Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/October 19

Skip to table of contents

This is the talk page for making suggestions or discussing improvements to Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/October 19.

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 October 19 article, see Talk:October 19 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 October 19, 2024
Wikipedia:Today's featured article/October 19, 2024 create – talk – watch
Picture of the day for October 19, 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/October 18 * Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/October 20 →

Isn't this entry a bit military centric? Gentgeen 10:46, 3 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Is it better now ? Terrorism and the stockmarket are war-like, but not really military.... BTW, thanks for putting in the date for the Battle of Zama. -- PFHLai 13:50, 2004 Oct 8 (UTC)

American Revolution[edit]

The page now says:

1781: After losing the Battle of Yorktown, British forces led by Lord Charles Cornwallis officially surrendered, ending the American Revolutionary War.

There are two errors here. First, Cornwallis didn't surrender after losing the battle; he lost the battle (really a siege) when he surrendered. More importantly, his surrender didn't end the war, which sputtered on for a bit afterwards. The entry should read:

1781: The siege of Yorktown ended after British commander Lord Cornwallis surrendered to a Franco-American force led by George Washington, paving the way for the end of the American Revolutionary War.

--Kevin Myers | (complaint dept.) 17:39, 30 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Scipio Africanus[edit]

(thread copied from WP:ERRORS, where it was unresolved)

He earned his nickname Africanus after he defeated Hannibal, so it is not correct that Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.12.163.218 (talk) 07:16, 19 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

By the same token you could say that the battle of Waterloo (and many other battles) never took place. Ericoides (talk) 16:38, 19 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Uh, Wellington wasn't named after Waterloo (obviously). I agree with the IP, the Africanus part of Scipio's name should not be in the entry since he hadn't acquired it yet. Modest Genius ^talk 17:20, 19 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

(end of comments copied from WP:ERRORS)

2012 notes[edit]

Omitted: John Jay; First Battle of Ypres; Battle of Chamdo; Black Monday (1987); Margaret Hassan
Included: Battle of Zama (6th appearance, last in 2010); Battle of Cedar Creek (first appearance); Planck's law (first appearance); Streptomycin (8th appearance, last in 2010); Operation Nimble Archer (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 04:59, 18 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

2013 notes[edit]

Omitted: Battle of Zama; Battle of Cedar Creek; Planck's law; Operation Nimble Archer
Included: Ferdinand II of Aragon/Isabella I of Castile (both: 8th appearance, last in 2010; rescued from Ineligible); Siege of Yorktown (6th appearance, last in 2010); Polytechnic University of the Philippines (first appearance); Samora Machel (3rd appearance, last in 2010; rescued from Ineligible)
Repeats: Streptomycin (2nd consecutive appearance, 9 total; 70th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 05:21, 18 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

2014 notes[edit]

Omitted: Ferdinand II of Aragon/Isabella I of Castile; Siege of Yorktown; Polytechnic University of the Philippines; Streptomycin; Samora Machel
Included: John Jay (2nd appearance, last in 2011; 225th anniversary); Battle of Cedar Creek (2nd appearance, last in 2012; 150th anniversary); First Battle of Ypres (2nd appearance, last in 2011; 100th anniversary); Guildford Four and Maguire Seven (first appearance; 25th anniversary); Margaret Hassan (2nd appearance, last in 2011; 10th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 06:17, 18 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

2015 notes[edit]

Deleted: Polytechnic University of the Philippines (moved to April 1)
Omitted: John Jay; Battle of Cedar Creek; First Battle of Ypres; Guildford Four and Maguire Seven; Margaret Hassan
Included: Battle of Zama (7th appearance, last in 2012); Ferdinand II of Aragon/Isabella I of Castile (both: 9th appearance, last in 2013); Siege of Yorktown (7th appearance, last in 2013); MS Sinfra (first appearance); Hurricane Wilma (first appearance; 10th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 08:08, 17 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

2016 notes[edit]

Moved to Ineligible: John Jay (maintenance)
Omitted: Battle of Zama; Siege of Yorktown; MS Sinfra; Hurricane Wilma
Included: Battle of Cedar Creek (3rd appearance, last in 2014); Planck's law (2nd appearance, last in 2012); Streptomycin (10th appearance, last in 2013); Samora Machel (4th appearance, last in 2013)
Repeats: Ferdinand II of Aragon/Isabella I of Castile (both: 2nd consecutive appearance, 10 total)

