Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/December 9

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This is the talk page for making suggestions or discussing improvements to Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/December 9.

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 December 9 article, see Talk:December 9 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 December 9, 2024
Golding Bird pictured in 1840 Golding Bird (9 December 1814 – 27 October 1854) was a medical doctor who researched the chemistry of urine and kidney stones. From 1836, he lectured at Guy's Hospital and published a textbook on science for medical students called Elements of Natural Philosophy. Bird was innovative in the medical use of electricity, designing his own equipment and bringing medical electrotherapy into the mainstream. He invented a variant of the Daniell cell in 1837, making key discoveries in electrometallurgy. Bird also designed a flexible stethoscope, and in 1840 published the first description of one. In 1842, he was the first to describe oxaluria, a condition which leads to the formation of a particular kind of stone, and published a comprehensive paper on urinary deposits in 1844. A devout Christian, Bird believed Bible study and prayer were just as important to medical students as their studies. He founded the Christian Medical Association, although it did not become active until after his death. (Full article...) Recently featured: "You Belong with Me" Wilfred Arthur École Polytechnique massacre Archive By email More featured articles About view – talk – edit – history – watch
Picture of the day for December 9, 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/December 8 * Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/December 10 →

Can an admin add "(flag pictured)" after the Independence Day in Tanzania entry, as is the usual practice. -- AJR | Talk 00:12, 5 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Milton 400

It's John Milton's 400th birthday. Is the author of Paradise Lost and Areopagitica famous enough to have his quatercentenary posted on SA/OTD? His wikibio doesn't mention anything about the celebrations ([1], [2], [3]), though. --PFHLai (talk) 22:16, 7 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Mother of All Demos

In the NLS item, the words “publicly demonstrated” should be linked to The Mother of All Demos. — crism (talk) 04:46, 9 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

2011 notes

Catholic University of Leuven, Battle of Ayacucho, P. B. S. Pinchback, Doctors' Trial all swapped out and moved to Ineligible for maintenance reasons
Tanganyika moved to Ineligible for being a stub
Lech Wałęsa moved to Ineligible as it appeared on August 14
New articles (not used): Battle of Great Bridge, Cross Mountain Mine disaster, Operation Compass, Kecksburg UFO incident, Rogers Plan
Swapped in: Battle of Jerusalem (1917) (first appearance), Spanish Constitution of 1931 (first appearance), NLS (computer system) (2nd appearance, last in 2008), Mumia Abu-Jamal (first appearance, 20th anniversary, just had a recent update so somewhat topical)
Left in: Smallpox (3rd consecutive appearance)
Note: Lots of US-related articles, otherwise would have put in Cross Mountain (100th anniversary)

--howcheng {chat} 22:14, 10 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

2012 notes

Omitted: Battle of Jerusalem (1917); NLS (computer system); Smallpox; Mumia Abu-Jamal
Included: P. B. S. Pinchback (2nd appearance, last in 2010; rescued from Ineligible); Cross Mountain Mine disaster (first appearance); Operation Compass (first appearance); Rogers Plan (first appearance)
Repeats: Spanish Constitution of 1931 (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 07:02, 8 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

2013 notes

Omitted: P. B. S. Pinchback; Cross Mountain Mine disaster; Spanish Constitution of 1931; Operation Compass; Rogers Plan
Included: Battle of Great Bridge (first appearance); Battle of Jerusalem (1917) (2nd appearance, last in 2011); Douglas Engelbart (first appearance; blurb previously featured NLS (computer system)); Smallpox (7th appearance, last in 2011); Rod Blagojevich corruption charges (2nd appearance, last in 2009)

—howcheng {chat} 06:26, 8 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

2014 notes

New articles (unused): A Charlie Brown Christmas
Omitted: Tanzania (ineligible—maintenance); Battle of Great Bridge; Douglas Engelbart/The Mother of All Demos; Rod Blagojevich corruption charges
Included: P. B. S. Pinchback (3rd appearance, last in 2012); Spanish Constitution of 1931 (3rd appearance, last in 2012); John Birch Society (4th appearance, last in 2006)
Repeats: Battle of Jerusalem (1917) (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total); Smallpox (2nd consecutive appearance, 8 total)

—howcheng {chat} 07:43, 8 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

2015 notes

Omitted: P. B. S. Pinchback; Battle of Jerusalem (1917); John Birch Society;
Included: Battle of Great Bridge (2nd appearance, last in 2013); Operation Compass (2nd appearance, last in 2012); A Charlie Brown Christmas (first appearance; 50th anniversary)
Repeats: Spanish Constitution of 1931 (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total); Smallpox (3rd consecutive appearance, 9 total)

