Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/December 18

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This is the talk page for making suggestions or discussing improvements to Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/December 18.

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 18 article, see Talk:December 18 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 18, 2024

John Neal

American Writers is an 1824–25 work of literary criticism by American writer and critic John Neal (pictured). Published by Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, it is the first history of American literature and the first substantial work of criticism concerning US authors. Using no reference materials, Neal made incorrect assertions about many of the more than 120 authors covered. Scholars nevertheless praise the staying power of his opinions, many reflected by critics decades later. Neal also argued American literature relied too much on British precedent and had failed to develop its own voice. Neal wrote the series in London under the English pseudonym of "Carter Holmes", which convinced few. American Writers was well received in the UK but drew considerable ire in the US, particularly from William Lloyd Garrison. Neal was met with hostility and a fistfight on an 1827 visit to his hometown of Portland, Maine; he relocated there and remained until his death forty-nine years later. (Full article...)

Recently featured:

view – talk – edit – history – watch

Picture of the day for December 18, 2024

A series of volcanic eruptions has been ongoing in the Reykjanes Peninsula, near the town of Grindavík, Iceland, since 18 December 2023. The eruptions, of which there have been seven so far, began after an intense series of earthquakes in November 2023. Although localised, seismic and volcanic activity has caused significant disruption across the western part of the peninsula, especially for the town of Grindavík. This Icelandic Meteorological Office photograph, taken on 18 December 2023, shows the first eruption in the series, in the Sundhnúksgígar crater chain.

Photograph credit: Icelandic Meteorological Office

Recently featured:

← Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/December 17 * Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/December 19 →

2011 notes

Swapped out and moved to Ineligible: Battle of Verdun
New observances: Republic Day (Niger) (used to go to Republic Day), Qatar National Day
Swapped out: SCORE (satellite), Epimetheus (moon), Copenhagen Accord
Swapped in: The Nutcracker (4th appearance, last in 2009), Operation Linebacker II (2nd appearance, last in 2009), Perl (first appearance, but blurb used to feature Larry Wall, which is now ineligible), 2006–2007 Malaysian floods (first appearance)
Left in: Piltdown Man (3rd consecutive appearance, 3 total)—would have taken it out, but the remaining eligible items are all 1950 and later; kept it in for a better chronological balance.

--howcheng {chat} 06:17, 18 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

2012 notes

New articles (unused): Tunisian revolution
Omitted: Operation Linebacker II (ineligible—maintenance); Perl; 2006–2007 Malaysian floods
Included: Battle of the Heligoland Bight (1939) (first appearance); Epimetheus (moon) (7th appearance, last in 2010); Oakland Ebonics controversy (first appearance)
Repeats: The Nutcracker (2nd consecutive appearance, 5 total); Piltdown Man (4th consecutive appearance, 4 total; 100th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 17:25, 17 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

2013 notes

Omitted: Qatar National Day (ineligible—maintenance); Piltdown Man; Battle of the Heligoland Bight (1939); Oakland Ebonics controversy
Included: Battle of Verdun (4th appearance, last in 2010; rescued from Ineligible); SCORE (satellite) (2nd appearance, last in 2010); Tunisian Revolution (first appearance)
Repeats: The Nutcracker (3rd consecutive appearance, 6 total); Epimetheus (moon) (2nd consecutive appearance, 8 total)

—howcheng {chat} 07:44, 17 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

2014 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Piltdown Man (maintenance)
New articles (unused): Chadian Civil War (2005–10)
Omitted: Battle of Verdun; SCORE (satellite) (ineligible—maintenance); Epimetheus (moon); Tunisian Revolution
Included: Angola Horror (first appearance); Battle of the Heligoland Bight (1939) (2nd appearance, last in 2012; 75th anniversary); Oakland Ebonics controversy (2nd appearance, last in 2012); Copenhagen Accord (2nd appearance, last in 2010)
Repeats: The Nutcracker (4th consecutive appearance, 7 total)

—howcheng {chat} 11:20, 17 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

2015 notes

Omitted: Battle of the Heligoland Bight (1939); Oakland Ebonics resolution; Copenhagen Accord
Included: Battle of Verdun (5th appearance, last in 2013); Perl (2nd appearance, last in 2011); Chadian Civil War (2005–10) (first appearance; 10th anniversary)
Repeats: Angola Horror (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total); The Nutcracker (5th consecutive appearance, 10 total)

