User:Ricken/SandboxPG/Categorization

This page contains guidance on the proper use of the categorization function in Wikipedia. For information on the mechanics of the function, category syntax, etc., see Help:Categories.

The central goal of the category system is to provide navigational links to all Wikipedia pages in a hierarchy of categories which readers, knowing essential characteristics of a topic, can browse and quickly find sets of pages on topics that are defined by those characteristics.

Creating categories

Categories can be created in the same way as pages. See also Help:Page creation.

Sometimes, a common-sense guess based on the title of the category isn't enough to figure out whether a page should be listed in the category. So, rather than leave the text of a category page empty (containing only parent category declarations), it is helpful – to both readers and editors – to include a description of the category, indicating what pages it should contain, how they should be subcategorized, and so on.

Do not leave future editors to guess about what or who should be included from the title of the category. Even if the selection criteria might seem obvious to you, an explicit standard is helpful to others, especially if they are less familiar with the subject.

Naming conventions

When naming a category, one should be particularly careful and choose its name accurately.

• Names of topic categories should be singular, normally corresponding to the name of an Amtgard article or AmtWiki:portal.
• Names of set categories should be plural. Examples: "Crown Knights", "Category:Dukes".
• Avoid abbreviations. Example: "Celestial Kingdom Knights", not "Category:CK Knights".
• Choose category names that can stand alone, independent of the way a category is connected to other categories. Example: "Combat stubs", not "Combat" (a subcategory of "Stubs").
• Avoid descriptive adjectives such as famous, important, or notable in category titles.
• Categories used for AmtWikin administration are prefixed with the word "AmtWiki" (no colon) if this is needed to prevent confusion with content categories.

Categorizing pages

Every Wikipedia page should belong to at least one category. However, there is no need to categorize talk pages, redirects, or user pages, though these may be placed in categories where appropriate.

While it should typically be clear from the name of an existing category which pages it should contain, the text of the category page may sometimes provide additional information on potential category contents.

Articles

A central concept used in categorizing articles is that of the defining characteristics of a subject of the article.

Particular considerations for categorizing articles:

• By convention, category declarations are placed at the end of the wikitext, though they will show properly if placed anywhere on the page.
• The order in which categories are placed on a page is not governed by any single rule, though alphabetical order or order of importance might be helpful for future editors.
• An article should never be left with a non-existent (redlinked) category on it. Either the category should be created, or else the link should be removed or changed to a category that does exist.
• Categorization should not be made by the type of an article. A biographical article about a specific person, for example, does not belong in "Category:Player pages".

Files/Images

Category tags can be added to file/image pages of files that have been uploaded to AmtWiki. When categorized, files are not included in the count of articles in the category, but are displayed in a separate section with a thumbnail and the name for each. A category can mix articles and images, or a separate file/image category can be created. A file category is typically a subcategory of the general category about the same subject, and a subcategory of the wider category for files, Category:AmtWiki files. To categorize a new file when uploading, simply add the category tag to the upload summary.

AmtWiki administrative categories

A distinction is made between two types of categories:

• Administrative categories are intended for use by editors or by automated tools, based on features of the current state of articles, or used to categorize non-article pages.
• Content categories are intended as part of the main namespace of AmtWiki, to help readers find articles, based on features of the subjects of those articles.

Administrative categories include stub categories (generally produced by stub templates), maintenance categories (often produced by tag templates such as

This article may require cleanup. The specific problem is: {{{reason}}}. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help improve this article if you can. ({{{date}}})

and ATTENTION!

This article is being considered for deletion. If you believe it should be kept, you can discuss the article on its talk page or expand the article to improve its content.

---

, and used for maintenance projects), and categories of pages in non-article namespaces.

Article pages should be kept out of administrative categories if possible. If it is unavoidable that an administration category appears on article pages (usually because it is generated by a maintenance tag that is placed on articles), then in most cases it should be made a hidden category.

Templates

Templates should be categorized according to kind of template, but not by template content. For example, Template:Westmarch is a navigational template for chapters under the Kingdom of Westmarch, but it should not be placed under Category:Active Westmarch Chapters.

Categorization using templates

Many templates include category declarations in their transcludable text, for the purpose of placing the pages containing those templates into specific categories. This technique is very commonly used for populating certain kinds of administration categories, including stub categories and maintenance categories. However, it is recommended that articles not be placed in ordinary content categories using templates in this way. There are many reasons for this: editors cannot see the category in the wikitext; removing or restructuring the category is made more difficult (partly because automated processes will not work); inappropriate articles and non-article pages may get added to the category; and ordering of categories on the page is less controllable.

Redirected categories

Do not create inter-category redirects.

Category tree organization

Categories are organized as overlapping "trees", formed by creating links between inter-related categories. Any category may contain subcategories, and it is possible for a category to be a subcategory of more than one parent category.

There is one top-level category, Category:Contents. All other categories are found below this. Hence every category apart from this top one must be a subcategory of at least one other category.

There are two main kinds of category:

• Topic categories are named after a topic (usually sharing a name with the article on that topic). For example, Category:Blackspire contains articles relating to the topic Blackspire.
• Set categories are named after a class (usually in the plural). For example, Category:Blackspire Knights contains articles whose subjects are knights in Blackspire.

Subcategories

If logical membership of one category implies logical membership of a second, then the first category should be made a subcategory of the second. For example, Category:Defunct Alabama Chapters is a subcategory of Category:Defunct Chapters by State, which in turn is a subcategory of Category:Defunct Amtgard Chapters

Many subcategories have two or more parent categories. When making one category a subcategory of another, ensure that the members of the subcategory really can be expected (with possibly a few exceptions) to belong to the parent also. Category chains formed by parent–child relationships should never form closed loops; that is, no category should be contained as a subcategory of one of its own subcategories. If two categories are closely related but are not in a subset relation, then links between them can be included in the text of the category pages.

Apart from certain exceptions, an article should be categorized as low down in the category hierarchy as possible, without duplication in parent categories above it. For example, players should not be listed in Category:Amtgard People if they can be listed in the category of a park or kingdom. A common exception to this rule is categorizing people as members of both their home chapter and the kingdom that chapter is under, if any; this has been acceptable according to AmtWiki consensus.