User:Butlerblog/Essays/Categorization
 | This essay on the WP:CATSPECIFIC policy is in development. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. Essays may represent widespread norms or minority viewpoints. Consider these views with discretion, especially since this page is still under construction. |
There are a good deal of editors who think of categorization as "meta" or "tags". This would be akin to "tagging" an article to every category to which it is related.
This is the wrong approach - at least as far as Wikipedia is concerned. (And that's not just me saying it - it's the community guideline. See WP:CATSPECIFIC.)
Categories within Wikipedia can be thought of as a "tree". They are a hierarchy, meaning that when an article belongs to a sub-category (or sub-sub-category, etc), it also belongs to the "parent" (or higher up the tree) category.
So categorization should always seek to categorize the article at the most specific category without including all of the parent categories. That means removing the parent categories because the article is already categorized within that parent category by virtue of being in one of its subcategories. More often than not, this is the type of cleanup I am involved in, so if you're here because one of my categorization edits led you to see who I was, most likely this is the reason.
There are two exceptions to CATSPECIFIC: eponymous categories and non-diffusing categories. In most cases where I am doing category cleanup, neither of these usually apply, but if you're not sure what these mean, see the following:
- WP:EPONYMOUS - about eponymous categories
- WP:ALLINCLUDED - about non-diffusing categories
In addition to not applying categories as tags, you should also consider whether the article supports the category selected. Some categories tell you what they expect (or do not expect) to be included in the category and others do not. In the case of categories with such guidance, the article should meet that criteria. In lack of any guidance, consider whether the content of the article actually supports inclusion in the category. This is especially true when dealing with biographies of living persons (WP:BLP). In those instances, you must be absolutely certain that the category fits, and it must be supported clearly in the article (in other words, make sure you understand WP:BLPCAT).