Usuario:Jofwu/Categorization

Here is a guide on how to categorize pages on the Coppermind and the full hierarchy of categories.

Categorization Basics

Categories are listed at the bottom of a page. Every article, template, and file should be categorized. It is important to categorize everything correctly, as categories are one of two ways that an article can be found (the other way, of course, is through wiki-links). Articles should be able to be found from the main series categories (as listed on the main page), or through the main content categories on the sidebar on the left. To categorize something, go to the page you want to categories and insert:

[[Category: Whatever]]

Many infoboxes and navigation boxes will often categorize content appropriately. (For on those templates, see Help: Templates, and also Help:Article structure.)

The Coppermind's categories are like tags, not folders. In a folder system (like your computer's file system), a file is a member of exactly one folder. Wiki articles are not like that. Articles can be in a lot of categories. The more categories, the better. Maybe the list of all Viewpoint Characters will be useful to someone at some point. Who knows. The more the merrier.

Make sure you reserve categories for articles, and avoid them on talk pages.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX This can probably be removed/shortened and point to Help:Categories.

Required Categories

Every content page will, with very few exceptions, be a member of at least three required categories:

A series identifier, such as Stormlight Archive, Mistborn, etc., so that the article can be found from its series/book categories
A high-level content category, like Character, Places, Magic, Lifeforms
A quality tag, such as Stubs or Complete articles. These are administrative tags which are useful for editors to keep track of how good things are on the wiki

This is of course a minimum of categories. These required categories are automatically inserted through various templates.

Series/Book Identifier

Series tags are generated from the navigation boxes--the large boxes at the bottom of articles. Here is a list of them:

Stormlight Archive, use {{Stormlight}}
Mistborn, use {{Mistborn}}. In addition, for Mistborn articles, you can add a parameter for {{Mistborn}}, such as {{Mistborn|era 2}} for the correct Mistborn era or sub-series.
Elantris, use {{Elantris}}
Warbreaker, use {{Warbreaker}}
The Reckoners, use {{Reckoners}}
The Rithmatist, use {{Rithmatist}}
The Emperor's Soul, use {{The Emperor's Soul}}
Shadows for Silence, use {{Shadows for Silence}}
Sixth of the Dusk, use {{Sixth of the Dusk}}
White Sand, use {{White Sand}}
Alcatraz, use {{Alcatraz}}
Legion, use {{Legion}}
Defending Elysium, use {{Defending Elysium}}
Firstborn, use {{Firstborn}}
Perfect State, use {{Perfect State}}

Note: Some Cosmere-related articles have no associated series at this time. In this case, use {{Cosmere}} as the series/book identifier.

High Level Content Categories

There are ten high level content categories, which classify different articles on the Coppermind. They are:

Articles should never be in more than one of these. These categories are generated from infoboxes (the box on the upper right of an article). There are some specific exceptions to the usage of these categories, which you can read about below.

Quality Tags

Quality tags are massively useful for editors. Quality generally indicates the amount of information on a page, and are judged on how "complete" they are. These are generated with a template that goes right above the main series navigation box.

The four main quality tags are:

Stubs, use {{stub}}
Partially complete articles, use {{partial}}
Articles nearing completion, use {{complete}}
Complete articles, add |~~~~ to {{complete}}

Stubs are articles that have barely any information. Partially completed articles have a wide range, but generally have some or most of the information on a subject.

Articles nearing completion is for articles that you as an editor believe to be content complete (hence the use of {{complete}}). Regular editors should not use the Complete articles category, which should be used when Coppermind staff look at the "nearly complete" article, verify its completeness, then add their signature and date with ~~~~.

There are two additional tags of this type that are not required: Notable articles and Exemplary articles. Notable articles are different from other quality tags in that it indicates the importance of the topic, which is generally reserved for important aspects to big series or books. The exemplary tag is for the very best articles on the Coppermind. Exemplary articles must be Complete as well as Notable, and also well written. To tag something as Exemplary, use {{exemplary}} near the top of the article.

Rarely, articles will lack a quality tag. These include Coppermind articles (which are not "Content" articles), verbatim sources like epigraphs, and some summary articles.

