User:Ricken/SandboxPG/Categorization of people

Care should be taken in categorizing people, as to not generate undue controversy. Categories should be accurate, but respectful. For the main page on adding categories to articles, see AmtWiki:Categorization.

What this covers

This guideline discusses:

• Categorization of biographical articles: This includes all articles in the main namespace about a person or a group of people, especially player pages. It also include files containing portraits of people. For categorizing companies and households, see AmtWiki:Categorization of companies and households.
• People-related categories: All categories where such biographical articles could be expected to be listed. Normally such categories belong in the Category:Amtgard People categorization tree.

General considerations

Be aware that mis-categorizations are more sensitive for articles on people than for articles on other topics. For example, a player who is banned in-game by a kingdom is added to Category:Banned Players for the time that they are banned. If the ban information is not removed after their ban, or if they are accidentally placed in Category:Banned for Life, that mis-categorization would create more controversy than if they were placed in the wrong chapter category.

• Exert extra caution when adding categories to articles about living people
• Categorize by defining characteristics: a knight who was once a page should not be categorized as a page, since their knightly title supersedes it (with the exception of knights who were paged after their knighting). Dukes who were previously granted a Lord's title should likewise be categorized as a duke, not a lord.
• Keep people categories separate: categories with a title indicating that the contents are people should normally only contain biographical articles and lists of people, and perhaps a non-biographical main article, though this can also be added in a text note at the top of the category. This is for clarity and ease of use, and to preserve the integrity of trees of people articles.

Categorization schemes

Currently, people tend to be categorized by the following broad categories. The order in which these categories should be placed at the bottom of an article does not matter, aside from simple organization or editor preference.

By association

See AmtWiki:Categorization of companies and households People can be categorized by company, household, or other organizational division. Cross-gamers can also be categorized by their other LARP.

By location

There are categories for both the person's home chapter and kingdom. Freehold-affiliated players should be added to Category:Freehold People instead of a kingdom. Landless players should be added to the kingdom where they reside.

By noble title

People should be categorized by noble title. People stripped of accolades on an official level should be placed in Category:Stripped players. People who have dropped titles willingly should be placed in Category:Dropped players.

By masterhood and paragon

Players who have earned a masterhood in an order, or who have earned a paragon status in a class, should be listed according to their accolade.

By belt status

Any player who has been given a belt as a knight, squire, Man-At-Arms, or Page should be added to the appropriate category by belt status. People stripped of accolades on an official level should be placed in Category:Stripped players. People who have dropped knights' belts willingly should be placed in Category:Dropped players, though people who drop squires' belts and lower are not placed here.

Knights should additionally be categorized by year of knighting for each belt, as well as WHATEVENISTHIS.

By standing

Players who are banned by a kingdom, even for a limited time, should be placed in Category:Banned players for the time that they are banned. After they are back in good standing with the kingdom that issued the ban, all categories and messages relating to their ban should be removed.

Players who are permanently banned by a kingdom should be added to Category:Banned for life

Creating a category

For the process of creating a category, see Help:Categories

There are community rules about naming categories and their purpose to consider before creating a new category.

Before making a category

Before creating a new category, please be sure a similar category does not exist. For example, you might want to list someone in Category:Wetlanders. Before creating that category, try to find it under a similar name. By starting at Category:People by kingdom, you will discover that Wetlanders are placed in Category:Wetlands People.

Consider whether a list or other grouping technique would be more appropriate. Mistress Wynd, having been the monarch of the Celestial Kingdom previously, might belong in Category:Celestial Kingdom monarchs. However, since the date and order for her monarchical reigns is important, it would be better to list her on the table Celestial Kingdom monarchy.

Clearly define the category

A good category name is generic and neither too long nor too short. If it is similar to a category that is already implemented, make the new category follow that naming convention.

It is preferable that the category definition (on the category page) tries to exclude vague cases. In many cases, only referencing an article explaining the term is not sufficient as a definition for a category.

Place the new category in another category

See the general rules regarding categorization, and try to position the new category in a suitable place on the tree of "people" categories.