Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/February 15

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This is the talk page for making suggestions or discussing improvements to Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/February 15.

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 February 15 article, see Talk:February 15 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 February 15, 2025
The Boot Monument is an American Revolutionary War memorial located in Saratoga National Historical Park, New York. Sculpted by George Edwin Bissell and erected during 1887 by John Watts de Peyster, it commemorates Major General Benedict Arnold's service at the Battles of Saratoga while in the Continental Army, but does not mention him on the monument as Arnold later defected from the Americans to the British. Instead, it commemorates Arnold as the "most brilliant soldier of the Continental Army". While fighting at the Battle of Bemis Heights, the second of the Saratoga engagements, Arnold was shot and severely injured in his left leg. His horse was also hit by gunfire and fell on Arnold, crushing his already injured leg. Arnold was then passed over for promotion and court-martialed. Feeling hard done by he attempted to help the British capture the fortification of West Point but was discovered and fled to the British army. (Full article...) Recently featured: "My Little Love" Gao Qifeng Ragnar Garrett Archive By email More featured articles About view – talk – edit – history – watch
Picture of the day for February 15, 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 14 * Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/February 16 →

The Soviet Union is one thing, therefore "its" -- not "their" -- is the proper possessive pronoun! This is a common and silly error!

"...The Soviet Union officially announced that all of ITS troops had already left Afghanistan."

--Andrew Phelps 06:20, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)

The 'silly error!' has been fixed. Thanks for pointing that out. -- PFHLai 06:37, 2005 Feb 15 (UTC)

Today is Candlemas in the Eastern Orthodox world, and yet the fact is not mentioned. For shame! --Ghirla | talk 11:44, 15 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Today is Candlemas in the Eastern Orthodox world (actually only that part that uses the Julian calendar), and yet noone familiar with the fact had suggested it till now. For shame! Item added ;)--Pharos 20:31, 15 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I can't believe I missed Candlemas two years in a row. Yikes ! Thanks, Ghirla, for pointing this out, and Pharos for posting it. Thank you. -- PFHLai 01:12, 16 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Our summary here calls the February 15, 2003 anti-war protest the "largest mass protest movement in history", but the linked article doesn't say that anywhere, or quote sources saying that. There is a source that the Rome rally was the "largest anti-war rally in history", but that's somewhat of a different claim. I don't know if the protests combined were or weren't the "largest mass protest movement in history", but it seems like we shouldn't claim so absent a source, so I'm going to remove this for now. --Delirium 02:46, 15 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

2012 notes

Moved to Ineligible: USS Maine (ACR-1) (maintenance)
Omitted: Presentation of Jesus at the Temple (ineligible—maintenance), Qumran Caves, Flag of Canada, Don Dunstan, February 15, 2003 anti-war protest,
Included: Siege of Kimberley (2nd appearance, last in 2010), Soviet war in Afghanistan (8th appearance, last in 2010), Kevin Mitnick (first appearance), YouTube (2nd appearance, last in 2010)
Repeats: Columbus Letter on the First Voyage (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 17:21, 15 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

2013 notes

Omitted: National Flag of Canada Day (ineligible—maintenance); Columbus Letter on the First Voyage (ineligible—maintenance); Siege of Kimberley; Soviet war in Afghanistan; Kevin Mitnick; YouTube
Included: USS Maine (ACR-1) (7th appearance, last in 2010; rescued from Ineligible); Qumran Caves (2nd appearance, last in 2011); Flag of Canada (6th appearance, last in 2011); Don Dunstan (2nd appearance, last in 2011); February 15, 2003 anti-war protest (6th appearance, last in 2011; 10th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 23:34, 14 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

2014 notes

Deleted: YouTube (moved to February 14)
Moved to Ineligible: Kevin Mitnick (maintenance)
New articles (unused): Abdullah Öcalan
Omitted: Qumran Caves; Flag of Canada; Don Dunstan; February 15, 2003 anti-war protest
Included: Distant Early Warning Line (first appearance); Soviet war in Afghanistan (9th appearance, last in 2012; 25th anniversary); Intelsat 708 (first appearance); Chelyabinsk meteor (first appearance)
Repeats: USS Maine (ACR-1) (2nd consecutive appearance, 8 total)

—howcheng {chat} 11:47, 14 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

2015 notes

Omitted: Distant Early Warning Line; Soviet war in Afghanistan (ineligible—maintenance); Intelsat 708 (ineligible—short); Chelyabinsk meteor
Included: Siege of Kimberley (3rd appearance, last in 2012); Qumran Caves (3rd appearance, last in 2013); Flag of Canada (7th appearance, last in 2013; 50th anniversary); Abdullah Öcalan (first appearance)
Repeats: USS Maine (ACR-1) (3rd consecutive appearance, 9 total)

