Help:Categorization: Difference between revisions

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==Maintaining categories==

===~~I am interested in XYZ~~ categories ~~– where can I get involved?~~===

===Restructuring categories===

~~See [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Categories/Current subprojects]]~~, ~~[[Wikipedia:WikiProject]]~~ and ~~[[Portal talk:Contents]]~~.

If you want to restructure existing categories, it is best to discuss your plans with others working in the same areas, or at least to announce your intentions. This is to avoid the situation where someone is placing an article into multiple categories, someone else is populating a category with multiple articles and parent categories, while someone else is trying to restructure part of the category tree, and nobody ends up with what they want.

===~~I want to change the relationships of some categories – will anyone mind?===~~

===Category page contents===

If you want to restructure some existing categories, it is best to discuss your plans with others working in the same areas, or at least to announce your intentions. This is to avoid the situation where someone is placing an article into multiple categories, someone else is populating a category with multiple articles and parent categories, while someone else is trying to restructure part of the category tree, and nobody ends up with what they want. A good place to start looking for an interested group of people is [[:Category~~:WikiProjects]].~~

~~===What goes on a category~~ page?===

Category pages exist to be a convenient cross-reference to related articles and other categories.

A category page should contain a brief description of the purpose of the category.

A prominent link to the most important article in the category is usually a good idea, but please avoid copying large quantities of text or images from an article to a category page. If a category and a page have a one-to-one correspondence, then the template {{tl|~~cat~~ main}} or similar is often the best solution. Introductions should be short and only navigation templates that facilitate moving between categories or category pages can be included.

A prominent link to the most important article in the category is usually a good idea, but please avoid copying large quantities of text or images from an article to a category page. If a category and a page have a one-to-one correspondence, then the template {{tl|main}} or similar is often the best solution. Introductions should be short and only navigation templates that facilitate moving between categories or category pages can be included.

~~=== The {{tl|cat main}} template ===~~

~~{{anchor|cat main}}~~

~~In many cases, a category has a "main article", which describes the subject of that category. The category and the article often have the same name. In such case, do this:~~

* Add the <nowiki>"{{cat main}}"</nowiki> tag in the category.

* Arrange for the article to appear at the ''top'' of the list of articles in the category, by putting a vertical bar and a space after the category name in the Category: tag (e.g. <nowiki>[[Category:''catname''| ]]</nowiki>).

For such a category/article pair, the guidelines for what other categories the "main article" should be in are still being worked out. Normally articles should not appear both in a category and a "parent" of that category; however an exception should be made for the "main article" of a category — the category system makes more sense if each main article appears in some or all of the categories that the equivalent category appears in. It is optimal for browsing, where the user need not keep bouncing back and forth between the categories of "main" pages and other pages.

If the subject has count, then make the category name plural and create a redirect of that same, plural name, redirecting back to the singular name. For instance [[City]] and [[:Category:Cities]]. That is, create a page called "Cities" and add the line

~~<nowiki>#REDIRECT [[City]]</nowiki>~~

~~This helps to prevent confusion by blocking others from creating a competing page that overlaps in scope and you will be able to use the cat main template without specifying any additional parameters.~~

~~In theory, if a main article is categorized correctly in its corresponding category, the use of the cat main template is redundant~~.

===~~How do I categorize categories~~ which have a main article?===

===Categories which have a main article===

''Take [[John Lennon]] and [[:Category:John Lennon]] or [[The KLF]] and [[:Category:The KLF]]. Should all category memberships which relate to Lennon or the KLF (but not to, for example, the state of the article) be added to [[:Category:John Lennon]]/[[:Category:The KLF]] and removed from the article? That would seem to follow from literal interpretation of the "no categorizing into a subcategory and category at once" rule, but it forces readers to click an extra time and hides relationships from them.''

''Take [[Wikipedia:John Lennon|John Lennon]] and [[Wikipedia:Category:John Lennon|Category:John Lennon]] or [[Wikipedia:The KLF|The KLF]] and [[Wikipedia:Category:The KLF|Category:The KLF]]. Should all category memberships which relate to Lennon or the KLF (but not to, for example, the state of the article) be added to [[Wikipedia:Category:John Lennon|Category:John Lennon]]/[[Wikipedia:Category:The KLF|The KLF]] and removed from the article? That would seem to follow from literal interpretation of the "no categorizing into a subcategory and category at once" rule, but it forces readers to click an extra time and hides relationships from them.''

The article should be left in those categories it would belong to if it had no category of its own; see [[Wikipedia:Categorization and subcategories#Topic article rule]] as well as [[Wikipedia:Categorization#Some general guidelines]].

