Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/February 29

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This is the talk page for making suggestions or discussing improvements to Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/February 29.

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 February 29 article, see Talk:February 29 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 February 29, 2025
Wikipedia:Today's featured article/February 29, 2025 create – talk – watch
Picture of the day for February 29, 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/February 28 * Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/March 1 →

1704 - Native Americans destroyed Deerfield, Massachusetts.
- Added. -- PFHLai 05:51, 2005 Feb 27 (UTC)
1938 - Superman celebrates his birthday.
- Unable to confirm. Not added. We avoid doing birthdays, anyway... -- PFHLai 05:51, 2005 Feb 27 (UTC)
1996 - A court ruled that book publisher Random House owed British actress and author Joan Collins over US$1 million for breach of contract over an unpublished manuscript. Randor1980 (talk) 07:31, 27 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

February 29, 2013??

This article makes a notice referring to the date February 29, 2013. This date will not exist. 2013 is not a leap year. --HGK745 (talk) 03:41, 1 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, because those dates are calculated artificially. But it doesn't matter because the point of those sections is to help coordinate the selection of events for this page, and since there will be no February 29 next year, it doesn't do any harm to have weird dates there. —howcheng {chat} 05:17, 1 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

2012 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Joan Collins (maintenance)
Omitted: Playboy Club
Included: Admiralty Islands campaign (first appearance), Jean-Bertrand Aristide (first appearance)
Repeats: Raid on Deerfield (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total), Ulrika Eleonora, Queen of Sweden (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total), Hattie McDaniel (3rd consecutive appearance, 3 total)

—howcheng {chat} 05:50, 1 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Link to following day

The link to the following day should say "March 1" instead of "March 2". GeoffreyT2000 (talk) 15:16, 14 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]

2016 notes

Deleted: Desmond Tutu (featured on September 7)
New articles (ineligible): La Bougie du Sapeur (stub)
Omitted: Raid on Deerfield; Ulrika Eleonora, Queen of Sweden; Hattie McDaniel; 2004 Haitian coup d'état (blurb previously featured Jean-Bertrand Aristide, which is currently ineligible)
Included: Alaungpaya (first appearance); Bar Confederation (first appearance); 1960 Agadir earthquake (first appearance); Tokyo Skytree (first appearance)
Repeats: Admiralty Islands campaign (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 09:27, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I’ve expanded La Bougie du Sapeur beyond stub status and moved it back into eligible. —LLarson (said & done) 15:31, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry, it's still too short for inclusion. —howcheng {chat} 23:15, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@Howcheng: How long do you think is sufficient if the threshold isn’t stub? —LLarson (said & done) 23:34, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I think ideally it should meet the DYK criteria (1,500 characters), and even then I really only go for short articles when we're desperate. —howcheng {chat} 01:09, 28 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

2020 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Ulrika Eleonora, Queen of Sweden (maintenance); Hattie McDaniel (maintenance)
New articles (ineligible): Gioachino Rossini (POTD for 2020)
New articles (unused): Emmeline B. Wells
Omitted: Leap year (ineligible—maintenance); Alaungpaya (ineligible—maintenance); Admiralty Islands campaign; Tokyo Skytree
Included: Raid on Deerfield (3rd appearance, last in 2012); La Bougie du Sapeur (first appearance; 40th anniversary); Misha Defonseca/Misha: A Mémoire of the Holocaust Years (both: first appearance); Oswald of Worcester (first appearance); Ina Coolbrith (first appearance); Pedro Sánchez (first appearance)
Repeats: Bar Confederation (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total); 1960 Agadir earthquake (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total; 60th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 16:57, 2 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

2024 notes

Can we perhaps include the birth of Rossini, now that we have a leap year? -- Gerda Arendt (talk) 14:00, 21 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Gerda Arendt: Any editor is welcome to add new entries to the "Eligible" section of the template for consideration. When that date approaches, an OTD prepper will decide which hooks will run. Z1720 (talk) 18:04, 21 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I didn't dare because he is - as far as I can interpret the code - under ineligible, and I don't see why. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 18:16, 21 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It looks like he was 2020's picture of the day, which means he couldn't be in the template that year. I have moved the entry back to eligible. Z1720 (talk) 18:58, 21 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Gerda Arendt: Rossini was not included in the hook set because their birthday is not cited in the article. Typically, this can be solved by adding the birthday to the first sentence of the "Early life" section if the date is verified by the source. If this is fixed, please ping me and I can swap it in. Z1720 (talk) 19:25, 27 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, Z1720. Problem: it's not "my" article. The source for the first sentence where the date would go, is a book, offline. I looked at other refs in the article: offline or without birthday (at least at a glance). Britannica has the date, [1], among many others, but isn't used so far in the article. I could of course place the date in the first sentence, almost sure that the source will support it, but hesitate. Calling Tim riley for help. This is about having Rossini listed in the "On this day" section of the Main page on his birthday. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:31, 27 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Gerda Arendt: any reliable source can be used to cite the birthday, as long as it is cited in the article. Feel free to add it yourself and then ping me. Z1720 (talk) 20:43, 27 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I added it, expecting that it will be replaced by one already in the article in proper format, therefore kept it simple, Z1720. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 22:43, 27 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Gerda Arendt: I just now realised that Rossini was featured in OTD in October 2023, which means it is normally not to be featured again for at least a year, so I don't think it should be moved into the set this year. I am sorry that I did not realise this before you did all this work. However, I will move it back to eligible and hopefully it can be used in future years. Z1720 (talk) 01:12, 28 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Do you realize that it is odd to have had him featured in a year when his birthday didn't even occur in the calendar but not when it does. The next "good" year will be 2028. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 06:26, 28 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]