Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/August 17

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This is the talk page for making suggestions or discussing improvements to Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/August 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 August 17 article, see Talk:August 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.

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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 August 17, 2024

A Pan Am Boeing 707-121, similar to the one destroyed in the accident

On December 8, 1963, Pan Am Flight 214 crashed near Elkton, Maryland, killing all 81 crew and passengers. Flight 214 had originated at Isla Verde International Airport in San Juan, flying to Friendship Airport near Baltimore, and then took off for Philadelphia. The crash was Pan Am's first fatal accident with the Boeing 707-121, which it had introduced to its fleet five years earlier. An investigation by the Civil Aeronautics Board concluded that the probable cause of the crash was a lightning strike that had ignited fuel vapors in one of the aircraft's fuel tanks, causing an explosion that destroyed the left wing. The exact manner of ignition was never determined, but the investigation increased awareness of how lightning can damage aircraft, leading to new regulations. The crash also led to research into the safety of several types of aviation fuel and into ways of changing the design of aircraft fuel systems to make them safer in the event of lightning strikes. (Full article...)

Recently featured:

view – talk – edit – history – watch

Picture of the day for August 17, 2024

A katabatic wind is a drainage wind, a wind that carries high-density air from a higher elevation down a slope under the force of gravity. Such winds are sometimes called fall winds and the spelling catabatic winds is also used. Katabatic winds can rush down elevated slopes at hurricane speeds, but most are not that intense and many are around 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph).

Photograph credit: ZeevStein

Recently featured:

← Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/August 16 * Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/August 18 →

well i just registered on here .... not sure if this is going to help me but here i go...... I went to an estate sale and was GIVEN this painting. It is an original and has Folton on it...I understand that he painted as well but I am not sure if this is a "real" Fulton. I have looked up a couple of thing w/ his signature and both look diffrent from eachother and on this painting it is in Print not cursive. if anyone has any information to help me find out if i have the real thing please email me at lilmisstx123@yahoo.com i can send you pix of this painting if it may help you to help me find out about the history of this mistirious painting i have.

Thank you, Melissa

2012 notes

Deleted: Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (moved to July 5)
Omitted: Battle of the Gates of Trajan; Leo Frank; Indonesian National Revolution; Radcliffe Line; Michael Phelps
Included: North River Steamboat (first appearance); Animal Farm (first appearance); Hill 303 massacre (first appearance); Kind of Blue (3rd appearance, last in 2010; rescued from Ineligible); 2009 Sayano-Shushenskaya hydro accident (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 06:12, 16 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

2013 notes

Omitted: Animal Farm; Hill 303 massacre; Kind of Blue; Lewinsky scandal; 2009 Sayano-Shushenskaya hydro accident
Included: Battle of the Gates of Trajan (4th appearance, last in 2011); Indonesian National Revolution (5th appearance, last in 2011); Death of Azaria Chamberlain (first appearance); 1999 İzmit earthquake (4th appearance, last in 2010; rescued from Ineligible)
Repeats: North River Steamboat (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 06:37, 16 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

2014 notes

Omitted: Battle of the Gates of Trajan; Indonesian National Revolution; Death of Azaria Chamberlain; 1999 İzmit earthquake
Included: Operation Hydra (1943) (first appearance); Radcliffe Line (2nd appearance, last in 2011); Arktika (icebreaker) (first appearance); 2009 Sayano–Shushenskaya power station accident (2nd appearance, last in 2012)
Repeats: North River Steamboat (3rd consecutive appearance, 3 total)

—howcheng {chat} 08:27, 16 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

2015 notes

Omitted: North River Steamboat; Radcliffe Line; Operation Hydra (1943); Arktika (icebreaker); 2009 Sayano–Shushenskaya power station accident
Included: Scottish Reformation (first appearance); Battle of Halmstad (first appearance); Leo Frank (4th appearance, last in 2011; 100th anniversary); Indonesian National Revolution (6th appearance, last in 2013; 70th anniversary); Lewinsky scandal (7th appearance, last in 2012)

—howcheng {chat} 19:28, 15 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

2016 notes

New articles (ineligible): Grand Duchy of Baden/History of Baden-Württemberg (maintenance)
Moved to Ineligible: North River Steamboat (maintenance)
Omitted: Gabon (ineligible—maintenance); Battle of Halmstad; Leo Frank; Indonesian National Revolution; Lewinsky scandal
Included: Battle of the Gates of Trajan (5th appearance, last in 2013); Operation Hydra (1943) (2nd appearance, last in 2014); Death of Azaria Chamberlain (2nd appearance, last in 2013); Michael Phelps (2nd appearance, last in 2011)
Repeats: Scottish Reformation (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 05:10, 17 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]

