Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/May 31

This is the talk page for making suggestions or discussing improvements to Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/May 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 May 31 article, see Talk:May 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 May 31, 2025
Wikipedia:Today's featured article/May 31, 2025 create – talk – watch
Picture of the day for May 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/May 30 * Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/June 1 →

What does this image have to do with the selected articles? RickK | Talk 05:34, 14 Mar 2004 (UTC)

It shows directly-elected U.S. senators. Godiva would be a better image<G>. -- Nunh-huh 05:40, 14 Mar 2004 (UTC)

from WP:ERRORS

May 31 is not "Independence Day" in South Africa. It was the date of the Treaty of Vereeneging ending the Boer War (1902), the date of the formation of the Union of South Africa from four British colonies (1910) and the date the Union became the Republic of South Africa (1961). The date was a public holiday as Republic Day until 1994. South Africa gained independence following the passing of the Statute of Westminster in the British parliament on 11 December 1931, a date never formally celebrated with a holiday. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Brutus2 (talk • contribs) 13:25, 31 May 2006.

It's not on Public holidays in South Africa. Let's remove it from the Main Page. -- 199.71.174.100 21:18, 31 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Joan of Arc

Forgot to add, Joan of Arc was burned on this day after finding her guilty of heresy.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Phu2734 (talk • contribs).

Joan of Arc is currently already featured on the July 7 selected anniversaries page. Wikipedia's selected anniversaries guidelines states that "Ideally, any particular selected article should only be listed (be an emboldened entry) once in this queue." Therefore, would you like me to remove the July 7 entry that mentions that she was posthumously acquitted of heresy? Or revert your edit here? Zzyzx11 (Talk) 05:08, 9 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Tornado outbreak

Hi. Can we mention the 1985 United States – Canadian tornado outbreak? Thanks. ~A H 1^(TCU) 19:51, 31 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Article is currently tagged with {{Inappropriate tone}} and {{Unreferenced}}, the deciding factor on why it did not make the top five currently displayed. Zzyzx11 (talk) 23:19, 31 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

2012 notes

New articles (unused): Assassination of George Tiller
Omitted: Ramesses II; Battle of the Kalka River; Battle of Seven Pines; Burning of Jaffna library; MV Mavi Marmara
Included: Petronius Maximus (first appearance); Samuel Pepys (6th appearance, last in 2010; rescued from Ineligible); Battle of Jutland (4th appearance, last in 2007; rescued from Ineligible); Tulsa race riot (first appearance); Anglo-Iraqi War (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 22:03, 30 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

2013 notes

Omitted: Petronius Maximus (moved to March 17); Battle of Jutland (ineligible—maintenance); Tulsa race riot; Anglo-Iraqi War
Included: Battle of the Kalka River (5th appearance, last in 2011); 1935 Balochistan earthquake (first appearance); Burning of Jaffna library (3rd appearance, last in 2011); Assassination of George Tiller (first appearance)
Repeats: Samuel Pepys (2nd consecutive appearance, 7 total)

—howcheng {chat} 06:27, 30 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

2014 notes

Omitted: Samuel Pepys; 1935 Balochistan earthquake; Burning of Jaffna library; Assassination of George Tiller
Included: Ramesses II (4th appearance, last in 2011); Battle of Seven Pines (2nd appearance, last in 2011); Anglo-Iraqi War (2nd appearance, last in 2012); MV Mavi Marmara (2nd appearance, last in 2011)
Repeats: Battle of the Kalka River (2nd consecutive appearance, 6 total)

—howcheng {chat} 08:57, 30 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Mavi Marmara

The wording of the Mavi Marmara hook is quite bizarre. 'Engaged in armed conflict' is an odd wording when you attack a civilian ship on international waters. Just saying 'attack' would be a NPOV wording. Yesterday we had a link to the 'Lod Airport massacre', which at no point uses wording like 'engaged in armed conflict', in spite the fact that the Ben Gurion airport security was clearly more heavily armed than the passengers of Mavi Marmara. --Soman (talk) 11:54, 31 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I disagree that "attack" is NPOV, because conjures up the image of the Israeli Navy ship firing upon the civilian boat. According to the Gaza flotilla raid article, the Navy boarded the Mavi Marmara, whereupon they encountered armed resistance. The people on the other five ships that were boarded responded non-violently. If you can come up with a way of explaining that succinctly, then I'll be happy to change the blurb. —howcheng {chat} 18:34, 31 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

2015 notes

Omitted: Ramesses II; Battle of Seven Pines; Anglo-Iraqi War; MV Mavi Marmara (ineligible—maintenance)
Included: Samuel Pepys (8th appearance, last in 2013); 1935 Balochistan earthquake (2nd appearance, last in 2013; 80th anniversary); Burning of Jaffna library (4th appearance, last in 2013); Deep Throat (Watergate) (first appearance; 10th anniversary)
Repeats: Battle of the Kalka River (3rd consecutive appearance, 7 total)

—howcheng {chat} 08:25, 29 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Trinity Sunday

Today is Trinity Sunday in the Western rite. It takes precedence over the Feast of the Visitation, so I don't quite understand why the latter is and the former isn't mentioned. Yours in Christ, Revd F.B. --88.107.71.223 (talk) 14:30, 31 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]

That article has a big orange maintenance tag on it, which per the rules makes it ineligible for inclusion. —howcheng {chat} 17:52, 1 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]