—howcheng {chat} 07:01, 18 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]

2017 notes[edit]

Moved to Ineligible: Battle of Zama (maintenance); Guildford Four and Maguire Seven (maintenance); Margaret Hassan (maintenance)
New articles (ineligible): Blockbuster LLC (maintenance)
Omitted: Ferdinand II of Aragon/Isabella I of Castile (both: ineligible—maintenance); Battle of Cedar Creek; Planck's law (ineligible—maintenance); Streptomycin; Samora Machel (ineligible—maintenance)
Included: Siege of Yorktown (8th appearance, last in 2015); First Battle of Ypres (3rd appearance, last in 2014); Guatemalan Revolution (first appearance); Black Monday (1987) (6th appearance, last in 2011; 30th anniversary); Hurricane Wilma (2nd appearance, last in 2015); John Juvenal Ancina (first appearance); Salimuzzaman Siddiqui (first appearance); Eleanor Norcross (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 15:56, 19 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

2018 notes[edit]

Moved to Ineligible: Battle of Chamdo (maintenance)
Omitted: Siege of Yorktown; First Battle of Ypres; Guatemalan Revolution; Black Monday (1987); John Juvenal Ancina; Salimuzzaman Siddiqui; Eleanor Norcross
Included: San Felipe incident (1596) (first appearance); Battle of Cedar Creek (4th appearance, last in 2016); Streptomycin (11th appearance, last in 2016; 75th anniversary); 1988–94 British broadcasting voice restrictions (2nd appearance, last in 2016; moved from September 16); Annie Smith Peck (first appearance); Demetrios Christodoulou (first appearance); Ali Treki (first appearance)
Repeats: Hurricane Wilma (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total)

—howcheng {chat} 16:49, 19 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]

2019 notes[edit]

New articles (ineligible): Fred Keenor (TFA for 2019); Yoko Shimomura (maintenance)
Omitted: Battle of Cedar Creek; Streptomycin; 1988–94 British broadcasting voice restrictions; Hurricane Wilma; Annie Smith Peck; Demetrios Christodoulou; Ali Treki
Included: Siege of Yorktown (9th appearance, last in 2017); Guatemalan Revolution (2nd appearance, last in 2017; 75th anniversary); 1965 Burundian coup d'état attempt (first appearance); Operation Nimble Archer (2nd appearance, last in 2012); George Abbot (bishop) (first appearance); Peter Aduja (first appearance); Edna St. Vincent Millay (first appearance)
Repeats: San Felipe incident (1596) (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 17:03, 21 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

2020 notes[edit]

Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Fred Keenor
New articles (ineligible): V. Gordon Childe (TFA for 2020)
New articles (unused): Benjamin Franklin/Kite experiment
Omitted: Siege of Yorktown; Guatemalan Revolution; 1965 Burundian coup d'état attempt; Operation Nimble Archer; John Juvenal Ancina (ineligible—maintenance); Edna St. Vincent Millay
Included: First Battle of Ypres (4th appearance, last in 2017); Siege of Plei Me (first appearance); ʻOumuamua (first appearance); Yusuf I of Granada (first appearance); Yoko Shimomura (first appearance; rescued from Ineligible)
Repeats: San Felipe incident (1596) (3rd consecutive appearance, 3 total); Peter Aduja (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total; 100th birthday)

—howcheng {chat} 19:06, 20 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

2021 notes[edit]

New articles (ineligible): Jacobus Arminius (maintenance)
New articles (unused): Entry of James VI into Edinburgh; John Rolph (politician)
Rescued from Ineligible (unused): V. Gordon Childe
Omitted: First Battle of Ypres; Siege of Plei Me; ʻOumuamua; Yusuf I of Granada; Peter Aduja; Yoko Shimomura
Included: Benjamin Franklin/Kite experiment (Franklin: 3rd appearance, last in 2006, previously appeared on June 15; Experiment: first appearance); MS Sinfra (2nd appearance, last in 2015); History of the Eurovision Song Contest (first appearance); Black Monday (1987) (7th appearance, last in 2017); Salimuzzaman Siddiqui (2nd appearance, last in 2017); Demetrios Christodoulou (2nd appearance, last in 2018; 70th birthday); Ali Treki (2nd appearance, last in 2018)
Repeats: San Felipe incident (1596) (4th consecutive appearance, 4 total; 425th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 07:37, 20 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]