Full Hierarchy of Categories

Below holds the intensely specific information on the structure and hierarchy of Coppermind categories. This is intended as a reference, but should not be needed for almost any editor, since templates (like infoboxes) will automatically categorize articles. But, if one is interested, here it is!

The Root Category

In the beginning of the universe, there was the Big Bang, and in the beginning of the Coppermind, there is the Root category. This is a hidden category that should never apply to any articles directly. It is only a container for other categories. (A category of this type--that contains other categories, but rarely articles--is called a holding category.) Root's only articles are the Coppermind home pages.

In the Root category, there are the five main sections of the wiki:

Content, a holding category containing what one normally think of as "articles"
Administration, which contains all categories and pages for maintaining the wiki
Help, for all help documentation
Images, for images
Silly, for silly non-content articles, which should be used sparingly

Content

Content is a holding category that, through its subsets, contains every topic related to Brandon's works, both in-universe and out-of-universe. Almost all pages in the Coppermind are in this section of the wiki. As a holding category, Content should not be applied to any specific article.

Content holds ten special, mutually exclusive subcategories, the high level content categories (HLCCs). Articles should always be in one of these HLCCs and cannot be tagged with more than one of them. The high level content categories are:

These categories are designed to be mutually exclusive, big bins of pages. Even if there is a more specific subset that applies to the article, keep the HLCC tag. For example, Kelsier is a Scadrian but the Characters category remains.

The HLCCs have a vast array of subcategories, and it can be difficult which exactly should apply. The Character category has the Groups category, and that category has even more subcategories! What is one to do?

For this, there is a simple rule of thumb: with exception of the HLCC tag, do not be redundant! Select the most relevant content category. The category Amaram's army is in Armies, which is a subset of Groups, but for members of Amaram's army, it is silly to include the Armies and Groups tags, since that isn't even relevant! Another example would be how Kelsier is labeled as an Allomancer, but not a Magic user, since Allomancer is automatically a Magic user.

Culture and Magic can be applied to members of other HLCCs, if applicable. See below for their specific usage.

Moving on from the HLCCs, there are some subcategories of Content that are not mutually exclusive with any of those high level categories. They are:

Cosmere, the category that contains pages related to the Cosmere universe as a whole, and can act like an HLCC
Deleted material, which has articles about a subject that was part of the development of a story, but later deleted before the final release
Unpublished, which has articles relating to unpublished works.

Now we go in-depth to all of the Content categories, as well as their subsets.

Books

The Books category contains articles that are books or works of Brandon Sanderson. It can also contain pages about related works based off of Brandon's writing, such as pages on the Mistborn Adventure Game and its supplements.

Principal subcategories are:

Media, for works that are non-text media based off of Brandon's works
Series, which contains pages on specific series

In the Books category (or in Series), there are the series tags, which must be on all pages in the Content section. These series tags are generated by the navigation boxes on the bottom of pages. The series tags are:

Stormlight Archive
Mistborn, with Mistborn Era 1, Mistborn Era 2, etc.
Elantris
Warbreaker
White Sand
Alcatraz
The Reckoners
The Rithmatist
Dragonsteel
Infinity Blade
Legion

And, for shorter works, there are:

Characters

Characters is the single largest category on the Coppermind, which contains every character. Characters are anything that are named and are members some group belonging to Lifeforms.

It contains subcategories for characters by book or series, such as Reckoners characters or Legion characters. The notable exception here is most Cosmere works, which classify characters by demonyms (when known), such as Scadrians, Nalthians, or Rosharans. These demonyms are subcategories of Ethnicities and Nationalities.

Other subcategories include:

Dead characters
Unnamed characters
Viewpoint characters
Professions, a holding category for subsets of characters by profession, like Category: Scholars

Additional subcategories are holding categories that classify characters:

Ethnicities and Nationalities, for categories of characters by their origin or identity
Groups, for categories of characters by specific organization
Magic users, for categories of characters by variety of magic that they wield

Sapient beings

This category--which overrides the Characters tag--contains articles on particular species of sapient beings. For nonsapient beings, see Lifeforms. Species that are sapient can also be magical in origin, and so, pages in this category can also be in Magical entities (see the Magic category).

XXXXXXXXXXXXX Shouldn't this go in Lifeforms category?

