Wikipedia:Guidelines for user categories

See Wikipedia:Categorization#User namespace and Wikipedia:User categories for the current guidelines, and discuss them on those talk pages.

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This page in a nutshell: User categories should have practical value to the Wikipedia project by helping Wikipedians find other editors who may assist them with their work.

This is proposed guideline for Wikipedian categories. The need for this guideline became apparent to me as I monitored the categories for discussion. When a user category was mentioned, there tended to be more disagreement about whether or not it was appropriate. Currently, the guidelines for categorization only briefly mentions user categories. It is implied that they must otherwise follow the same guidelines as categories in the article namespace. This is virtually impossible since Wikipedian guidelines are almost always unverifiable and often POV. This has led to some editors taking the extreme position that Wikipedian categories should not exist at all and voting to delete every Wikipedian category that comes up, even if it could be useful. Other editors have gone to the other extreme and adopted an "anything goes" philosophy for Wikipedian categories. This has resulted in categories that are patent nonsense, frivolous, or obviously false. This clutters up the Wikipedian categories and makes it harder to find what you want.

This proposed guideline recognizes that user categories cannot follow all of the same guidelines as categories for the article namespace, but it still establishes boundaries for them. It also provides some principles for naming user categories, categorizing them, and placing them on user pages.

Introduction to user categories

Although user categories are not held to the same standard as categories for articles, they are still part of the Wikipedia project, and there must be some standards for their use. Whereas changes to your user page will probably not affect other editors, changes to user categories will affect them since they can influence how Wikipedians search for other editors. The general rule for user categories is this: User categories should have practical value to the Wikipedia project by helping Wikipedians find other editors who may assist them with their work.

Wikipedian categories also are not held to the same standard as article categories. User categorization is voluntary and unverifiable. The categories may also reflect the views and opinions of the user. While that may be a valid reason for getting rid of an article category, that is acceptable for a Wikipedian category if it facilitates collaboration.

Before creating or deleting a Wikipedian category, ask yourself the following question: "Would this category help an editor find others who can assist him or her in a Wikipeida task as help review similar topics?" If the answer to this question is "No", the category probably does not need to exist.

Guidelines for user categories

Acceptable types of user categories

Here are some types of categories that are appropriate for Wikipedians:

Categories for basic demographic information - Including age, gender, ethnicity, current city of residence, national origin, and marital status. This is purely objective information that provides a background for the editor.
Categories relating to an editor's areas of expertise - Including occupation, education, skills, known languages, and experience. These categories are helpful because they show that the editor already has some "real life" knowledge on certain topics, and other editors may need that expertise to help them edit other articles on Wikipedia.
Categories relating to interests that a user may want to edit - Including hobbies, sports, television shows, and video games. It can be safely assumed that someone who has an interest in a topic will know more about it than someone who does not. This can help other editors see who has more knowledge about a certain topic.
Categories about involvement in Wikipedia - Including Wikipedia administrative categories, WikiProject member categories, Wikipedia awards, Wikipedian organizations (such as AWWDMBJAWGCAWAIFDSPBATDMTD), and similar categories that are directly related to an editor's involvement in Wikipedia.

Inappropriate user categories

Here are some types of Wikipedian categories that are not appropriate and may be subject to deletion:

Joke categories - We all like having fun at Wikipedia, but please keep jokes in the user namespace. Remember that Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not#Wikipedia is not a free host, blog, webspace provider or social networking site|Wikipedia is not a social club . Joke categories clutter up the category lists and make them less useful.
Categories that are obviously false - This includes categories for editors claiming to be animals, supernatural creatures, or fictional beings. Again, these are often joke categories that provide no useful information to other editors.
Categories that include all editors - Including Category:Human Wikipedians or :Category:Wikipedians living on earth . Categories do not provide any useful information if they do not provide any distinct characteristics about the editor. The exception is if the category is intended to be broken down into further subcategories, in which case there should be no one listed in the main category.
Categories for frivolous likes or dislikes - Sure, the number 9 (number)|9 may be your favorite number, but does anyone really care? As a general rule, if an interest does not help you in editing articles, it does not deserve a category.
Not-based categories - There is an infinite number of things that you do not do or do not like. Categories for these things are excessive, so do not create categories like :Category:Wikipedians who do not like chicken or :Category:Wikipedians who dislike soda . However, categories that express an opposition to something are acceptable as long as an equivalent category expressing the acceptance of an opposing cause cannot be made. For example, :Category:Wikipedians who oppose online censorship is acceptable, but :Category:Wikipedians who oppose evolution is not since :Category:Creationist Wikipedians exists. Just remember to be Wikipedia:Civility|civil in how you name the category.
Categories about obscure topics - The definition of "obscure" is subjective, but as a general rule, if there is only one Wikipedia article about the topic, it probably does not deserve a category.
Categories of purely local interest - Including the church you attend or the high school you graduated from. This has little practical value to editors outside of your community. However, categories for colleges and universities are acceptable since they are more widely known and relate to an editor's education.
Categories with names that insult other groups - Remember to be Wikipedia:Civility|civil . :Category:Republican (US) Wikipedians is fine. :Category:Wikipedians who think that Democrats are big fat poopie heads is not. A category should not be created if its main intention is to be divisive.
Categories that associate Wikipedians with illegal activities - Such as :Category:Wikipedian pedophiliacs or :Category:Wikipedian terrorists . Wikipedia does not endorse illegal activity. If they are intended to be jokes, they are not funny.
Categories about not wanting to be categorized - Categories express what you are, not what you are not. Do not create a category that is any derivative of :Category:Wikipedians who do not want to be categorized . Wikipedian categorization is optional, so if you do not want to be categorized, do not put yourself in a category.
Categories that provide the same information as other categories - :Category:Wikipedians by age provides essentially the same information as the subcategories under :Category:Wikipedians by year of birth , so there is no reason to have both. Before creating a new Wikipedian category, check to see if a similar category already exists.
Categories where it would generally be considered undesirable if you are not a member of it - Creating :Category:Wikipedians against rape or :Category:Wikipedians who support the abolishment of slavery is unnecessary. If a category makes other editors feel as if they have to join it or be ridiculed, it should not be made. While this can sometimes be subjecitve, editors should use their best judgement as to what is or is not appropriate
Categories declaring that one does not follow Wikipedia policies - While being against Wikipedia policies is ok, not following them is not. Categories such as :Category:Wikipedians who edit from a biased point of view or :Category:Wikipedians who vandalize wikipedia will be deleted.

