Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/May 12

This is the talk page for making suggestions or discussing improvements to Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/May 12.

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 May 12 article, see Talk:May 12 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 May 12, 2025

Wikipedia:Today's featured article/May 12, 2025

create – talk – watch

Picture of the day for May 12, 2025

The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detailed launch and game information announced later that month at the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). This photograph shows the "Pro" model from the launch line-up, which featured a 20GB hard drive, wireless controller and a silver DVD bezel.

Photograph credit: Evan-Amos

Recently featured:

← Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/May 11 * Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/May 13 →

Moved from Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries

I'd like to suggest to include the following event on the main page:

1941 - Konrad Zuse presented the Z3, the world's first working programmable, fully automatic computer in Berlin. MikeZ 11:34, 12 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

2012 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Louis Riel (saved for November 16)
New articles (unused): Allied-occupied Austria
Omitted: Jagiellonian University; Battle of Palmito Ranch; French occupation of Tunisia; Battle of Coral–Balmoral; Iran newspaper cockroach cartoon controversy
Included: Edward Lear (200th birthday); Day of the Barricades (first appearance); 1926 United Kingdom general strike (5th appearance, last in 2010); Second Battle of Kharkov (first appearance, 70th anniversary); Trisakti shootings (first appearance); Postville Raid (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 06:28, 11 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

2013 notes

Omitted: Day of the Barricades; 1926 United Kingdom general strike; Second Battle of Kharkov; Trisakti shootings; Postville Raid
Included: National University of San Marcos (6th appearance, last in 2009; rescued from Ineligible); Donner Party (first appearance); Z3 (computer) (6th appearance, last in 2011); Allied-occupied Austria (first appearance); Mayaguez incident (3rd appearance, last in 2010); 2008 Sichuan earthquake (3rd appearance, last in 2010)

—howcheng {chat} 07:27, 11 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

2014 notes

New articles (unused): Prince of Anhua rebellion; Battle of Raymond; Battle of Batoche
Omitted: Donner Party; Z3 (computer); Allied-occupied Austria; Mayaguez incident; 2008 Sichuan earthquake
Included: Emperor Ai of Tang (first appearance); Jagiellonian University (2nd appearance, last in 2011); French conquest of Tunisia (2nd appearance, last in 2011); Norge (airship) (first appearance); North American Aerospace Defense Command (6th appearance, last in 2009; article had been removed from page)

—howcheng {chat} 06:50, 11 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

2015 notes

Omitted: Emperor Ai of Tang; Jagiellonian University; French conquest of Tunisia; Norge (airship); North American Aerospace Defense Command
Included: Prince of Anhua rebellion (first appearance); Battle of Palmito Ranch (2nd appearance, last in 2011; 150th anniversary); Battle of Batoche (first appearance); Allied-occupied Austria (2nd appearance, last in 2013; 60th anniversary); Mayaguez incident (4th appearance, last in 2013; 40th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 07:13, 10 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]

2016 notes

Moved to Ineligible: National University of San Marcos (maintenance)
Omitted: Prince of Anhua rebellion; Battle of Palmito Ranch; Battle of Batoche; Allied-occupied Austria; Mayaguez incident
Included: Day of the Barricades (2nd appearance, last in 2012); Donner Party (2nd appearance, last in 2013); 1926 United Kingdom general strike (6th appearance, last in 2012; 90th anniversary); Battle of Coral–Balmoral (2nd appearance, last in 2011); Iran newspaper cockroach cartoon controversy (2nd appearance, last in 2011; 10th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 15:53, 11 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

2017 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Jagiellonian University (maintenance); Battle of Batoche (maintenance)
Omitted: International Nurses Day (ineligible—maintenance); Day of the Barricades; Donner Party; 1926 United Kingdom general strike; Battle of Coral–Balmoral; Iran newspaper cockroach cartoon controversy
Included: Emperor Ai of Tang (2nd appearance, last in 2014); French conquest of Tunisia (3rd appearance, last in 2014); Second Battle of Kharkov (2nd appearance, last in 2012; 75th anniversary); Are You Experienced (first appearance; 50th anniversary); Coppergate Helmet (first appearance); Rachel Chiesley, Lady Grange (first appearance); Katharine Hepburn (first appearance); Alexander Esenin-Volpin (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 02:10, 13 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

