Forum:Category Creation and Removal

For the past few months, we have had problems with contentious category creation, as well as categories getting removed from pages. Additionally, parent category pages keep being made without discussion.

We already have category guidelines that specify the following:
 * Try to avoid creating overly specific categories that only have very few pages in them, especially if those pages would fit in a more general category that already exists.
 * In order for a category page to be given a parent category, every page in that category must also belong in the parent category. 

Under the first rule, many of the recently created "non-canon" categories violate the policy due to only having a few pages included, especially when more general categories exist and are already small. and are a perfect example; the main category only had 7 pages before being split, and now they have 4 and 3 respectively. In my opinion, these kinds of categories are completely unnecessary.

Other examples include:
 * Thieves (9 pages) and non-canon thieves (4 pages)
 * Actors (1 page) and non-canon actors (5 pages)
 * Bandits (11 pages) and non-canon bandits (6 pages)
 * Reporters (5 pages) and non-canon reporters (5 pages)
 * Shopkeepers (14 pages) and non-canon shopkeepers (2 pages)
 * Mayors (7 pages) and non-canon mayors (2 pages)
 * Mercenaries (19 pages) and non-canon mercenaries (3 pages)
 * Non-canon former prisoners (4 pages) and non-canon former Impel Down prisoners (3 pages)
 * Non-canon Marine prisoners (2 pages) and Non-canon Impel Down prisoners (2 pages)
 * Fighters who use technology (13 pages) and Non-canon fighters who use technology (7 pages)
 * Cyborgs (12 pages) and non-canon cyborgs (4 pages)
 * Hypnotists (6 pages) and non-canon hypnotists (4 pages)
 * Talking animals (5 pages) and non-canon talking animals (5 pages)
 * Too many video game character categories to count and list (ex. "Adventure Characters", which is also definitely misnamed)
 * Etc. (because there are still a lot)

Another facet of the category creation issue is Rgilbert27's unfinished Chapters by Volume "project", which has just left a bunch of incomplete categories because one user doesn't ever finish organizing them. Most of these issues boil down to one or two users making massive changes to how we categorize pages without consulting anyone else. I believe a forum is the best place to discuss this, as it has been a point of contention across the wiki for some time now. 23:48, April 18, 2019 (UTC)