Naming and categorization guidelines

See also: Wikipedia:Naming conventions (categories)

User categories must have "Wikipedian" or "Wikipedians" somewhere in the name. In this way, "Wikipedian" is a pseudo-namespace within the category namespace. Do not use "User" or "Users". There are some exceptions to this:
- There are some Wikipedian categories that overlap with the "Wikipedia" pseudo-namespace. An example is Category:Wikipedia administrators. For these categories, either "Wikipedia" or "Wikipedian" is acceptable in the name of the category, although "Wikipedian" is preferred if it is appropriate.
- Some accounts are created without the intention of ever using them. An example is Category:Wikipedia doppelganger accounts. Categories about these accounts should use the term "account" or "accounts" rather than "Wikipedian".
- Categories that are about IP addresses (but not about the user who uses these IP addresses to edit) should have "IP addresses" in the name rather than "Wikipedian". An example is Category:Shared IP addresses.
- For the time being, language categories should use "User" followed by a lower-case abbreviation of the language.
The preferred naming scheme is for "Wikipedian" or "Wikipedians" to be the first word in the category name. However, if this sounds awkward, it is acceptable to put "Wikipedian" somewhere else in the name.
Check to see what similar categories in a subcategory are named. If possible, keep category names consistent with those in the same subcategory.
Avoid using abbreviations for category names, but widely used abbreviations are acceptable if the non-abbreviated form of the word might not be understood or if it would result in an awkward name for the category.
All user categories should fall somewhere under the Category:Wikipedians umbrella category. They should not be placed under any other categories except where they overlap with the Category:Wikipedia categories.
Only put main user pages into categories, not user talk pages or subpages.
The only things that should be placed in Category:Wikipedians or its subcategories are as follows: user pages, Wikipedia project pages about users and user pages, templates that are used mainly on user pages, and images that are used only on user pages. Some exceptions may be made for administrative categories.
Although there may be some exceptions, do not place yourself in a category if you are already listed in a subcategory. Being in a subcategory generally implies that you are also in its parent categories. It is preferred that you put yourself into the most specific category possible.

Userboxes and user categories

See also: Wikipedia:Userboxes#Category inclusion, Wikipedia:German userbox solution

Like user categories, userboxes also have value to the Wikipedia project. There tends to be a relationship between the two since userboxes are often used to automatically populate Wikipedian categories. This is fine, but remember that categories do not exist for the purpose of being populated by userboxes. In other words, do not create a category just because a userbox exists for it. The relationship should be the other way around--if a Wikipedian category already exists, it is okay to have a userbox populate it automatically.

Using Wikipedian categories

User categorization is voluntary. You do not have to put your user page into any categories if you do not want to. On the other hand, you can put yourself into every applicable category for yourself if that is what you want. Wikipedian categories are not subject to verification. However, the blatant misuse of categories will still not be tolerated. Patent abuse of user categories (such as putting your user page in every subcategory under Category:Wikipedians by birth) may be treated as vandalism.

In general, it is considered bad Wikiquette to edit the categories on another editor's user page. If you want someone to change a category on their user page, make a request on their talk page, but whether or not they change it is up to them. However, there are some situations where editing a user page to change the categories is considered acceptable:

If a user category has been deleted, renamed, or merged, it is okay to delete the category from the user page or change it to the correct category. This is considered a good faith edit.
If an editor is blatantly misusing Wikipedian categories as described above, it is acceptable to change the editor's user page to remove the abused categories.
If an editor misrepresents himself or herself in categories (such as lying about his or her age or occupation), it is acceptable to remove the false categories from the editor's user page. However, remember to assume good faith, and do not make this type of accusation against an editor unless you are absolutely certain that the information is false.
If an editor has been blocked, any user can add the correct Category:Wikipedians who required user interventions subcategory to the editor's user page. Note that once the block is over, that editor is then free to remove the category.

Whenever you add a category to your user page, remember to use the pipe trick to sort your name correctly. For example, if your user page is [[User:Foo]], you can add a category with [[Category:Category name|Foo]]. You can also use [[Category:Category name|{{PAGENAME}}]].

Except where noted elsewhere in these guidelines, the same guidelines for article categorization apply to user categories.