Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/March 12

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This is the talk page for making suggestions or discussing improvements to Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/March 12.

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 March 12 article, see Talk:March 12 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 March 12, 2025

The 2020 season for Seattle Sounders FC was their twelfth in Major League Soccer (MLS), the top flight of professional club soccer in the United States. It was the 37th season played by a professional team bearing the Sounders name. Seattle were the reigning MLS Cup champions and were expected to play 34 matches during the regular season, which began on March 1. The regular season was suspended on March 12 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which had already caused reduced attendance at an earlier match. MLS play returned with a special tournament in July hosted at a bubble site; teams then hosted matches behind closed doors. The Sounders only played 22 regular season matches after several were canceled; the 2020 U.S. Open Cup was also canceled. Seattle qualified for the playoffs as the second-placed team in the Western Conference and won a second consecutive conference championship. They lost 3–0 in the MLS Cup against Columbus Crew SC. (Full article...)

Recently featured:

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Picture of the day for March 12, 2025

Mauritius kestrel is a bird of prey from the family Falconidae endemic to the forests of Mauritius, where it is restricted to the southwestern plateau's forests, cliffs, and ravines. It was proclaimed the national bird of Mauritius in 2022 to mark the anniversary of the Republic, which is celebrated on 12 March.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp.

Recently featured:

← Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/March 11 * Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/March 13 →

1928 - In California, the failure of the St. Francis Dam killed 400.

1881 - Andrew Watson made his Scotland debut as the world's first black international football player and captain.

Ben davison 14:48, September 6, 2005 (UTC)

I have a hard time deciding which current item to displace.... They all seem more significant. Anyway, I've added it to the March 12 page. -- PFHLai 18:39, 2 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps add the death of Sun Yat-sen, and note his involvement in the Republican movement in China? -- 李博杰 | —Talk contribs 05:01, 26 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

World Day Against Cyber Censorship

We should add this. --bender235 (talk) 11:07, 12 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

2013 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Temple in Jerusalem (maintenance); 1993 Bombay bombings (maintenance)
Omitted: Bulgarian Exarchate (ineligible—maintenance); Girl Scouts of the USA; Konstantin Päts; Hastings Ismay, 1st Baron Ismay
Included: Siege of Rome (537–538) (2nd appearance, last in 2011); Canberra (3rd appearance, last in 2010; 100th anniversary); Fireside chats (first appearance; 80th anniversary); 1971 Turkish coup d'état (2nd appearance, last in 2011)
Repeats: Andrew Watson (footballer) (2nd consecutive appearance, 6 total)

—howcheng {chat} 05:55, 11 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

2014 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Ignatius of Loyola/Francis Xavier (Ignatius: maintenance)
Rescued from Ineligible (unused): St. Francis Dam
Omitted: Andrew Watson (footballer); Canberra; Fireside chats; 1971 Turkish coup d'état
Included: Red River Campaign (first appearance; 150th anniversary); İstiklâl Marşı (first appearance); Salt March (8th appearance, last in 2011); Konstantin Päts (2nd appearance, last in 2012; 80th anniversary)
Repeats: Siege of Rome (537–38) (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total)

—howcheng {chat} 05:20, 11 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

2015 notes

Omitted: Mauritius (ineligible—maintenance); Red River Campaign; İstiklâl Marşı; Konstantin Päts
Included: Andrew Watson (footballer) (7th appearance, last in 2013); Hastings Ismay, 1st Baron Ismay (3rd appearance, last in 2012); 1993 Storm of the Century (first appearance)
Repeats: Siege of Rome (537–38) (3rd consecutive appearance, 4 total); Salt March (2nd consecutive appearance, 9 total)

—howcheng {chat} 09:53, 10 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

2016 notes

Omitted: Siege of Rome (537–538); Salt March; Hastings Ismay, 1st Baron Ismay; 1993 Storm of the Century
Included: Red River Campaign (2nd appearance, last in 2014); Girl Scouts of the USA (2nd appearance, last in 2012); Konstantin Päts (3rd appearance, last in 2014); 1993 Bombay bombings (4th appearance, last in 2014)
Repeats: Andrew Watson (footballer, born 1856) (2nd consecutive appearance, 8 total)

