In message 166eccf30510250938j6f379792v716029ba87efe42c@mail.gmail.com, Stefan Sittler kiaparowits-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org writes
(...)
Remember categories? They were really controversial when they were first introduced, but now they are invaluable, and it's hard to remember what MediaWiki was like without them.
-- Neil
I have been wondering about this, actually. (I'm newish to WP). Could somebody show me how exactly categories are helpful? A link would be fine. It's hard for me to see the usefulness. A link or three would be fine, maybe an old pertinent discussion. Thanks.
I find [[Category:Football (soccer) clubs]] invaluable - I can drill down through the subcategories "...an/..ese football clubs" and easily check each July whether I need to create any new articles for teams appearing in the qualifying rounds of the [[UEFA Champions League]] or [[UEFA Cup]] for the first time since Wikipedia started. It's not difficult to create club stubs and hope someone more knowledgeable will fill in the details (come on - had you ever heard of [[FC Kairat Almaty]] before last summer? I hadn't, but we have a fairly informative article now).