Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/October 31

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This is the talk page for making suggestions or discussing improvements to Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/October 31.

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 31 article, see Talk:October 31 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 31, 2025
Wikipedia:Today's featured article/October 31, 2025 create – talk – watch
Picture of the day for October 31, 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 30 * Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/November 1 →

Samhain

samhain is not a protestant festival. its irish. this statement is an insult to all irish citizen's. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sagaris1 (talk • contribs) 15:16, 31 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Neither is Halloween. Don't read too much into the commas, Sagaris1. --199.71.174.100 18:03, 31 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Mt. Rushmore

Adding on behalf of 216.125.163.51 who posted this on Main Page General discussion: It says that, "Gutzon Borglum and 400 workers completed...", Gutzon Borglum died on March 6 of 1941, he couldn't have completed it on Halloween in 1941." Puchiko (Talk-email) 22:25, 31 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Right. According to Mount Rushmore, "Borglum died from an embolism in March 1941. His son, Lincoln Borglum, continued the project, but insufficient funding forced the carving to end. Originally, it was planned that the figures would be carved from head to waist." So it's also a stretch to call it "completed". So how do we say all that? Art LaPella 23:19, 31 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Halloween 2009

In light of Wikipedia:Did you know/Halloween 2009, Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/requests#Halloween and Template:POTD/2009-10-31, I kinda feel obligated to rewrite the events here so the page has sort of a Halloween theme too. Zzyzx11 (talk) 06:28, 26 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

1941 – The images of four deceased former U.S. Presidents became clearly visible for the first time on the face of Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.

...for example. Zzyzx11 (talk) 06:57, 26 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Not sure if it works that well for the Nevada statehood. It just comes off as somewhat unprofessional, as if someone was pushing some sort of Puritanical anti-Nevada agenda or something (e.g. "devilish vices"). Kelvinc (talk) 00:43, 31 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, it doesn't seem to work after all. Zzyzx11 (talk) 02:00, 31 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Don't worry, ITN doesn't have a Halloween theme either. :) --can dle •wicke 02:40, 31 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

2012 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Leiden University Library (maintenance)
Omitted: Nevada (ineligible—maintenance); USS Reuben James (DD-245) (ineligible—maintenance); 1973 Mountjoy Prison helicopter escape; EgyptAir Flight 990 (ineligible—maintenance)
Included: Agustín de Iturbide (first appearance); Indianapolis Streetcar Strike of 1913 (first appearance); Mount Rushmore (6th appearance, last in 2008); Indira Gandhi (6th appearance, last in 2008; rescued from Ineligible)
Repeats: Martin Luther (4th consecutive appearance, 11 total)

—howcheng {chat} 11:27, 30 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

2013 notes

Deleted: Invasion of Waikato (moved to July 17)
Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Battle of Beersheba (1917); EgyptAir Flight 990
Omitted: Martin Luther; Mount Rushmore; 1984 anti-Sikh riots
Included: Romulus Augustulus (7th appearance, last in 2011; moved from September 4); Mountjoy Prison helicopter escape (4th appearance, last in 2011; 40th anniversary); 7 Billion Actions (first appearance)
Repeats: Agustín de Iturbide (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total); Indianapolis Streetcar Strike of 1913 (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total; 100th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 06:20, 30 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

2014 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Mount Rushmore (maintenance)
Omitted: Agustín de Iturbide; Indianapolis Streetcar Strike of 1913; Mountjoy Prison helicopter escape; 7 Billion Actions
Included: Martin Luther/The Ninety-Five Theses (Luther: 12th appearance, last in 2012; Theses: 5th appearance, last in 2007; rescued from Ineligible); Indira Gandhi/1984 anti-Sikh riots (Gandhi: 7th appearance; Riots: 2nd appearance; both last in 2012; 30th anniversary); EgyptAir Flight 990 (first appearance)
Repeats: Romulus Augustulus (2nd consecutive appearance, 8 total)

2015 notes

Rescued from Ineligible (unused): USS Reuben James (DD-245)
Omitted: Agustín de Iturbide; Assassination of Indira Gandhi/1984 anti-Sikh riots; EgyptAir Flight 990
Included: Battle of Beersheba (1917) (first appearance); Mountjoy Prison helicopter escape (5th appearance, last in 2013); 7 Billion Actions (2nd appearance, last in 2013)
Repeats: Romulus Augustulus (3rd consecutive appearance, 9 total); The Ninety-Five Theses (2nd consecutive appearance, 6 total; blurb previously also featured Martin Luther, which is now ineligible)

—howcheng {chat} 11:37, 29 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

2016 notes

New articles (unused): Metrojet Flight 9268
Omitted: Romulus Augustulus (ineligible—maintenance); Battle of Beersheba (1917); Mountjoy Prison helicopter escape; 7 Billion Actions
Included: Agustín de Iturbide (4th appearance, last in 2014); Benito Mussolini (6th appearance, last in 2007; had been deleted from page); USS Reuben James (DD-245) (4th appearance, last in 2011; 75th anniversary)
Repeats: Ninety-five Theses (3rd consecutive appearance, 7 total)