—howcheng {chat} 06:31, 8 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

2016 notes

Omitted: Battle of Great Bridge; Spanish Constitution of 1931; Operation Compass; A Charlie Brown Christmas; Smallpox
Included: P. B. S. Pinchback (4th appearance, last in 2014); 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State (6th appearance, last in 2009; rescued from Ineligible); Battle of Jerusalem (4th appearance, last in 2014); Genocide Convention (first appearance); Douglas Engelbart/The Mother of All Demos (Engelbart: 2nd appearance, last in 2013; Demos: first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 17:18, 7 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

2017 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Kecksburg UFO incident (maintenance); A Charlie Brown Christmas (maintenance)
New articles (unused): Impeachment of Park Geun-hye; Denise Phua
Omitted: P. B. S. Pinchback; 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State; Genocide Convention; Douglas Engelbart/The Mother of All Demos
Included: Battle of Great Bridge (3rd appearance, last in 2015); La Fronde (newspaper) (first appearance; blurb previously featured Marguerite Durand, which is currently ineligible, and last appeared in 2006); Spanish Constitution of 1931 (5th appearance, last in 2015); Smallpox (10th appearance, last in 2015); Al-Biruni (first appearance); Fritz Haber (first appearance); Joan Armatrading (first appearance)
Repeats: Battle of Jerusalem (2nd consecutive appearance, 5 total)

—howcheng {chat} 08:22, 10 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

2018 notes

Moved to Ineligible: John Birch Society (maintenance)
Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Kecksburg UFO incident
Omitted: Battle of Great Bridge; La Fronde (newspaper); Battle of Jerusalem; Spanish Constitution of 1931 (ineligible—maintenance); Smallpox; Al-Biruni (deleted—death date not certain); Joan Armatrading
Included: Battle of Reading (1688); Newcastle United F.C.; Genocide Convention (2nd appearance, last in 2016; 70th anniversary); Douglas Engelbart/The Mother of All Demos (Engelbart: 3rd appearance; Demos: 2nd appearance; both last in 2016; 50th anniversary); Rod Blagojevich corruption charges (3rd appearance, last in 2013; 20th anniversary); Nasr ibn Sayyar (first appearance); Lilias Armstrong (first appearance)
Repeats: Fritz Haber (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total; 150th birthday)

—howcheng {chat} 04:42, 10 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

2019 notes

New articles (unused): Topfreedom in Canada; Same-sex marriage in Australia/Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017
Omitted: Battle of Reading (1688); Newcastle United F.C.; Genocide Convention; Douglas Engelbart/The Mother of All Demos; Rod Blagojevich corruption charges; Nasr ibn Sayyar; Fritz Haber; Lilias Armstrong
Included: Battle of Great Bridge (4th appearance, last in 2017); 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State (7th appearance, last in 2016); Rogers Plan (2nd appearance, last in 2012; 50th anniversary); Smallpox (11th appearance, last in 2017; 40th anniversary); Impeachment of Park Geun-hye (first appearance); Gertrude of Brunswick (first appearance); Joe Kelley (first appearance); Denise Phua (first appearance; 60th birthday)

—howcheng {chat} 16:46, 10 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

2020 notes

Moved to Ineligible: P. B. S. Pinchback (maintenance)
New articles (ineligible): Alister Murdoch (TFA for 2020); Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon (maintenance)
Omitted: Battle of Great Bridge; 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State; Rogers Plan; Smallpox; Impeachment of Park Geun-hye; Joe Kelley; Denise Phua
Included: La Fronde (newspaper) (2nd appearance, last in 2017); Cross Mountain Mine disaster (2nd appearance, last in 2012); Operation Compass (3rd appearance, last in 2015); Same-sex marriage in Australia/Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017 (both: first appearance); Íñigo López de Mendoza, 4th Duke of the Infantado (first appearance); Joan Armatrading (2nd appearance, last in 2017; 70th birthday)
Repeats: Gertrude of Brunswick (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

2021 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Topfreedom in Canada (maintenance)
Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Alister Murdoch; Giacomo dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto
Omitted: La Fronde (newspaper); Cross Mountain Mine disaster; Operation Compass; Same-sex marriage in Australia; Gertrude of Brunswick; Íñigo López de Mendoza, 4th Duke of the Infantado; Joan Armatrading
Included: Newcastle United F.C. (2nd appearance, last in 2018); Battle of Jerusalem (6th appearance, last in 2017); Tanganyika Territory (first appearance; rescued from Ineligible; blurb previously featured Tanganyika (1961–1964), which remains ineligible, and is making its 4th appearance, last in 2008); Mumia Abu-Jamal (2nd appearance, last in 2011; 40th anniversary); Park Geun-hye/Impeachment of Park Geun-hye (Park: first appearance; Impeachment: 2nd, last in 2019); Vaišvilkas (first appearance); Joe Kelley (2nd appearance, last in 2019; 150th birthday); Feroz Khan Noon (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 07:50, 10 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]