Ethnicities and Nationalities

This category is a holding category that contains categories of characters by their ethnicity or nationality

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX(and soon, species) what's this about?

Note: Listeners are missing. And should Aimians be included?

such as skaa or Alethi. Subcategories here should be members of their particular planet, such as a Scadrian race being marked as Scadrian, or a race of people in Alcatraz be marked with Alcatraz characters.

Individual cultures can be found in Category: Culture.

Magic users

This holding category--which is also a member of the Magic HLCC--contains sets of characters who utilize magic, such as Allomancers, Surgebinders, Oculators, and Epics. Do not apply Magic users directly to an article, instead use the relevant subcategory. As in: Kelsier is an Allomancer, and that is implicitly a magic user, so the magic user category is redundant and should not be used.

Groups

This holding category contains various subcategories for specific members of such groups, such as Category: Armies, Businesses, or Noble Houses.

For pages on specific groups or organizations of people, see Category: Culture.

Culture

The Culture category contains pages on specific cultures (which do not have something in Locations), or other cultural elements. Characters should never be in Culture.

If necessary, Culture can be applied to members of other HLCCs, but only if especially culturally significant.

Currencies
Clothing, also a member of Objects and Materials
Drugs, for medicines and poisons. This category is also in Lifeforms
Food, sometimes in Lifeforms when relevant and edible. If in Lifeforms, does not need to be in Culture. Can contain restaurants
Games
Language
Myths and Legends
Religion
Symbols

Elements in the subcategories of Culture can, if more relevant, be labeled with a different HLCC entirely, which is unique to this HLCC.

Events and Eras

Events and Eras is the category for particular events, like battles, or periods of time.

There are currently no subcategories for this HLCC.

Lifeforms

Lifeforms contains articles on particular species of life, where "life" is defined very broadly. This will contain traditional biological life, magical life (such as spren), or artificial life (like Machineborn). For particular elements of a given lifeform, see Category: Characters. Things derived from Lifeforms, like medicine, drugs, or poisons, will be found here.

Subcategories are:

Sapient beings, for lifeforms that are sapient, as humans are
Magical entities, for lifeforms that are primarily magical or are magical constructs
Diseases
Food (see Culture)
Drugs
Specific sets of a particular species (to be changed)

Locations

Locations holds articles on specific places or geographical features.

Subcategories include:

Celestial bodies
Caves
Mountains
Islands
Nations
Regions
Settlements
Structures
Water bodies

It also contains subcategories for locations in particular regions or planets.

Magic

Magic contains all magical things. In the Cosmere, this refers to Investiture.

Principal subcategories are:

It contains subcategories of a particular type of magic, like the Allomancy category, and contains subcats of Magic users, like Allomancers.

Magical entities

Magical entities is for beings that come from a magical source, or are magical constructs. Examples include spren, Lifeless, or koloss. This is not a mutually exclusive category with Sapient beings, as some beings of this type may also be thinking beings.

Magical entities should not be included in Magic users, as some magical aptitude may be inherent to something being a magical entity.

This category contains subcategories of specific magical beings, such as kandra.

Objects and Materials

Objects and Materials contains specific objects or materials. Elements of this category are nouns that are not people or places, and are in the vaguer realm of "things". Keep this to physical things. It also contains vehicles.

Subcategories are:

Clothing, also a member of Culture
Literature, for specific works of literature or art, also a member of Culture
Railcraft
Watercraft
Weapons

Other future categories will be vehicles, aircraft, and spacecraft.

Out of Universe

This category contains articles people, terms, companies, or other important--but out of universe--things related to Brandon's works. This category is unique among HLCCs in that pages in this category will rarely have a series identifier. Only include a series identifier if the article's subject is extremely intimately related to only the series, like a cover artist who only worked on one series.

Principal subcategories:

Fandom is reserved for websites, and should be used sparingly. Do not mark User pages in either People or Fandom.

Sources

Pages in this category are direct sources for Brandon's books, or are indices for terms.

Principal subcategories are:

It also contains subcategories for other sources, like Navani's notebook.

Administration

Under construction.

Help

The Help category is for documentation on the wiki. There are currently no subcategories for the Help section.

Images

Under construction.