[WikiEN-l] Category destruction

[John Lee]

On 4/30/07, Marc Riddell <michaeldavid86 at comcast.net> wrote:
>
> 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.


Forgive me, but I don't see how this could not be accomplished with viewing
the union of the parent category and relevant subcategory.

Johnleemk