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
    - True, but there's a fairly small pool of eligible articles for today. The other three are war, terrorism, and execution, so the choices aren't great. —howcheng {chat} 05:47, 22 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
      - I'd say probably drop Battle of San Juan de Ulúa (1568). It's already appeared three times, and isn't a GA or FA. We basically trade one European topic for another (even though it technically took place in Mexico), and we end up with a list that looks a bit less like it was put together by a bunch of dudes who think violence is the most exciting thing about history. GMG ^talk 11:47, 22 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
        @GreenMeansGo: I totally get what you're saying, and I'm definitely one for countering systemic bias. When scheduling items, I take a lot of things into consideration: round-number/significant anniversaries get priority, then try to keep chronological, geographic, and topical diversity (typically but not always in that order). Sometimes items get left off on significant anniversaries if it messes up one of the other axes (BTW, GA/FA status does not give an article extra weight). Obviously, it's more difficult to find a good balance when the pool of eligible articles is small, so something has to get sacrificed. For this year, I picked two women for births/deaths and we have Celebrate Bisexuality Day listed, so that's why I was OK with leaving off Rape in Germany. —howcheng {chat} 16:08, 24 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

2018 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Billy the Kid (maintenance)
New articles (unused): Rape in Germany; Kostas Tournas
Omitted: Benedict Arnold; Gulf Air Flight 771; Vincenzo Bellini; Louise Nevelson; Cherie Blair
Included: Battle of San Juan de Ulúa (1568) (4th appearance, last in 2016); Checkers speech (5th appearance, last in 2016); Eleonora Gonzaga (1598–1655) (first appearance); Émilie Gamelin (2nd appearance, last in 2018; also appeared on February 19, her birthday); Sean Spicer (first appearance)
Repeats: Battle of Assaye (2nd consecutive appearance, 8 total); Ramón Emeterio Betances (3rd consecutive appearance, 8 total; 150th anniversary); Kauhajoki school shooting (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total; 10th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 16:20, 24 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

2019 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Gulf Air Flight 771 (maintenance)
New articles (ineligible): Bruce Springsteen (maintenance)
New articles (unused): Ambroise Noumazalaye
Omitted: Battle of San Juan de Ulúa (1568) (deleted—moved to September 24); Ramón Emeterio Betances; Kauhajoki school shooting; Eleonora Gonzaga (1598–1655); Émilie Gamelin; Sean Spicer
Included: Benedict Arnold (9th appearance, last in 2017); Firefox (first appearance); Rape in Germany (first appearance); John Ainsworth Horrocks (first appearance); Kostas Tournas (first appearance; 70th birthday); Michiru Yamane (first appearance)
Repeats: Battle of Assaye (3rd consecutive appearance, 9 total); Checkers speech (2nd consecutive appearance, 6 total)

—howcheng {chat} 16:15, 24 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

2020 notes

New articles (ineligible): Francesco Barberini (1597–1679) (maintenance)
New articles (unused): Joseph Dudley
Omitted: Benedict Arnold; Rape in Germany; John Ainsworth Horrocks; Kostas Tournas; Michiru Yamane
Included: Teresa Lewis (2nd appearance, last in 2015; 10th anniversary); Ellen Hayes (first appearance); Werner Voss (first appearance); Ambroise Noumazalaye (first appearance)
Repeats: Battle of Assaye (4th consecutive appearance, 10 total); Checkers speech (3rd consecutive appearance, 7 total); Firefox (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 06:08, 25 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

2021 notes

New articles (ineligible): Siege of Tripolitsa (maintenance)
New articles (unused): Sigmund Freud
Omitted: Battle of Assaye; Checkers speech; Firefox (ineligible—maintenance); Teresa Lewis; Ellen Hayes; Werner Voss; Ambroise Noumazalaye
Included: Benedict Arnold (10th appearance, last in 2019); Nintendo (first appearance; rescued from Ineligible); Kauhajoki school shooting (50th appearance, last in 2018); Thomas Cook Group (first appearance); John Ainsworth Horrocks (2nd appearance, last in 2019); Paul Delvaux (first appearance); Sean Spicer (2nd appearance, last in 2018; 50th birthday)

—howcheng {chat} 07:05, 24 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

2022 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Vincenzo Bellini (maintenance)
Omitted: Nintendo (ineligible—maintenance); Thomas Cook Group; John Ainsworth Horrocks; Paul Delvaux; Sean Spicer
Included: Battle of Assaye (11th appearance, last in 2019); Checkers speech (8th appearance, last in 2020; 70th anniversary); Rape in Germany (2nd appearance, last in 2019); Eleonora Gonzaga (1598–1655) (2nd appearance, last in 2018); Werner Voss (2nd appearance, last in 2020); Michiru Yamane (2nd appearance, last in 2019)
Repeats: Benedict Arnold (2nd consecutive appearance, 11 total); Kauhajoki school shooting (2nd consecutive appearance, 6 total)

—howcheng {chat} 17:40, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]