Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/February 11

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This is the talk page for making suggestions or discussing improvements to Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/February 11.

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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 February 11 article, see Talk:February 11 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 February 11, 2025
Wikipedia:Today's featured article/February 11, 2025 create – talk – watch
Picture of the day for February 11, 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/February 10 * Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/February 12 →

Nelson Mandela[edit]

As a nobel peace prize winner for his movement against apartheid, and as the first black President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela should be mentioned here. After spending 27 years in prison for his spearheading against the apartheid system, he was released from Victor Verster Prison in Paarl on Feburary 11, 1990. I believe this should be a selected anniversary. 99.249.177.21 (talk) 21:07, 10 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

2012 notes[edit]

Omitted: Emperor Jimmu, Swaminarayan, R.U.R., Iranian Revolution (this is still listed in the observances), 2008 East Timorese assassination attempts
Included: Battle of Al Mansurah (first appearance), University College London (first appearance), Lourdes apparitions (first appearance; blurb previously featured Bernadette Soubirous, which is ineligible), Friedrich Ebert (first appearance)
Repeats: Nelson Mandela (10th consecutive appearance, 10 total; article also used to appear on June 12)

—howcheng {chat} 07:51, 10 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Addendum: R.U.R. added later for balance. —howcheng {chat} 08:55, 11 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

2013 notes[edit]

Omitted: Battle of Al Mansurah (ineligible—maintenance); University College London; Friedrich Ebert; Nelson Mandela
Included: Swaminarayan (2nd appearance, last in 2011); Lateran Treaty (2nd appearance, last in 2012; moved from June 7); 2008 East Timorese assassination attempts (2nd appearance, last in 2011)
Repeats: Lourdes apparitions (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total); R.U.R. (3rd consecutive appearance, 3 total; 75th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 05:54, 11 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

2014 notes[edit]

Omitted: Swaminarayan; Lourdes apparitions; R.U.R.; 2008 East Timorese assassination attempts
Included: Emperor Jimmu (4th appearance, last in 2011); University College London (2nd appearance, last in 2012); Memphis Sanitation Strike (first appearance); Nelson Mandela (11th appearance, last in 2012)
Repeats: Lateran Treaty (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total)

—howcheng {chat} 07:27, 10 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

2015 notes[edit]

Omitted: Emperor Jimmu; University College London (ineligible—maintenance); Lateran Treaty; Memphis Sanitation Strike;
Included: Swaminarayan (3rd appearance, last in 2013); Lourdes apparitions (3rd appearance, last in 2013); Friedrich Ebert (5th appearance, last in 2012); 2008 East Timorese assassination attempts (3rd appearance, last in 2013)
Repeats: Nelson Mandela (2nd consecutive appearance, 12 total)

—howcheng {chat} 09:03, 9 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Iranian Revolution[edit]

@Howcheng: On 11 February 1979, Iranian Revolution succeed against Shah dynasty. This day is a turning point in history of Iran. Thanks Saff V. (talk) 12:05, 30 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

2016 notes[edit]

Omitted: Swaminarayan; Friedrich Ebert; 2008 East Timorese assassination attempts
Included: Emperor Jimmu (5th appearance, last in 2014); Lateran Treaty (4th appearance, last in 2014); Iranian Revolution (8th appearance, last in 2013; rescued from Ineligible)
Repeats: Lourdes apparitions (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total); Nelson Mandela (3rd consecutive appearance, 13 total)

—howcheng {chat} 07:21, 9 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

2017 notes[edit]

Rescued from Ineligible (unused): University College London
Omitted: National Foundation Day (ineligible—stub); Swaminarayan; Lourdes apparitions; Lateran Treaty; Iranian Revolution (still included as observance); Nelson Mandela
Included: Carnival tragedy of 1823 (first appearance); Friedrich Ebert (6th appearance, last in 2015); R.U.R. (4th appearance, last in 2013); Memphis sanitation strike (2nd appearance, last in 2014)
Repeats: Emperor Jimmu (2nd consecutive appearance, 6 total)

—howcheng {chat} 09:45, 11 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

2018 notes[edit]