2016 notes

Omitted: 1935 Balochistan earthquake; Burning of Jaffna library; Deep Throat (Watergate)
Included: Battle of Seven Pines (3rd appearance, last in 2014); Anglo-Iraqi War (3rd appearance, last in 2014); Assassination of George Tiller (2nd appearance, last in 2013)
Repeats: Battle of the Kalka River (4th consecutive appearance, 8 total); Samuel Pepys (2nd consecutive appearance, 9 total)

—howcheng {chat} 00:36, 30 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Should the birthday of Bernard Lewis, who turns 100 today, be listed? --Light show (talk) 17:49, 31 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
- I don't think he is notable enough for a birthday inclusion. —howcheng {chat} 21:28, 31 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  - @Light show: Now that we are including births/deaths, I've added him into the pool of eligible articles. —howcheng {chat} 15:36, 31 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]

2017 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Ramesses II (maintenance); Deep Throat (Watergate) (maintenance)
Omitted: Samuel Pepys; Battle of Seven Pines (ineligible—maintenance); Anglo-Iraqi War; Assassination of George Tiller
Included: Madison Square Garden (1879) (first appearance); Treaty of Vereeniging (first appearance); 1935 Quetta earthquake (3rd appearance, last in 2015); Burning of Jaffna Public Library (5th appearance, last in 2015); Albertino Mussato (first appearance); Walt Whitman (first appearance); Chien-Shiung Wu (first appearance)
Repeats: Battle of the Kalka River (5th consecutive appearance, 9 total)

—howcheng {chat} 04:00, 31 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

2018 notes

New articles (unused): Mecklenburg Resolves
Omitted: Battle of the Kalka River; Madison Square Garden (1879); 1935 Quetta earthquake; Burning of Jaffna Public Library; Albertino Mussato; Walt Whitman; Chien-Shiung Wu
Included: Revolutionary Tribunal (first appearance); Anglo-Iraqi War (4th appearance, last in 2016); Mark Felt (first appearance; blurb previously featured Deep Throat (Watergate), which is currently ineligible, and is making its 2nd appearance, last in 2015); Nur Jahan (first appearance); Jane Joseph (2nd appearance, last in 2018; also appeared on March 9, her birthday); Timothy Leary (first appearance)
Repeats: Treaty of Vereeniging (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 19:36, 31 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

2019

Howcheng,Help! Walt Whitman's 200th birthday! Alanscottwalker (talk) 12:54, 30 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]

2019 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Tulsa race riot (maintenance)
New articles (ineligible): Chien-Shiung Wu (POTD for 2019); Jørgen Jensen (soldier) (TFA for April 2, 2019)
New articles (unused): Joseph Grimaldi; Bernard Lewis; Jan Crouch
Omitted: Treaty of Vereeniging; Anglo-Iraqi War; Mark Felt; Nur Jahan; Jane Joseph; Timothy Leary
Included: Surabaya (first appearance); 1935 Quetta earthquake (4th appearance, last in 2017); Burning of Jaffna Public Library (6th appearance, last in 2017); George Tiller/Assassination of George Tiller (Tiller: first appearance; Assassination: 3rd appearance, last in 2016; 10th anniversary); Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud (first appearance); Walt Whitman (2nd appearance, last in 2017; 200th birthday); Carla Lane (first appearance)
Repeats: Revolutionary Tribunal (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 15:34, 31 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Suggested death

Might I suggest Mbaye Diagne (d. 1994) for deaths? Good article rating, under-represented nationality, and an astonishing story. Cheers, Featous (talk) 21:05, 22 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Featous: Thank you for the suggestion. We put him in for this year. —howcheng {chat} 17:49, 1 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

2020 notes

Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Chien-Shiung Wu; Jørgen Jensen (soldier)
Omitted: Surabaya; Revolutionary Tribunal; Burning of Jaffna Public Library; George Tiller/Assassination of George Tiller; Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud; Walt Whitman; Carla Lane
Included: Battle of the Kalka River (10th appearance, last in 2017); Mecklenburg Resolves (first appearance); Treaty of Vereeniging (3rd appearance, last in 2018); Mark Felt (2nd appearance, last in 2018); Kusumoto Ine (first appearance); Clint Eastwood (2nd appearance, last in 2004; previously appeared on April 8); Mbaye Diagne (first appearance)
Repeats: 1935 Quetta earthquake (2nd consecutive appearance, 5 total)

—howcheng {chat} 17:14, 1 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

2021 notes

Omitted: Battle of the Kalka River; Mecklenburg Resolves; Treaty of Vereeniging; 1935 Quetta earthquake; Mark Felt; Kusumoto Ine; Clint Eastwood; Mbaye Diagne
Included: Revolutionary Tribunal (3rd appearance, last in 2019); Tulsa race massacre (2nd appearance, last in 2012; 100th anniversary; rescued from Ineligible); South Africa (4th appearance, last in 2006; previously appeared as an observance and was later deleted; 60th anniversary); Burning of Jaffna Public Library (7th appearance, last in 2019; 40th anniversary); Rosa May Billinghurst (first appearance); Jørgen Jensen (soldier) (first appearance); Derek Hodge (first appearance; 10th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 07:51, 2 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

2022 notes

Omitted: Revolutionary Tribunal; Tulsa race massacre; South Africa; Burning of Jaffna Public Library; Rosa May Billinghurst; Derek Hodge
Included: Surabaya (2nd appearance, last in 2019); Battle of Seven Pines (4th appearance, last in 2016); Treaty of Vereeniging (4th appearance, last in 2020); Anglo-Iraqi War (5th appearance, last in 2018); Mark Felt (3rd appearance, last in 2020); Géza II of Hungary (first appearance); Walter Sickert (first appearance)
Repeats: Jørgen Jensen (soldier) (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total; 100th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 06:48, 1 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]