Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/October 8

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This is the talk page for making suggestions or discussing improvements to Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/October 8.

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 8 article, see Talk:October 8 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 8, 2025
Wikipedia:Today's featured article/October 8, 2025 create – talk – watch
Picture of the day for October 8, 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 7 * Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/October 9 →

"(pictured)"

moved from WP:ERROR, hopefully it can be settled by next year... --Floquenbeam (talk) 13:55, 9 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure whether this is an error or not, but I was curious as to whether the illustration of the fire in Chicago should be labeled as such. Is it policy to call images of this nature pictures when they are mentioned in the OTD blurb (or anywhere else for that matter)? Maybe I am just being pedantic, or perhaps this is a picture of the illustration :\ 04redsox07 (talk) 12:50, 8 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

This refers to Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/October 8 (now off the Main page). I see what you mean, I am not sure what the policy is but changing "(pictured)" to "(illustrated)" would be fine by me. Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/October 8 is now unprotected so anyone can make the change so the error doesn't happen next year.--Commander Keane (talk) 01:53, 9 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

end copy/paste from WP:ERRORS

2012 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Constitution of San Marino (maintenance); Great Chicago Fire/Peshtigo Fire (Chicago fire: maintenance)
Omitted: Council of Chalcedon; Demetrius Zvonimir of Croatia (ineligible—maintenance); Gustav Mahler; Che Guevara; Linate Airport disaster
Included: Battle of Perryville (first appearance; 150th anniversary); Edmonton/Prince Albert, Saskatchewan (first appearance for both; rescued from Ineligible); Indian Air Force (2nd appearance, last in 2009); Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash (first appearance); Oslo Airport, Gardermoen/Oslo Airport, Fornebu (first appearance for both)

—howcheng {chat} 06:16, 7 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

2013 notes

Omitted: Battle of Perryville; Edmonton/Prince Albert, Saskatchewan; Indian Air Force; Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash; Oslo Airport, Gardermoen/Oslo Airport, Fornebu
Included: Demetrius Zvonimir of Croatia (2nd appearance, last in 2011); Great Chicago Fire/Peshtigo Fire (Chicago: 7th appearance, last in 2010; Peshtigo: 5th appearance, last in 2007; rescued from Ineligible)); Alvin C. York (3rd appearance, last in 2010); Che Guevara (7th appearance, last in 2011); Linate Airport disaster (2nd appearance, last in 2011)

—howcheng {chat} 05:15, 8 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

2014 notes

Omitted: Demetrius Zvonimir of Croatia; Great Chicago Fire/Peshtigo Fire; Alvin C. York; Che Guevara; Linate Airport disaster
Included: Council of Chalcedon (7th appearance, last in 2011); Battle of Perryville (2nd appearance, last in 2012); Edmonton/Prince Albert, Saskatchewan (both: 2nd appearance, last in 2012); Days of Rage (first appearance); Oslo Airport, Gardermoen/Oslo Airport, Fornebu (both: 2nd appearance, last in 2012)

—howcheng {chat} 05:42, 8 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

2015 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Linate Airport disaster (maintenance)
Omitted: Council of Chalcedon; Battle of Perryville; Edmonton/Prince Albert, Saskatchewan; Days of Rage; Oslo Airport, Gardermoen/Oslo Airport, Fornebu (Gardermoen: ineligible—maintenance)
Included: Isabella of Angoulême (first appearance); Great Chicago Fire/Peshtigo Fire (Chicago: 8th appearance; Peshtigo: 6th appearance; both last in 2013); Gustav Mahler (2nd appearance, last in 2011); Indian Air Force (3rd appearance, last in 2012); Spiegel scandal (3rd appearance, last in 2006; rescued from Ineligible)

—howcheng {chat} 18:24, 6 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

2016 notes

Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Oslo Airport, Gardermoen/Oslo Airport, Fornebu
Omitted: Isabella of Angoulême; Great Chicago Fire/Peshtigo Fire; Indian Air Force; Spiegel scandal
Included: Council of Chalcedon (8th appearance, last in 2014); Demetrius Zvonimir of Croatia (3rd appearance, last in 2013); Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash (2nd appearance, last in 2012); United States Department of Homeland Security (first appearance)
Repeats: Gustav Mahler (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total)

—howcheng {chat} 17:00, 6 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Two points

@Howcheng: Firstly, I'd like to know why this blurb was removed and then please note that Battle of Perryville has a maintenance tag. --Mhhossein ^talk 16:49, 7 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Oops, I missed that one. There was an edit conflict because I was in the middle of doing the update when you did your changes, and I saw that you had taken out the same articles as I did, so I didn't realize there was a new article too. However, I don't think this article is suitable for OTD; West African Ebola virus epidemic is better (GA and far more people were affected). As for Perryville, someone has added the references. —howcheng {chat} 02:32, 8 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