2017 notes

New articles (unused): 1915 Galveston hurricane; Quebec Conference, 1943; 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake; Strathfield massacre
Omitted: Scottish Reformation; Operation Hydra (1943); Death of Azaria Chamberlain (ineligible—maintenance); Michael Phelps
Included: Battle of Halmstad (2nd appearance, last in 2015); Pike Place Market (first appearance); Radcliffe Line (3rd appearance, last in 2014; 70th anniversary); Arktika (1972 icebreaker) (2nd appearance, last in 2014; 40th anniversary); Nitta Yoshisada (first appearance); Davy Crockett (first appearance); Tarja Turunen (first appearance)
Repeats: Battle of the Gates of Trajan (2nd consecutive appearance, 6 total)

—howcheng {chat} 04:47, 17 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

2018 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Operation Hydra (1943) (maintenance); Killing of Peter Fechter (maintenance); Strathfield massacre (maintenance); Clinton–Lewinsky scandal (appears on January 26)
Omitted: Battle of the Gates of Trajan; Battle of Halmstad; Pike Place Market; Radcliffe Line (ineligible—maintenance); Arktika (1972 icebreaker); Nitta Yoshisada (ineligible—maintenance); Davy Crockett; Tarja Turunen
Included: Battle of Verneuil (first appearance); Scottish Reformation (3rd appearance, last in 2016); Treaty of Bucharest (1916) (first appearance); Animal Farm (2nd appearance, last in 2012); Michael Phelps (3rd appearance, last in 2016; 10th anniversary); Matthew Boulton (2nd appearance, last in 2017; moved from August 18); Gene Stratton-Porter (first appearance); Korrie Layun Rampan (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 16:45, 17 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

2019 notes

New articles (unused): Leslie Groves; Maureen O'Hara; Margaret Hamilton (software engineer); Thierry Henry; Paige (wrestler)
Omitted: Battle of Verneuil; Scottish Reformation; Treaty of Bucharest (1916); Animal Farm; Michael Phelps; Gene Stratton-Porter; Korrie Layun Rampan
Included: Battle of the Gates of Trajan (7th appearance, last in 2017); Kind of Blue (2nd appearance, last in 2012; 60th anniversary); Hurricane Camille (4th appearance, last in 2009; 50th anniversary); 1999 İzmit earthquake (5th appearance, last in 2013; 20th anniversary); 2009 Sayano-Shushenskaya power station accident (3rd appearance, last in 2014; 10th anniversary); Li Shouzhen (first appearance); Dawn Mabalon (first appearance)
Repeats: Matthew Boulton (3rd consecutive appearance, 3 total)

—howcheng {chat} 16:08, 23 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]

2020 notes

Moved to Ineligible: 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake (maintenance); Davy Crockett (maintenance)
Omitted: Battle of the Gates of Trajan; Kind of Blue; Hurricane Camille; 1999 İzmit earthquake; 2009 Sayano-Shushenskaya power station accident; Li Shouzhen; Matthew Boulton; Dawn Mabalon
Included: Scottish Reformation (4th appearance, last in 2018); Treaty of Bucharest (1916) (2nd appearance, last in 2018); Indonesian National Revolution (7th appearance, last in 2015; 75th anniversary); Arktika (1972 icebreaker) (3rd appearance, last in 2017); Katharina von Zimmern (first appearance); Maureen O'Hara (first appearance; 100th birthday); Tarja Turunen (2nd appearance, last in 2017)

—howcheng {chat} 03:31, 19 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

2021 notes

Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Battle of Stallupönen
New articles (unused): Robert De Niro
Omitted: Scottish Reformation; Treaty of Bucharest (1916); Indonesian National Revolution; Arktika (1972 icebreaker); Katharina von Zimmern; Maureen O'Hara; Tarja Turunen
Included: Battle of Verneuil (2nd appearance, last in 2018); Battle of Halmstad (3rd appearance, last in 2017); Pike Place Market (2nd appearance, last in 2017); Sayano-Shushenskaya power station accident (4th appearance, last in 2009); Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen (first appearance); Leslie Groves (first appearance; 125th birthday); Thierry Henry (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 07:27, 18 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

2022 notes

Omitted: Battle of Verneuil; Battle of Halmstad; Pike Place Market; Sayano-Shushenskaya power station accident; Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen; Thierry Henry
Included: Battle of the Gates of Trajan (8th appearance, last in 2019); Scottish Reformation (5th appearance, last in 2020); Indonesian National Revolution (8th appearance, last in 2020); Kind of Blue (5th appearance, last in 2019); Michael Phelps (4th appearance, last in 2018); Matthew Boulton (4th appearance, last in 2019); Maureen O'Hara (2nd appearance, last in 2020)
Repeats: Leslie Groves (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 16:20, 22 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

2023 rationale

Lots of tough borderline entries with questionable references that need to be looked
Two were removed for reference overhaul or content issues.
Most of the entries are American, so to balance this, all births and deaths are non American.
No female entries so two of the births and deaths are female.
First time adding a picture, it is in the public domain and is not fair use. Caption used is welcome to be modified.

Heart ^(talk) 04:34, 4 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]