Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/December 6

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This is the talk page for making suggestions or discussing improvements to Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/December 6.

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 6 article, see Talk:December 6 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 6, 2025
Wikipedia:Today's featured article/December 6, 2025 create – talk – watch
Picture of the day for December 6, 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/December 5 * Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/December 7 →

2012 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Blood in the Water match (maintenance); 2005 Iranian Air Force C-130 crash (seems outdated)
Omitted: Béla I of Hungary; USS Jacob Jones (DD-61); Anglo-Irish Treaty; École Polytechnique massacre; Demolition of Babri Masjid
Included: Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (8th appearance, last in 2010; rescued from Ineligible); Halifax Explosion (6th appearance, last in 2009); Banana massacre (first appearance); Droppin Well bombing (first appearance); History of the Australian Capital Territory (2nd appearance, last in 2010)

—howcheng {chat} 17:50, 5 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

And the reason the Montreal Massacre was omitted is what exactly? It's a very significant event, not just in Canada, but for political, social and feminist reasons. I'm curious since no reason is apparent. freshacconci talktalk 15:31, 6 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

If I had a guess, simply due to lack of space coupled with there already being a major Canadian topic in the Halifax Explosion (and possibly it having a round number anniversary - 95th). It'll probably be back on next year if I had a guess, and most certainly in 2014 on the 25th anniversary. Reso lute 15:44, 6 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
From the looks for things, as it appeared in 2004/05/06/07/08/09 and 2011, it was not included this year so that other articles that either had not been included before or had not been included for a few years could appear. It is no reflection on the incident that it has not appeared this year. See Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries for the principles that govern selection of the five or so items each day. Bencherlite ^Talk 15:59, 6 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, that's the idea. We have a pool of 15 eligible articles, out of which 5 or possibly 6 that can be featured in any one year. The Montreal massacre is simply out of rotation this year. —howcheng {chat} 17:12, 6 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Edit request on 6 December 2012

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

"On this day in 1928" should read: 1928 – At the behest of the United States

It currently reads

1928 – On the behest of the United States

"At the behest of..." is more correct. Thanks.

Boleslaw (talk) 11:14, 6 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Done. Bencherlite ^Talk 16:00, 6 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Edit request for 6 December

"On this day" calls the Halifax explosion of 1917 as the largest manmade accidental explosion, but the supporting article List_of_the_largest_artificial_non-nuclear_explosions says the N1 rocket explosion was larger (and equally accidental and manmade).

Marfinan (talk) 18:58, 6 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Done. Thanks for spotting that. —howcheng {chat} 20:03, 6 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

2013 notes

Omitted: Spanish Constitution of 1978 (maintenance); Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution; Halifax Explosion; Banana massacre; Droppin Well bombing
Included: Béla I of Hungary (3rd appearance, last in 2011); Anglo-Irish Treaty (6th appearance, last in 2011); Lolita (first appearance); Dongzhou protests (2nd appearance, last in 2010)
Repeats: History of the Australian Capital Territory (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total; 25th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 05:55, 5 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

2014 notes

Omitted: Anglo-Irish Treaty; Lolita; History of the Australian Capital Territory; Dongzhou protests
Included: Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (9th appearance, last in 2012); Monongah Mining disaster (first appearance); Sandra Morgan (2nd appearance, last in 2010); École Polytechnique massacre (8th appearance, last in 2011; 25th anniversary)
Repeats: Béla I of Hungary (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total)

—howcheng {chat} 11:19, 5 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

2015 notes

New articles (ineliglble): Khabarovsk United Air Group Flight 3949 (too short)
Moved to Ineligible: Banana massacre (maintenance)
Omitted: Monongah mining disaster; Sandra Morgan; École Polytechnique massacre
Included: Halifax Explosion (6th appearance, last in 2012); Balcombe Street siege (first appearance; 40th anniversary); Dongzhou protests (3rd appearance, last in 2013)
Repeats: Béla I of Hungary (3rd consecutive appearance, 5 total); Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (2nd consecutive appearance, 10 total; 150th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 08:41, 4 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

2016 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Lolita (maintenance)
Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Banana massacre
Omitted: Halifax Explosion; Balcombe Street siege; Dongzhou protests (ineligible—maintenance);École Polytechnique massacre
Included: Sandra Morgan (3rd appearance, last in 2014; 60th anniversary); Droppin Well bombing (2nd appearance, last in 2012); 2005 Iranian Air Force C-130 crash (first appearance)
Repeats: Béla I of Hungary (4th consecutive appearance, 6 total); Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (3rd consecutive appearance, 11 total)

—howcheng {chat} 08:53, 5 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

2017 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Irish Free State (maintenance); Altamont Free Concert (maintenance)
New articles (unused): Adrian Kantrowitz; Venezuelan parliamentary election, 2015; Nicholas Rowe (writer)
Omitted: Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution; Sandra Morgan; Droppin Well bombing; 2005 Iranian Air Force C-130 crash;École Polytechnique massacre
Included: USS Jacob Jones (DD-61) (first appearance; 100th anniversary); Camp X (first appearance); Vanguard TV3 (first appearance; blurb previously featured Project Vanguard and is making its 5th appearance, last in 2007; 60th anniversary); Demolition of the Babri Masjid (2nd appearance, last in 2011; 25th anniversary); Jan van Scorel (first appearance); William Arnott (biscuit manufacturer) (first appearance); Mary Margaret O'Reilly (first appearance)
Repeats: Béla I of Hungary (5th consecutive appearance, 7 total)