@@ Line 45: / Line 45: @@
 ==Maintaining categories==
-===I am interested in XYZ categories – where can I get involved?===
+===Restructuring categories===
-See [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Categories/Current subprojects]], [[Wikipedia:WikiProject]] and [[Portal talk:Contents]].
+If you want to restructure existing categories, it is best to discuss your plans with others working in the same areas, or at least to announce your intentions.  This is to avoid the situation where someone is placing an article into multiple categories, someone else is populating a category with multiple articles and parent categories, while someone else is trying to restructure part of the category tree, and nobody ends up with what they want.
-===I want to change the relationships of some categories – will anyone mind?===
+===Category page contents===
-If you want to restructure some existing categories, it is best to discuss your plans with others working in the same areas, or at least to announce your intentions.  This is to avoid the situation where someone is placing an article into multiple categories, someone else is populating a category with multiple articles and parent categories, while someone else is trying to restructure part of the category tree, and nobody ends up with what they want.  A good place to start looking for an interested group of people is [[:Category:WikiProjects]].
-===What goes on a category page?===
 Category pages exist to be a convenient cross-reference to related articles and other categories.
 A category page should contain a brief description of the purpose of the category.
-A prominent link to the most important article in the category is usually a good idea, but please avoid copying large quantities of text or images from an article to a category page.  If a category and a page have a one-to-one correspondence, then the template {{tl|cat main}} or similar is often the best solution.  Introductions should be short and only navigation templates that facilitate moving between categories or category pages can be included.
+A prominent link to the most important article in the category is usually a good idea, but please avoid copying large quantities of text or images from an article to a category page.  If a category and a page have a one-to-one correspondence, then the template {{tl|main}} or similar is often the best solution.  Introductions should be short and only navigation templates that facilitate moving between categories or category pages can be included.
-=== The {{tl|cat main}} template ===
-{{anchor|cat main}}
-In many cases, a category has a "main article", which describes the subject of that category. The category and the article often have the same name. In such case, do this:
-* Add the <nowiki>"{{cat main}}"</nowiki> tag in the category.
-* Arrange for the article to appear at the ''top'' of the list of articles in the category, by putting a vertical bar and a space after the category name in the Category: tag (e.g. <nowiki>[[Category:''catname''| ]]</nowiki>).
-For such a category/article pair, the guidelines for what other categories the "main article" should be in are still being worked out.  Normally articles should not appear both in a category and a "parent" of that category; however an exception should be made for the "main article" of a category &mdash; the category system makes more sense if each main article appears in some or all of the categories that the equivalent category appears in. It is optimal for browsing, where the user need not keep bouncing back and forth between the categories of "main" pages and other pages.
-If the subject has count, then make the category name plural and create a redirect of that same, plural name, redirecting back to the singular name.  For instance [[City]] and [[:Category:Cities]].  That is, create a page called "Cities" and add the line
- <nowiki>#REDIRECT [[City]]</nowiki>
-This helps to prevent confusion by blocking others from creating a competing page that overlaps in scope and you will be able to use the cat main template without specifying any additional parameters.
-In theory, if a main article is categorized correctly in its corresponding category, the use of the cat main template is redundant.
-===How do I categorize categories which have a main article?===
+===Categories which have a main article===
-''Take [[John Lennon]] and [[:Category:John Lennon]] or [[The KLF]] and [[:Category:The KLF]]. Should all category memberships which relate to Lennon or the KLF (but not to, for example, the state of the article) be added to [[:Category:John Lennon]]/[[:Category:The KLF]] and removed from the article? That would seem to follow from literal interpretation of the "no categorizing into a subcategory and category at once" rule, but it forces readers to click an extra time and hides relationships from them.''
+''Take [[Wikipedia:John Lennon|John Lennon]] and [[Wikipedia:Category:John Lennon|Category:John Lennon]] or [[Wikipedia:The KLF|The KLF]] and [[Wikipedia:Category:The KLF|Category:The KLF]]. Should all category memberships which relate to Lennon or the KLF (but not to, for example, the state of the article) be added to [[Wikipedia:Category:John Lennon|Category:John Lennon]]/[[Wikipedia:Category:The KLF|The KLF]] and removed from the article? That would seem to follow from literal interpretation of the "no categorizing into a subcategory and category at once" rule, but it forces readers to click an extra time and hides relationships from them.''
 The article should be left in those categories it would belong to if it had no category of its own; see [[Wikipedia:Categorization and subcategories#Topic article rule]] as well as [[Wikipedia:Categorization#Some general guidelines]].