Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/October 17

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This is the talk page for making suggestions or discussing improvements to Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/October 17.

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 October 17 article, see Talk:October 17 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 October 17, 2025
Wikipedia:Today's featured article/October 17, 2025 create – talk – watch
Picture of the day for October 17, 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/October 16 * Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/October 18 →

Dunkirk

Moved from WP:ERRORS

Dunkirk was sold for 400,000, not 40,000. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.194.168.155 (talk) 10:58, 17 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The main page usually defers to the supporting article for disputed facts, and the article says 40,000. Google shows more sites saying 40,000 than 400,000. If you disagree, please settle it at Dunkirk and its talk page. Art LaPella 13:54, 17 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Ok then why is it that in the 1662 page it says 400,000?Tourskin 18:14, 17 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Considering the discrepency, I recommend pulling this item off the main page. We can put it back when this is resolved. --199.71.174.100 20:02, 17 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Edit

{{editprotected}} to add that it is also National Edge Day Jordan Payne ^T /_C 23:14, 16 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

That article has no inline citations, needs a thorough copyedit and is barely beyond a stub in terms of coverage of the topic. No dice I'm afraid. Skomorokh, barbarian 02:15, 17 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Without sufficient citations and references, and saying that it is an "unofficial" holiday, makes it hard to judge how this observance has some international significance or interest. Zzyzx11 (talk) 04:36, 17 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Suggested October 17 events

Suggested October 17 events from BBC's on this day (article quality in parentheses):

1968 – Black American athletes make a silent protest against racism at the Olympics (Class C)
I could not find a suitable article or section for the 1978 reduction of the Grey seal cull in Scotland. (quality unrated)
1980 – As part of the Holy See – United Kingdom relations a British monarch makes the first state visit to the Vatican (Start)
1989 – An earthquake hits San Francisco (Class B)
2000 – Although only four people died in the Hatfield rail crash, it exposed major shortcomings of the United Kingdom national railway infrastructure (Start)

-84user (talk) 01:35, 16 October 2010 (UTC) Meanwhile I added the 1968 and 1980 events to October 17#Events. -84user (talk) 01:45, 16 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

2012 notes

New articles (unused): Dmitry Kholodov (another article about the assassination a Russian journalist was just on October 7)
Omitted: Mary MacKillop
Included: Sobibor extermination camp (first appearance)
Repeats: Al Capone (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total); Sellafield (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total); Lake Burley Griffin (3rd consecutive appearance, 3 total); 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake (4th consecutive appearance, 6 total)

There are, alas, not very many events on this day in general, and most of the candidates are ineligible. —howcheng {chat} 15:59, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

2013 notes

Deleted: Lufthansa Flight 181 (appears on October 13)
Omitted: Al Capone; Lake Burley Griffin; 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake
Included: Kepler's Supernova (8th appearance, last in 2010; taken from Ineligible even though it's short because we don't have very many candidates here); Yoshihiro Hattori (first appearance); Mary MacKillop (2nd appearance, last in 2011)
Repeats: Sobibor extermination camp (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total; 70th anniversary); Sellafield (3rd consecutive appearance, 3 total)

—howcheng {chat} 03:46, 16 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

2014 notes

Omitted: Sobibór extermination camp; Sellafield; Death of Yoshihiro Hattori (ineligible—maintenance); Mary MacKillop
Included: Postage stamps and postal history of Poland (first appearance); Lake Burley Griffin(4th appearance, last in 2012; 50th anniversary); 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake (7th appearance, last in 2012; 25th anniversary); Dmitry Kholodov (first appearance; 20th anniversary)
Repeats: Kepler's Supernova (2nd consecutive appearance, 9 total)

—howcheng {chat} 07:17, 16 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

2015 notes

New articles (unused): Burma Railway
Omitted: Lake Burley Griffin; 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake; Dmitry Kholodov
Included: Al Capone (3rd appearance, last in 2012); Willi Münzenberg (first appearance; 75th anniversary); Mary MacKillop (3rd appearance, last in 2013)
Repeats: Postage stamps and postal history of Poland (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total); Kepler's Supernova (3rd consecutive appearance; 10 total)

