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
__________________________________
Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005
http://mail.yahoo.com