2018 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Battle of Palmito Ranch (maintenance); Norge (airship) (maintenance); 1926 United Kingdom general strike (maintenance)
Omitted: Emperor Ai of Tang; French conquest of Tunisia; Second Battle of Kharkov; Are You Experienced; Coppergate Helmet; Rachel Chiesley, Lady Grange; Katharine Hepburn; Alexander Esenin-Volpin
Included: Day of the Barricades (3rd appearance, last in 2016); North Borneo (first appearance); Battle of Coral–Balmoral (3rd appearance, last in 2016; 50th anniversary); Trisakti shootings (2nd appearance, last in 2012; 20th anniversary); Postville raid (2nd appearance, last in 2012; 10th anniversary); Fergus of Galloway (first appearance); Johann Baptist Wanhal (first appearance); Yogi Berra (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 23:01, 12 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Mother's Day, 2019

@Howcheng: Can we possibly add this event for 2019's May 12 OTD? BenevolentBeast (talk) 23:13, 5 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]

edit: This is actually celebrated in 86 countries and 11 territories according to this article, my bad. BenevolentBeast (talk) 23:20, 5 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]

2019 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Allied-occupied Austria (date not certain); Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771 (maintenance)
Omitted: Day of the Barricades; North Borneo; Battle of Coral–Balmoral; Trisakti shootings; Postville raid; Fergus of Galloway; Johann Baptist Wanhal; Yogi Berra
Included: Prince of Anhua rebellion (2nd appearance, last in 2015); Battle of Raymond; Z3 (computer) (7th appearance, last in 2013); Are You Experienced (2nd appearance, last in 2017); Iran newspaper cockroach cartoon controversy (3rd appearance, last in 2016); Æthelhard (first appearance); Justus von Liebig (first appearance); Maryam Mirzakhani (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 17:10, 13 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]

2020 notes

Deleted: Allied-occupied Austria (moved to July 27)
Omitted: Prince of Anhua rebellion; Battle of Raymond; Z3 (computer); Are You Experienced; Iran newspaper cockroach cartoon controversy; Æthelhard; Justus von Liebig; Maryam Mirzakhani
Included: Emperor Ai of Tang (3rd appearance, last in 2017); Donner Party (3rd appearance, last in 2016); Second Battle of Kharkov (3rd appearance, last in 2017); Juan María Fernández y Krohn (first appearance); Trisakti shootings (3rd appearance, last in 2018); Pompeo Colonna (first appearance); Rachel Chiesley, Lady Grange (2nd appearance, last in 2017); Malin Åkerman (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 15:51, 13 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

2021 notes

Moved to Ineligible: 2008 Sichuan earthquake (maintenance)
New articles (ineligible): Murad Mirza (son of Akbar) (date not certain); Otto Frank (maintenance)
Omitted: Emperor Ai of Tang; Donner Party; Second Battle of Kharkov; Juan María Fernández y Krohn; Trisakti shootings; Pompeo Colonna; Rachel Chiesley, Lady Grange; Malin Åkerman
Included: Day of the Barricades (4th appearance, last in 2018); French conquest of Tunisia (4th appearance, last in 2017); Z3 (computer) (8th appearance, last in 2019; 80th anniversary); Postville raid (3rd appearance, last in 2018); Æthelhard (2nd appearance, last in 2019); Katharine Hepburn (2nd appearance, last in 2017); Benjamin Sheares (first appearance; 40th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 07:23, 14 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

2022 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Second Battle of Kharkov (maintenance); Iran newspaper cockroach cartoon controversy (maintenance)
Omitted: Day of the Barricades; French conquest of Tunisia; Z3 (computer); Postville raid; Æthelhard; Katharine Hepburn; Benjamin Sheares
Included: Donner Party (4th appearance, last in 2020); Battle of Raymond (2nd appearance, last in 2019); North Borneo (2nd appearance, last in 2018); Mayaguez incident (5th appearance, last in 2015); Coppergate Helmet (2nd appearance, last in 2017; 40th anniversary); Thomas Palaiologos (first appearance); Otto Frank (first appearance; rescued from Ineligible); Rami Malek (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 07:47, 13 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]