—howcheng {chat} 04:41, 29 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

2017 notes

Moved to Ineligible: 7 Billion Actions (maintenance); EgyptAir Flight 990 (maintenance)
Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Mount Rushmore
Omitted: Martin Luther/Ninety-five Theses (ineligible—Theses is TFA for 2017); Agustín de Iturbide (ineligible—maintenance); Benito Mussolini (ineligible—maintenance); USS Reuben James (DD-245)
Included: Indianapolis streetcar strike of 1913 (3rd appearance, last in 2013); Battle of Beersheba (1917) (2nd appearance, last in 2015; 100th anniversary); Mountjoy Prison helicopter escape (6th appearance, last in 2015); Assassination of Indira Gandhi (first appearance; blurb previously also featured Indira Gandhi, which is currently ineligible) (5th appearance, last in 2014); Metrojet Flight 9268 (first appearance); John Keats (first appearance); Natalie Clifford Barney (first appearance); Charles Taze Russell (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 03:15, 31 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

2018 notes

Omitted: Indianapolis streetcar strike of 1913; Mountjoy Prison helicopter escape; Metrojet Flight 9268; John Keats; Natalie Clifford Barney; Charles Taze Russell
Included: Romulus Augustulus (10th appearance, last in 2015; rescued from Ineligible); Martin Luther/Ninety-five Theses (Luther: 13th appearance, last in 2014; Theses: 8th appearance, last in 2016; rescued from Ineligible); Mount Rushmore (7th appearance, last in 2012); Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (first appearance); Marie Louise Andrews (first appearance); Muriel Duckworth (first appearance)
Repeats: Battle of Beersheba (1917) (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total); Assassination of Indira Gandhi (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 15:57, 31 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]

2019 notes

Deleted: Louise Woodward case (moved to October 30)
Moved to Ineligible: Charles Taze Russell (maintenance)
New articles (ineligible): Michael Collins (astronaut) (TFA for 2019)
New articles (unused): Gordon Steege
Omitted: Romulus Augustulus; Battle of Beersheba (1917); Mount Rushmore; Assassination of Indira Gandhi; Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany; Marie Louise Andrews; Muriel Duckworth
Included: Irene of Athens (first appearance); Mountjoy Prison helicopter escape (7th appearance, last in 2017); Jesse Martin (first appearance; 20th anniversary); Cornelis Jol (first appearance); Charles A. Wickliffe (first appearance; 150th anniversary); Larry Mullen Jr. (first appearance)
Repeats: Martin Luther/Ninety-five Theses (both: 2nd consecutive appearance; Luther: 2 total; Theses: 9 total)

—howcheng {chat} 05:49, 2 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

2020 notes

New articles (ineligible): Bill Kibby (TFA for 2020)
New articles (unused): Greg Moore (racing driver); Juliette Gordon Low; William Evans-Gordon
Omitted: Irene of Athens (ineligible—maintenance); Martin Luther/Ninety-five Theses; Jesse Martin; Cornelis Jol; Charles A. Wickliffe; Larry Mullen Jr.
Included: Kaaba (first appearance); Indianapolis streetcar strike of 1913 (4th appearance, last in 2017); EgyptAir Flight 990 (5th appearance, last in 2014; rescued from Ineligible); Eleanor of England, Queen of Castile (first appearance); Anne Claude de Caylus (first appearance); Michael Collins (astronaut) (first appearance; 90th birthday)
Repeats: Mountjoy Prison helicopter escape (2nd consecutive appearance, 8 total)

—howcheng {chat} 21:10, 1 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

2021 notes

Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Bill Kibby
Omitted: Kaaba; Indianapolis streetcar strike of 1913; Mountjoy Prison helicopter escape; EgyptAir Flight 990; Eleanor of England, Queen of Castile; Anne Claude de Caylus; Michael Collins (astronaut)
Included: Romulus Augustulus (11th appearance, last in 2018); Martin Luther/Ninety-five Theses (Luther: 15th appearance; Theses: 10th; both last in 2019); Mount Rushmore (8th appearance, last in 2018; 80th anniversary); Assassination of Indira Gandhi (3rd appearance, last in 2018); Metrojet Flight 9268 (2nd appearance, last in 2017); John Keats (2nd appearance, last in 2017); Juliette Gordon Low; Larry Mullen Jr. (2nd appearance, last in 2019; 60th birthday)

—howcheng {chat} 07:34, 1 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Mussolini

31 October 2022 will be the 80th anniversary of when Mussolini became Prime Minister of Italy, it should be included. Dr Salvus 10:08, 15 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]