The 'added whitespace' flaw when category tags are placed at the top of articles may be a way to solve the template cruft problem, while still showing a visible change on the article itself (i.e the extra line of whitespace). In otherwords, corrections templates (cleanup - merge - delete - etc) needing to be made can be hidden in the article, and can be seen by editors when they click the edit link.
If that's too subtle and difficult (ie links dont work) a simple edit issues box (like a {{shortcut}} box) could give everybody note that there are issues regarding the article, and link to the talk page where people can stick any number of templates they want.
SV
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