[WikiEN-l] Category:Soviet spies

[Fastfission]

On 11/12/05, Delirium <delirium at hackish.org> wrote:
> I'm kind of uncomfortable with this for the same reason, and it applies
> more generally.  In particular, [[Category:Statutory rapists]] sounds
> more accusatory than [[Category:People convicted of statutory rape]],
> which, to my ears at least, sounds more neutral and matter-of-fact.  Of
> course in non-controversial situations the plain term is fine
> ([[Category:Physicists]]), but in potentially controversial categories
> I'd prefer we word things a bit more carefully.
>
> Consider, for example, this case:
> -- [[Category:Traitors]]
> -- [[Category:People convicted of treason]]
>
> I think in almost all cases the 2nd is preferable.
>

I agree completely on this. If I were to speculate wildly, my guess is
one of the reasons it sounds more neutral is that describing of people
completely by crime committed merges the identity of the person and
the crime (they become one and the same). In cases where there is
considerable doubt or a lack of legal standing behind the accusation
that a person committed the crime, we should opt for the least
problematic category name.

FF