—howcheng {chat} 08:22, 16 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

2016 notes

New articles (ineligible): Mohammad Mofatteh
Omitted: The Nutcracker (ineligible—maintenance); Perl; Chadian Civil War (2005–10)
Included: Battle of the Heligoland Bight (1939) (3rd appearance, last in 2014); Epimetheus (moon) (9th appearance, last in 2013; 50th anniversary); Oakland Ebonics resolution (3rd appearance, last in 2014; 20th anniversary)
Repeats: Angola Horror (3rd consecutive appearance, 3 total); Battle of Verdun (2nd consecutive appearance, 6 total; 100th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 09:02, 17 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

2017 notes

Deleted: Battle of the Trebia (exact date is unknown)
Moved to Ineligible: Perl (maintenance)
Omitted: Angola Horror (ineligible—maintenance); Battle of Verdun; Oakland Ebonics resolution
Included: Rebellion of the Alpujarras (1499–1501) (first appearance); Land speed record (first appearance); 1963 Moscow protest (first appearance); James Watney (first appearance); Ty Cobb (first appearance); Alexei Kosygin (first appearance)
Repeats: Battle of the Heligoland Bight (1939) (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total); Epimetheus (moon) (2nd consecutive appearance, 10 total)

—howcheng {chat} 19:10, 18 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

2018 notes

Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Angola Horror; 1932 NFL Playoff Game; Perl
New articles (unused): 2017 Washington train derailment
Omitted: Battle of the Heligoland Bight (1939); 1963 Moscow protest; Epimetheus (moon); James Watney; Ty Cobb; Alexei Kosygin
Included: Battle of Verdun (7th appearance, last in 2016); SCORE (satellite) (3rd appearance, last in 2013; rescued from Ineligible; 60th anniversary); Tunisian Revolution (2nd appearance, last in 2013); Yaonian Yanmujin (first appearance); Lionel Monckton (first appearance); Edwin Howard Armstrong (first appearance)
Repeats: Rebellion of the Alpujarras (1499–1501) (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total); Land speed record (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 16:56, 18 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

2019 notes

Omitted: Land speed record; Battle of Verdun; SCORE (satellite); Tunisian Revolution; Yaonian Yanmujin; Lionel Monckton; Edwin Howard Armstrong
Included: Angola Horror (4th appearance, last in 2016); Battle of the Heligoland Bight (1939) (5th appearance, last in 2017; 80th anniversary); On Her Majesty's Secret Service (film) (first appearance; 50th anniversary); Copenhagen Accord (3rd appearance, last in 2014; 10th anniversary); Edith of Wessex (first appearance); Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (first appearance); Tara Conner (first appearance)
Repeats: Rebellion of the Alpujarras (1499–1501) (3rd consecutive appearance, 3 total)

—howcheng {chat} 16:53, 19 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

2020 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Perl (maintenance); Chadian Civil War (2005–2010) (maintenance)
Omitted: Rebellion of the Alpujarras (1499–1501); Angola Horror; Battle of the Heligoland Bight (1939); On Her Majesty's Secret Service (film); Copenhagen Accord; Edith of Wessex; Tara Conner
Included: Battle of Mbumbi (first appearance); Land speed record (3rd appearance, last in 2018); 1932 NFL Playoff Game (first appearance); 2017 Washington train derailment (first appearance); Charles Wesley (first appearance); Keith Richards (first appearance)
Repeats: Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 20:10, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

2021 notes

Omitted: Battle of Mbumbi; 1932 NFL Playoff Game; 2017 Washington train derailment; Charles Wesley; Jean-Baptiste Lamarck; Keith Richards
Included: Rebellion of the Alpujarras (1499–1501) (4th appearance, last in 2019); Battle of Verdun (8th appearance, last in 2018); African-American Vernacular English and education (4th appearance, last in 2016; 25th anniversary); Henrietta Edwards (first appearance); Robert Moses (first appearance); Noriko Matsueda (first appearance; 50th birthday)
Repeats: Land speed record (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total)

—howcheng {chat} 05:27, 19 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]