Wikipedia:Categorization: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 18:19, 30 May 2025

Revision as of 07:12, 1 June 2025

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===Diffusing large categories===

{{Shortcut|WP:DIFFUSE}}{{redirect|WP:DIFFUSE|conflicts|Wikipedia:Diffusing conflict}}

Although there is no limit on the size of categories, a large category will often be broken down ("diffused" or "subcategorized") into smaller, more specific subcategories. For example, [[:Category:Rivers of Europe]] contains no articles about specific rivers directly; they are all in subcategories.

{{anchor|Metacategories|META}}A category may be diffused using several coexisting schemes; for example, [[:Category:Albums]] is broken down by artist, by date, by genre etc. '''Metacategories''' may be created as ways of organizing schemes of subcategories. For example, the subcategories called "''Artistname'' albums" are not placed directly into [[:Category:Albums]], but into the metacategory [[:Category:Albums by artist]], which itself appears in Category:Albums. (See [[:Category:Categories by parameter]])

It is allowedpossible for a category to be only partially diffused—some members are placed in subcategories, while others remain in the main category.

Information about how a category is diffused may be given on the category page. Categories which are intended to be fully broken down into subcategories can be marked with the {{tl|category diffuse}} template, which indicates that any pages which editors might add to the main category should be moved to the appropriate subcategories when sufficient information is available. (If the proper subcategory for an article does not exist yet, either create the subcategory or leave the article in the parent category for the time being.)

To suggest that a category is so large that it ought to be subcategorized - whollydiffused, or substantially diffused, into subcategories -, you can add the {{tl|overpopulated category}} template to the category page.

{{anchor|NON-DIFFUSE|NONDIFFUSE|ALLINCLUDED|DUPCAT}}

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===Non-diffusing subcategories===

{{Shortcut|WP:CAT#NON-DIFFUSE|WP:ALLINCLUDED|WP:DUPCAT}}

Not all subcategories serve the "diffusion" function described above; some are simply subsets which have some special characteristic of interest, such as [[:Category:Best Actor Academy Award winners|Best Actor Academy Award winners]] as a subcategory of [[:Category:Film actors|Film actors]]. They provide an exception to the general rule that pages are not placed in both a category and its subcategory: there is no need to take pages out of the parent category ''purely'' because of their membership of a non-diffusing subcategory. (Of course, if the pages also belong to other subcategories that do cause diffusion, then they shouldwill not appear in the parent category directly.)

Non-diffusing subcategories should be identified with a template on the category page:

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{{Anchor|Sort order|SORTKEY}}

==Sort keys==

{{shortcut|WP:SORTKEY}}{{redirect|WP:Sorting|sorting of tables|Help:Sortable tables}}