2017 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Isabella of Angoulême (maintenance); Edmonton/Prince Albert, Saskatchewan (Prince Albert: maintenance); Indian Air Force (maintenance)
Omitted: Council of Chalcedon (ineligible—maintenance); Demetrius Zvonimir of Croatia (ineligible—maintenance); United States Department of Homeland Security
Included: Battle of Perryville (3rd appearance, last in 2014); Che Guevara (8th appearance, last in 2013; 50th anniversary); Oslo Airport, Gardermoen/Oslo Airport, Fornebu (both: 3rd appearance, last in 2014; rescued from Ineligible); William John Swainson (first appearance); Ellen Wilkinson (first appearance); Wendell Willkie (first appearance)
Repeats: Gustav Mahler (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total); Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total)

—howcheng {chat} 02:57, 8 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

2018 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Great Chicago Fire/Peshtigo Fire (Chicago: maintenance); United States Department of Homeland Security (maintenance)
New articles (ineligible): Mark Oliphant (TFA for 2018)
Omitted: Battle of Perryville; Che Guevara; Oslo Airport, Gardermoen/Oslo Airport, Fornebu (Gardermoen: ineligible—maintenance); William John Swainson; Ellen Wilkinson
Included: Alvin York (4th appearance, last in 2013; 100th anniversary); Spiegel affair (4th appearance, last in 2015); Days of Rage (2nd appearance, last in 2014); Harriet Taylor Mill (first appearance); Kiichi Miyazawa (first appearance)
Repeats: Gustav Mahler (4th consecutive appearance, 5 total); Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash (3rd consecutive appearance, 4 total); Wendell Willkie (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 16:09, 8 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]

2019 notes

New articles (unused): Felipe Camiroaga
Omitted: Gustav Mahler (deleted—date not certain; moved to July 7, his birthday); Alvin York; Spiegel affair; Harriet Taylor Mill; Wendell Willkie
Included: Battle of Perryville (4th appearance, last in 2017); Great Chicago Fire/Peshtigo fire (Chicago: 9th appearance; Peshtigo: 7th; both last in 2015; rescued from Ineligible); Che Guevara (2nd appearance, last in 2017); John Hancock (first appearance); Mark Oliphant (first appearance)
Repeats: Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash (4th consecutive appearance, 5 total); Days of Rage (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total; 50th anniversary); Kiichi Miyazawa (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total; 100th birthday)

—howcheng {chat} 16:32, 9 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Too many US items

Three out of the five entries in the staging area relate to the US. This is way too US-heavy. 81.140.214.240 (talk) 15:11, 19 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The relative mix of items in the staging area is unimportant because they don't appear on the Main Page. However, I invite you to find more eligible articles we can include here. Please read the rules the first. Happy editing and thank you in advance for your contributions! —howcheng {chat} 22:27, 4 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

2020 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Felipe Camiroaga (maintenance)
New articles (unused): John Hay
Omitted: Independence Day (Croatia) (deleted—moved to June 25); Great Chicago Fire/Peshtigo fire; Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash; Che Guevara; Days of Rage; John Hancock; Mark Oliphant; Kiichi Miyazawa
Included: Demetrius Zvonimir of Croatia (4th appearance, last in 2016; rescued from Ineligible); Don Larsen (first appearance); 2019 Baku protests (first appearance); Mary Beale (first appearance); Franklin Pierce (first appearance); Aya Hirano (first appearance)
Repeats: Battle of Perryville (2nd consecutive appearance, 5 total)

—howcheng {chat} 16:11, 9 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

2021 notes

Omitted: Battle of Perryville; Don Larsen; Mary Beale; Franklin Pierce; Aya Hirano
Included: Great Chicago Fire/Peshtigo fire (Chicago: 10th appearance; Peshtigo: 8th; both last in 2019); Edmonton (3rd appearance, last in 2014; rescued from Ineligible; blurb also previously featured Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, which remains ineligible); Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash (6th appearance, last in 2019); Pilgrim I (archbishop of Salzburg) (first appearance); John Hay (first appearance); Varsha Bhosle (first appearance)
Repeats: Demetrius Zvonimir of Croatia (2nd consecutive appearance, 5 total); 2019 Baku protests (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 02:25, 10 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

2022 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Demetrius Zvonimir of Croatia (maintenance); Edmonton (maintenance)
New articles (unused): Edward Wright (mathematician); Augustus Buchel
Omitted: Demetrius Zvonimir of Croatia; Great Chicago Fire/Peshtigo fire; Edmonton; 2019 Baku protests; Pilgrim I (archbishop of Salzburg); John Hay; Varsha Bhosle
Included: Battle of Perryville (6th appearance, last in 2020); Che Guevara (10th appearance, last in 2019); Oslo Airport, Fornebu (4th appearance, last in 2017, rescued from Ineligible); Linate Airport disaster (3rd appearance, last in 2013, rescued from ineligible); Mark Oliphant (2nd appearance, last in 2019); Ellen Wilkinson (2nd appearance, last in 2017); Aya Hirano (2nd appearance, last in 2020)
Repeats: Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash (2nd consecutive appearance, 7 total)

Heart ^(talk) 04:15, 10 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]