Moved to Ineligible: Lourdes apparitions (maintenance); Lateran Treaty (maintenance)
New articles (ineligible): Van Diemen's Land v Port Phillip, 1851 (TFA for 2018)
New articles (unused): Anna Kournikova (computer virus); Murder of Özgecan Aslan; Jennifer Aniston
Omitted: Emperor Jimmu; Carnival tragedy of 1823; Friedrich Ebert
Included: Britannicus (first appearance; rescued from Ineligible); University College London (3rd appearance, last in 2014); 2008 East Timorese assassination attempts (4th appearance, last in 2015; 10th anniversary); Heraclius (4th appearance, last in 2017; normally appears on October 5); Ellen Broe (first appearance); Kelly Rowland (first appearance)
Repeats: R.U.R. (2nd consecutive appearance, 5 total; 80th anniversary); Memphis sanitation strike (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total; 50th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 18:33, 2 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@Howcheng: As you mentioned, it is allowed to nominate frothy university of Iranian Revolution. Am I right?Saff V. (talk) 08:34, 5 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@Saff V.: Yes, and it is included in the list for this year, so that is why I took it out from the holiday list. —howcheng {chat} 16:51, 5 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

2019 notes[edit]

Moved to Ineligible: Swaminarayan (maintenance)
Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization
New articles (unused): Sylvia Plath; Whitney Houston
Omitted: Britannicus; University College London; R.U.R.; Memphis sanitation strike; 2008 East Timorese assassination attempts; Heraclius (deleted—moved back to normal date); Ellen Broe; Kelly Rowland
Included: La fille du régiment (first appearance); Van Diemen's Land v Port Phillip, 1851 (first appearance; rescued from Ineligible); Friedrich Ebert (7th appearance, last in 2017; 100th anniversary); Iranian Revolution (10th appearance, last in 2017; 40th anniversary); Murder of Özgecan Aslan (first appearance); René Descartes (first appearance); Keith Holyoake (first appearance); Jennifer Aniston (first appearance; 50th birthday)

—howcheng {chat} 17:18, 11 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

2020 notes[edit]

Omitted: La fille du régiment; Van Diemen's Land v Port Phillip, 1851; Friedrich Ebert; Iranian Revolution; Murder of Özgecan Aslan; René Descartes; Keith Holyoake; Jennifer Aniston
Included: Anniversary of the Islamic Revolution (first appearance); National Foundation Day (rescued from Ineligible); Carnival tragedy of 1823 (2nd appearance, last in 2017); Memphis sanitation strike (4th appearance, last in 2018); Nelson Mandela (15th appearance, last in 2019; also appeared on July 18, his birthday); Anna Kournikova (computer virus) (first appearance); Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah (first appearance); Helene Kröller-Müller (first appearance); Sylvia Plath (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 19:38, 12 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

2021 notes[edit]

Moved to Ineligible: Emperor Jimmu (maintenance)
New articles (ineligible): Bernard A. Maguire (TFA for 2021)
Omitted: Carnival tragedy of 1823; Memphis sanitation strike (deleted—moved to February 12); Nelson Mandela; Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah; Helene Kröller-Müller; Sylvia Plath
Included: University College London (4th appearance, last in 2018); Van Diemen's Land v Port Phillip, 1851 (2nd appearance, last in 2019); R.U.R. (6th appearance, last in 2018); Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (2nd appearance, last in 2010; 30th anniversary); William Shenstone (first appearance); Louis Bouveault (first appearance); Kelly Rowland (2nd appearance, last in 2018; 40th birthday)
Repeats: Anna Kournikova (computer virus) (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total; 20th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 08:10, 13 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

2022 notes[edit]

Moved to Ineligible: Britannicus (date not certain)
New articles (unused): Bernard A. Maguire; Ellen Day Hale; Thomas Edison
Omitted: University College London; Van Diemen's Land v Port Phillip, 1851; R.U.R.; Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization; Anna Kournikova (computer virus); William Shenstone; Louis Bouveault; Kelly Rowland
Included: Spanish colonization attempt of the Strait of Magellan (first appearance); Carnival tragedy of 1823 (3rd appearance, last in 2020); La fille du régiment (2nd appearance, last in 2019); Friedrich Ebert (8th appearance, last in 2019); 2008 East Timorese assassination attempts (5th appearance, last in 2018); René Descartes (2nd appearance, last in 2019); Elizabeth Siddal (first appearance); Whitney Houston (first appearance; 10th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 08:10, 12 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]