This page documents an official Lunar Chronicles Wiki policy. | |
It is a widely accepted standard that should normally be followed by all editors. |
The central goal of the category system is to provide navigational links to all Lunar Chronicles Wiki 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 should be created when they can encompass a significant number of relevant articles. If someone wishes to contest the relevance of a newly created category, they can do so on its talk page or on the forum.
Naming conventions[]
When naming a category, one should be particularly careful and choose its name accurately. Moving non-conventionally categorized pages to another category name imposes an additional overhead: an edit for each article and subcategory.
- Standard article naming conventions apply (see Manual of Style). In particular, do not capitalize regular nouns except when they come at the beginning of the title.
- Names of topic categories (categories named after a topic) should be singular, normally corresponding to the name of a Wikipedia article, e.g. Law and Life, whereas names of set categories (categories named after a class) should be plural, e.g. Books, Humans and Locations in Cinder.
- Avoid descriptive adjectives such as famous, important, or notable in category titles.
Description of categories[]
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.
In such cases, the desired contents of the category should be described on the category page. The category description should make direct statements about the criteria by which pages should be selected for inclusion in (or exclusion from) the category. This description, not the category's name, defines the proper content of the category. 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.
The description can also contain links to other pages in the wiki, in particular to other related categories which do not appear directly as subcategories or parent categories. However, category pages should not contain either citations to reliable sources or external links.
A maximum of 200 category entries are displayed per screen. To make navigating large categories easier, a table of contents can be used on the category page. Use the template {{bigcat}} in the category page to add a complete table of contents (Top, 0–9, A–Z).
Categorising pages[]
When to categorize[]
Every Wikipedia page should belong to at least one category, with the exception of talk pages, redirects, or user pages, though these may be placed in categories where appropriate. In addition, each categorized page should be placed in all of the most specific categories to which it logically belongs.
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. One way to determine if suitable categories already exist for a particular page is to check the categories of pages concerning similar or related topics. Another way is to search existing category names. Since all categories form part of a hierarchy do not add categories to pages as if they are tags.
Categorization format[]
Particular considerations for categorizing articles:
- By convention, category declarations are placed at the end of the wikitext, but before any {{stub}} templates (which themselves transclude categories).
- 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.
Articles[]
When classifying articles it is important to keep the following points in mind:
- All articles should be added to the category Category:A to Z
- Categorization of articles must be verifiable: It should be clear from verifiable information in the article why it was placed in each of its categories.
- Categorization must also maintain a neutral point of view: Categorizations appear on article pages without annotations or referencing to justify or explain their addition. Categorizations should generally be uncontroversial. If the category's topic is likely to spark controversy, then a list article (which can be annotated and referenced) is probably more appropriate.
The different type of articles are to be categorized in the following categories in this order:
Classifying books[]
- All book articles should be added to the category Category:Books.
- By type: a distinction is made between novels and novels. All book articles have to be categorized in one of the two categories.
- A novella is a narrative normally longer than a short story but shorter than a novel. It generally features fewer conflicts than a novel, yet more complicated ones than a short story. The conflicts also have more time to develop than in short stories. Unlike novels, they are usually not divided into chapters, and are often intended to be read at a single sitting, as the short story, although white space is often used to divide the sections. They maintain, therefore, a single effect.
- A novel is a long narrative that is normally in prose, which describes fictional characters and events, usually in the form of a sequential story. The novel is today the longest genre of narrative prose fiction.
Classifying characters[]
- All character articles should be added to the category Category:Characters.
- By book: character articles should be added to the books categories the characters have been appeared/mentioned/memorized in
- By gender: a distinction is made between females and males. All characters have to be categorized in one of the two categories.
- By species: a distinction is made between animals, humans, cyborgs, androids. All characters have to be categorized in either one of these categories.
- By ethnicity: a distinction is made between Lunars and Earthens.
- By fate: a distinction is made between deceased and alive. All characters have to be categorized in either of the two categories. Additionally, characters might also be categorized as "letumosis patients".
- By importance: a distinction is made between main, supporting and minor characters. All characters have to be categorized in either of the three categories. Additionally, characters can also be categorized as a viewpoint and unseen character.
- A minor character is anyone who is mentioned by name in one of the books or primary sources or who is described to perform an action or display a certain behavior that has an (in)direct influence on the main and/or supporting characters.
- A supporting character fulfils the requirements for a minor character, and is anyone who is a recurring character for multiple chapters in the books or primary sources.
- A main character fulfils the requirements for a supporting character, and is anyone who is featured in the pattern of events for a majority of books in the series.
- A viewpoint character is a character who has been the narrator of at least one chapter or one part of a chapter in a book, the events of the chapter or part of the chapter are seen from the point of view of that character.
- An unseen character is a character who has not made an appearance in the story time of the book, but is only mentioned or seen in memories.
Classifying locations[]
- All locations articles should be added to the category Category:Locations.
- By book: location articles should be added to the books categories the locations have been visited/mentioned/described in
- By type: a distinction is made between different types of location. All locations have to be categorized in one of these categories.
- Astronomical bodies include planets, stars, satellites, etc.
- Buildings and structures include houses, shops, pubs, entertainment venues, etc.
- Landforms include mountains, desert, rivers, forests, etc.
- Territories include continents, countries, cities, towns etc.
- By place: locations can also be placed into one of the nations that served as the main setting of each of the book: Eastern Commonwealth, European Federation, African Union and Luna. This does not apply to all locations.
Classifying objects[]
- All objects articles should be added to the category Category:Objects.
Files (videos and images)[]
Category tags can be added to pages of files that have been uploaded to the wiki. 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:Wikipedia files. To categorize a new file when uploading, simply add the category tag to the upload summary.