—howcheng {chat} 17:17, 6 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

2018 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Banana Massacre (maintenance)
Omitted: Béla I of Hungary; USS Jacob Jones (DD-61); Camp X; Vanguard TV3; Demolition of the Babri Masjid; Jan van Scorel; William Arnott (biscuit manufacturer); Mary Margaret O'Reilly
Included: Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (12th appearance, last in 2016); Nefertiti Bust (first appearance); Blood in the Water match (2nd appearance, last in 2007; rescued from Ineligible); History of the Australian Capital Territory (4th appearance, last in 2013; 30th anniversary); Venezuelan parliamentary election, 2015 (first appearance); Nicholas Rowe (writer) (first appearance; 300th anniversary); Hara Prasad Shastri (first appearance); Satoru Iwata (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 16:51, 6 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

2019 notes

Deleted: History of the Encyclopædia Britannica (moved to December 10)
New articles (ineligible): Stary Ciepielów and Rekówka massacre (nominated for DYK in 2019)
New articles (unused): Roosevelt Corollary
Omitted: Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution; Blood in the Water match; History of the Australian Capital Territory; 2015 Venezuelan parliamentary election; Nicholas Rowe (writer); Hara Prasad Shastri
Included: Béla I of Hungary (8th appearance, last in 2017); Battle of San Pasqual (first appearance); École Polytechnique massacre (9th appearance, last in 2014; 30th anniversary); Napster (2nd appearance, last in 2014; 20th anniversary; moved from December 7); Marie Adélaïde of Savoy (first appearance); William John Swainson (2nd appearance, last in 2017; also appears on October 8, his birthday)
Repeats: Nefertiti Bust (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total); Satoru Iwata (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total; 60th birthday)

—howcheng {chat} 17:40, 9 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

2020 notes

Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Banana Massacre; Stary Ciepielów and Rekówka massacre
New articles (unused): Pope Leo VIII; Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes
Omitted: Battle of San Pasqual; Nefertiti Bust; École Polytechnique massacre; Napster; Marie Adélaïde of Savoy; William Arnott (biscuit manufacturer); Satoru Iwata
Included: Siege of Kiev (1240) (first appearance); Roosevelt Corollary (first appearance); Balcombe Street siege (2nd appearance, last in 2015); 1990 Italian Air Force MB-326 crash (first appearance; 30th anniversary); Robert Spear Hudson (first appearance); Johann Palisa (first appearance); Devan Nair (first appearance)
Repeats: Béla I of Hungary (2nd consecutive appearance, 9 total)

—howcheng {chat} 04:11, 8 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

2021 notes

Omitted: Béla I of Hungary; Siege of Kiev (1240); Roosevelt Corollary; Balcombe Street siege; 1990 Italian Air Force MB-326 crash; Robert Spear Hudson; Johann Palisa; Devan Nair
Included: Pope Leo VIII (first appearance); Blockade of Saint-Domingue (first appearance); Monongah mining disaster (2nd appearance, last in 2014); Camp X (2nd appearance, last in 2017; 80th anniversary); 2015 Venezuelan parliamentary election (2nd appearance, last in 2018); Maria de Dominici (first appearance); Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes (first appearance; 300th birthday); Pete Rozelle (first appearance; 25th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 05:04, 7 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

2023 comment

@Z1720, re this edit, an earlier portrayal of Béla I of Hungary than a sculpture from 2001 would have been better; possibly this or a crop of it – or the Nefertiti Bust, which is a featured picture and, happily, faces left (towards the page content) rather than right (away from it). I appreciate that the bust of Béla I was in the staging area, but a different image should have been used there. Ham II (talk) 09:51, 6 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@Ham II: thanks for your comments. I chose a bust image because it has been several weeks since a bust was used as the OTD image, and I strive for variety. I did not select the Nefertiti Bust because it had been used in 2018 and 2019 as the OTD image, and I wanted to bring other images to OTD. The Bela I bust image was in the selected images bank at the top of the page, so I used it. If anyone has additional images that can be used for OTD, I invite you to add it to the selected anniversary day. Z1720 (talk) 14:36, 6 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@Z1720: Now that 6 December has passed, I've replaced the photo of the bust with the image I suggested. Is this the best way to ensure that that image is the one that appears for Béla I in the selected images bank in future years? To expand on why I wanted the photo of the bust replaced, it's too recent and idealised – as a general rule, the closer in time to its subject an artwork is the more suitable it is. Ham II (talk) 22:05, 8 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@Ham II: Replacing the image is the best way to do this, and it might take several years before this image is used on the main page. Z1720 (talk) 02:52, 9 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@Z1720: Thanks – that’s fine by me; my aim is only to make sure that the bust doesn’t appear again in another year. Ham II (talk) 10:17, 9 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]