—howcheng {chat} 17:41, 14 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

2016 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Sellafield (maintenance)
Omitted: Al Capone; Willi Münzenberg; Mary MacKillop
Included: Burma Railway (first appearance); 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake (8th appearance, last in 2014); Rehavam Ze'evi (first appearance)
Repeats: Postage stamps and postal history of Poland (3rd consecutive appearance, 3 total); Kepler's Supernova (4th consecutive appearance; 11 total)

—howcheng {chat} 01:09, 16 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]

2017 notes

Deleted: Sobibór extermination camp (moved to October 14)
Omitted: Postage stamps and postal history of Poland; Kepler's Supernova; Burma Railway (ineligible–maintenance); 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake (ineligible–maintenance)
Included: Battle of Neville's Cross (5th appearance, last in 2009; rescued from Ineligible); List of regicides of Charles I (first appearance); Al Capone (4th appearance, last in 2015); Lake Burley Griffin (5th appearance, last in 2014); Hatfield rail crash/Railtrack (both: first appearance); Beatrice of Falkenburg (first appearance); Herbert Howells (first appearance; 125th anniversary); Malak Hifni Nasif (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 15:47, 16 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

2018 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Willi Münzenberg (maintenance); Dmitry Kholodov (maintenance); Mary MacKillop (maintenance)
Omitted: Battle of Neville's Cross; List of regicides of Charles I; Al Capone; Hatfield rail crash; Beatrice of Falkenburg; Herbert Howells; Malak Hifni Nasif (ineligible—maintenance)
Included: Kepler's Supernova (12th appearance, last in 2016); Death of Yoshihiro Hattori (2nd appearance, last in 2013; rescued from Ineligible); Assassination of Rehavam Ze'evi (first appearance); Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke (first appearance); Childe Hassam (first appearance); Chuka Umunna (first appearance)
Repeats: Lake Burley Griffin (2nd consecutive appearance, 6 total)

—howcheng {chat} 17:16, 17 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]

2019 notes

Deleted: Dunkirk (moved to October 27)
Moved to Ineligible: Battle of Neville's Cross (TFA for 2019); Al Capone (maintenance)
Rescued from Ineligible (unused): The Open Championship
New articles (unused): Haritina Korotkevich; Natalia Goncharova
Omitted: Lake Burley Griffin; Shooting of Yoshihiro Hattori; Assassination of Rehavam Ze'evi
Included: Saratoga campaign (first appearance); London Beer Flood (first appearance); Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence (first appearance)
Repeats: Kepler's Supernova (2nd consecutive appearance, 13 total); Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total); Childe Hassam (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total); Chuka Umunna (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

I could have sworn I had changed the births/deaths, but apparently not. —howcheng {chat} 16:10, 18 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

2020 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Postage stamps and postal history of Poland (maintenance); Natalia Goncharova (maintenance)
Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Battle of Neville's Cross
Omitted: Kepler's Supernova; Saratoga campaign (ineligible—POTD for 2020); Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence; Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke; Childe Hassam; Chuka Umunna
Included: The Open Championship (5th appearance, last in 2010); Lake Burley Griffin (7th appearance, last in 2018); Hatfield rail crash/Railtrack (both: 2nd appearance, last in 2017); John Scott (died 1485) (first appearance); Haritina Korotkevich (first appearance)
Repeats: London Beer Flood (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 16:58, 19 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

2021 notes

Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Saratoga campaign
Omitted: London Beer Flood; The Open Championship; Lake Burley Griffin; Hatfield rail crash; John Scott (died 1485); Haritina Korotkevich
Included: Battle of Neville's Cross (6th appearance, last in 2017); List of regicides of Charles I (2nd appearance, last in 2017); Al Capone (5th appearance, last in 2017; rescued from Ineligible); 17 October affair (first appearance); Rehavam Ze'evi/Assassination of Rehavam Ze'evi (RZ: first appearance; Assassination: 2nd, last in 2018); Jupiter Hammon (first appearance); Raffaele Bendandi (first appearance); Micheline Ostermeyer (first appearance; 20th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 16:06, 18 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]