Delirium wrote:
Stefan Sittler wrote:
>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 see them as fulfilling a lot of the functions that
would otherwise
have to be fulfilled with lists, but in a more maintainable way, since
they're maintained incrementally on the article side, not centrally on
the list side (the "list" is then automatically generated). They don't
completely replace lists, but they automate a lot of the more tedious
sorts of lists that would otherwise have to be constructed and maintained.
[[WP:CSL]] is a guideline discussing the use of categories, article
series templates and list articles. The three are complementary.
WP:CSL mentions some advantages and disadvantages of each.
(Originally written by Snowspinner, heavily revised by me, now merrily
instruction-creeping at the hands of the community. I didn't manage to
get my passionate contempt and loathing for article series boxes in
general made into a guideline, but have managed to point out the sort
of problems that will get a series box sent to WP:TFD in short order
;-)
- d.