—howcheng {chat} 11:46, 13 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

2016 notes

Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Sabena Flight 548; Kevin Mitnick
Omitted: Qumran Caves; Flag of Canada; Abdullah Öcalan
Included: Distant Early Warning Line (2nd appearance, last in 2014); Constitution of Cuba (first appearance; rescued from Ineligible; 40th anniversary); February 15, 2003, anti-war protests (7th appearance, last in 2013)
Repeats: USS Maine (ACR-1) (4th consecutive appearance, 10 total); Siege of Kimberley (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total)

—howcheng {chat} 08:15, 13 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

2017 notes

Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Intelsat 708
Omitted: Siege of Kimberley; Distant Early Warning Line (ineligible—maintenance); Constitution of Cuba; February 15, 2003, anti-war protests
Included: Australian gold rushes (first appearance); Battle of Singapore (7th appearance, last in 2010; rescued from Ineligible; 75th anniversary); Soviet–Afghan War (10th appearance, last in 2014); Chelyabinsk meteor (2nd appearance, last in 2014)
Repeats: USS Maine (ACR-1) (5th consecutive appearance, 11 total)

—howcheng {chat} 08:24, 15 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

2018 notes

Omitted: USS Maine (ACR-1); Battle of Singapore; Soviet–Afghan War (ineligible—maintenance); Chelyabinsk meteor
Included: Siege of Kimberley (5th appearance, last in 2016); Flag of Canada (8th appearance, last in 2015); Constitution of Cuba (2nd appearance, last in 2016); Comayagua prison fire (first appearance); Tiberios III/Leontios (both: first appearance); Sophie Bryant (first appearance); Irena Sendler (first appearance)
Repeats: Australian gold rushes (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 17:27, 15 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

2019 notes

Omitted: Australian gold rushes; Siege of Kimberley; Flag of Canada; Constitution of Cuba; Comayagua prison fire; Tiberius III/Leontios (deleted—exact date of death unknown); Sophie Bryant; Irena Sendler
Included: USS Maine (ACR-1) (12th appearance, last in 2017); Qumran Caves (4th appearance, last in 2015; 70th anniversary); Don Dunstan (3rd appearance, last in 2013; 40th anniversary); Abdullah Öcalan (2nd appearance, last in 2015; 20th anniversary); Halle train collision (first appearance); Oswiu (first appearance); Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (first appearance); Angella D. Ferguson (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 16:59, 15 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

2020 notes

Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Soviet–Afghan War
New articles (ineligible): Roger B. Chaffee (TFA for 2020)
New articles (unused): Willy Vandersteen
Omitted: USS Maine (ACR-1); Qumran Caves; Don Dunstan; Abdullah Öcalan; Oswiu; Domingo Faustino Sarmiento; Angella D. Ferguson
Included: Columbus's letter on the first voyage (3rd appearance, last in 2012; rescued from Ineligible); Invasion of Ceylon (1795) (first appearance); Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907 (first appearance); Kevin Mitnick (2nd appearance, last in 2012; 25th anniversary); Gisela of Swabia (first appearance); Charles-André van Loo (first appearance); Esther Takei Nishio (first appearance)
Repeats: Halle train collision (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total; 10th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 19:09, 17 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

2021 notes

Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Roger B. Chaffee
Omitted: Columbus's letter on the first voyage; Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907; Kevin Mitnick; Halle train collision; Gisela of Swabia; Charles-André van Loo; Esther Takei Nishio
Included: Australian gold rushes (3rd appearance, last in 2018); Sabena Flight 548 (first appearance; 60th anniversary); Chelyabinsk meteor (3rd appearance, last in 2017); William Ufford, 2nd Earl of Suffolk (first appearance); Charles Lewis Tiffany (first appearance); Willy Vandersteen (first appearance)
Repeats: Invasion of Ceylon (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 07:15, 17 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

2022 notes

New articles (unused): Codex Theodosianus
Omitted: Invasion of Ceylon; Australian gold rushes; Sabena Flight 548; Chelyabinsk meteor; William Ufford, 2nd Earl of Suffolk; Charles Lewis Tiffany; Willy Vandersteen
Included: Pie postulatio voluntatis (first appearance); Columbus's letter on the first voyage (4th appearance, last in 2020); Siege of Kimberley (6th appearance, last in 2018); Fall of Singapore (8th appearance, last in 2017; 80th anniversary); Comayagua prison fire (2nd appearance, last in 2018); Ibn Tabataba (first appearance); V. A. Urechia (first appearance); Roger B. Chaffee (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 07:28, 16 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]