Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/March 4

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 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 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. Independence Days , and other holidays celebrating the nationhood of a country are generally marked by the year of the significant historic date being observed.

This is terrible. 5 events, 4 of them are USA-centric!!! -- Kaihsu 09:01, 2004 Mar 4 (UTC)

Please feel free to search March 4 for items that have reasonably full articles and the possibility of pictures, and update at will. We try very hard to be non-Amerocentric, but sometimes the material Wikipedia makes available means that's impossible. Your assistance on the selected anniversaries project would be appreciated. jengod 09:07, Mar 4, 2004 (UTC)

I've already done that. Somebody needs to add non-US qualifying items to that page. --

mav

No, Mav, honey, I know you have. I'm saying just that. If the pages aren't updated with non-American stuff, we don't have non-American stuff to update with period. It's not part of our gigantic bias for the U.S. :) jengod 19:13, Mar 4, 2004 (UTC)

How about the election in Zimbabwe Rhodesia, making Robert Mugabe the first PM of the soon-to-come-into-existense Republic of Zimbabwe ? I'll put that in later...-- PFHLai 21:37, 2005 Feb 27 (UTC) --(Correction) PFHLai 14:14, 2005 Feb 28 (UTC)

Forget some urban legend about the US Presidency. This should really be on the main page:

• Constitution of the United States
  into effect.

Thanks, Mdiamante (talk) 12:12, 4 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The switch from

United States Constitution, I'd rather save this for Constitution Day (United States) on September 17. That's the day people remember these days. --PFHLai (talk) 17:28, 4 March 2008 (UTC)[reply

]

Re-iterating what I wrote last year.

Quaker William Penn a charter for the Pennsylvania Colony

.

Is all well and good, but this is more important. And it's much more than "paperwork procedure", it's the difference between a failed government and one that turns 220 today. Without the new government, there'd be no Constitution, no President Washington, etc. The mind boggles.

So, please consider including. Best, Mdiamante (talk) 04:53, 4 March 2009 (UTC).[reply]

As stated on

United States Constitution article is already an emboldened entry on Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/September 17 because, as PFHLai stated, it coincides with Constitution Day (United States). Therefore do you know any alternative article to bold for that 1789 event? Also, as implied on the first question of the FAQ post above this talk page, we do not automatically fulfill requests to switch entries just because a user says that an event is "more important and significant" than all the others that are currently listed. Cheers. Zzyzx11 (Talk) 05:22, 4 March 2009 (UTC)[reply

]

Probably we can bold

hidden, backup list for now so it is available, especially when we need to "unhide one to balance the text of the Main Page"[1]. Cheers. Zzyzx11 (Talk) 05:33, 4 March 2009 (UTC)[reply

]

Maybe I've been trumpeting the wrong emphasis. How's this:

Constitution

.

? This gets the important event across without doubling the Constitution event. Cheers, Mdiamante (talk) 18:52, 4 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

• Moved to Ineligible: History of Chicago (Chicago is POTD this year), David Rice Atchison (maintenance), Omar al-Bashir (maintenance)
• Omitted:
  1918 flu pandemic, Robert Mugabe
• Included:
  USS Cyclops (AC-4) (first appearance), Iran–Contra affair
  (first appearance)
• Repeats:
  Jogaila
  (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)