[WikiEN-l] Category destruction

[Marc Riddell]

on 4/29/07 11:46 PM, John Lee at johnleemk at gmail.com wrote:

> On 4/30/07, Marc Riddell <michaeldavid86 at comcast.net> wrote:
>> 
>> My complaint is a little different: Those who would prohibit placing Main
>> and Sub Categories in the same article.
> 
> 
> There are very sensible reasons for this - we can't let the main category
> grow too crowded to the point that it loses all usefulness, for instance.
> What we really need are ways to display the unions and intersections of
> categories, which would allow you to create the same effect on an
> individual-by-individual basis without disturbing the hierarchical order.
> David says work is being done on this, and says mySQL is at fault for the
> slowness of the work; I can't say I find the latter surprising. Hopefully
> something can be done about this on the software side, because your
> particular problem can probably be solved without having to go as far as to
> change the culture of categories.
> 
> Having said that, it's clear that there are other problems with the status
> quo that will require some changes in how our processes work - how we
> categorise things. But the simplest place to start is on the software side,
> since it's pretty difficult to navigate categories when you can't have
> unions and intersections.
> 
John,

In my work I have access to a database of thousands of case studies of
persons who have been formally treated for various psychosocial disorders.
The information does not include personal identification materials, just
age, gender and other demographics, plus their diagnosis, course of
treatment and outcome.

In each record there is a list of identifying codes. If the person's primary
diagnosis was chemical dependency, the (main) code for this is entered; if
that person's primary chemical of use was cocaine, the (sub) code for this
is also entered, etc.

Now, if I want to call up all cases of chemical dependency, I enter its code
and I have a list of these cases to study. If I want only those cases where
the primary chemical of use was cocaine, I would enter that code. For this
to work, BOTH the main and sub codes must be entered in each case.

This is what I am asking for in WP. That is why both the main and sub
categories need to be entered into each Article.

As for the countless number of ridiculous Categories that now exist in WP, I
believe this needs to be controlled by making it more difficult to create
Categories. There is a whole "Categories for Deletion" process that must
take place to get rid of a Category, but absolutely none to create one.
Huh!?!

I believe there needs to be a major overhaul of the Category System in WP,
and who better to do it than professional librarians who work with this
stuff all of the time (and actually know what they are doing and why). To
this end, I hope some of the WP Users who are professional librarians will
come forward to take on this daunting challenge.

Marc