—howcheng {chat} 18:46, 10 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

2017 notes

Omitted: World Day Against Cyber Censorship (ineligible—maintenance); Red River Campaign; Girl Scouts of the USA (ineligible—maintenance); Konstantin Päts; 1993 Bombay bombings (ineligible—maintenance)
Included: Siege of Rome (537–38) (5th appearance, last in 2015); Canberra (4th appearance, last in 2013); Truman Doctrine (3rd appearance, last in 2011; 70th anniversary); Hastings Ismay, 1st Baron Ismay (4th appearance, last in 2015); Charles Boycott (first appearance); Jessica Hardy (first appearance); Lazare Ponticelli (first appearance)
Repeats: Andrew Watson (footballer, born 1856) (3rd consecutive appearance, 9 total)

—howcheng {chat} 08:12, 12 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]

2018 notes

Moved to Ineligible: İstiklal Marşı (maintenance); St. Francis Dam (maintenance); 1993 Storm of the Century (maintenance)
New articles (unused): 2014 East Harlem gas explosion
Omitted: Siege of Rome (537–538); Canberra; Truman Doctrine; Charles Boycott; Jessica Hardy; Lazare Ponticelli
Included: Ignatius of Loyola/Francis Xavier (Ignatius: 2nd appearance as blurb, last in 2011 (also appears as an observance on July 31); Xavier: 4th appearance, last in 2011; rescued from Ineligible); Fireside chats (2nd appearance, last in 2013); 1971 Turkish military memorandum (3rd appearance, last in 2013); Tirso de Molina;(first appearance) William Henry Perkin (first appearance); Lise Tréhot (first appearance)
Repeats: Andrew Watson (footballer, born 1856) (4th consecutive appearance, 10 total); Hastings Ismay, 1st Baron Ismay (2nd consecutive appearance, 5 total)

—howcheng {chat} 17:33, 12 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

2019 notes

Omitted: Ignatius of Loyola/Francis Xavier (Xavier: ineligible—maintenance); Fireside chats; Hastings Ismay, 1st Baron Ismay; Tirso de Molina; William Henry Perkin; Lise Tréhot
Included: Salt March (10th appearance, last in 2015); World Wide Web (3rd appearance, last in 2005; previously appeared on November 13; 30th anniversary); 2014 East Harlem gas explosion (first appearance); Symeon the New Theologian (first appearance); Lilian Faithfull (first appearance); Zhao Wei (first appearance)
Repeats: Andrew Watson (footballer, born 1856) (5th consecutive appearance, 11 total); 1971 Turkish military memorandum (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total)

—howcheng {chat} 15:59, 12 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

2020 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Red River Campaign (maintenance)
Omitted: Andrew Watson (footballer, born 1856); 1971 Turkish military memorandum; 2014 East Harlem gas explosion; Symeon the New Theologian; Lilian Faithfull; Zhao Wei
Included: Canberra (5th appearance, last in 2017); Winter War; (8th appearance, last in 2014; moved from November 30; blurb previously featured Moscow Peace Treaty, which remains ineligible, and is making its 5th appearance, last in 2008) Stefan Dragutin (first appearance); Gemma Galgani (first appearance); Jack Kerouac (first appearance)
Repeats: Salt March (2nd consecutive appearance, 11 total; 80th anniversary); World Wide Web (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total)

—howcheng {chat} 23:36, 13 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

2021 notes

Omitted: Salt March; Winter War; World Wide Web; Gemma Galgani; Jack Kerouac
Included: Andrew Watson (footballer, born 1856) (12th appearance, last in 2019); Fireside chats (3rd appearance, last in 2018); Hastings Ismay, 1st Baron Ismay (6th appearance, last in 2018); 1971 Turkish military memorandum (5th appearance, last in 2019; 50th anniversary); William Lyon Mackenzie (first appearance); Wally Schirra (first appearance)
Repeats: Canberra (2nd consecutive appearance, 6 total); Stefan Dragutin (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 20:47, 13 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

2022 notes

Omitted: Canberra; Fireside chats; 1971 Turkish military memorandum; Stefan Dragutin; William Lyon Mackenzie; Wally Schirra
Included: Ignatius of Loyola/Francis Xavier (Ignatius: 18th appearance (3rd as blurb); Xavier: 5th; both last in 2018; rescued from Ineligible); Konstantin Päts (4th appearance, last in 2018); 2014 East Harlem gas explosion (2nd appearance, last in 2019); Symeon the New Theologian (2nd appearance, last in 2019; 1000th anniversary); Lise Tréhot (2nd appearance, last in 2018; 100th anniversary); Jack Kerouac (2nd appearance, last in 2020; 100th birthday)
Repeats: Andrew Watson (footballer, born 1856) (2nd consecutive appearance, 13 total); Hastings Ismay, 1st Baron Ismay (2nd consecutive appearance, 7 total; 70th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 04:54, 13 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]