[WikiEN-l] Ordering categories

[Charles Matthews]

I was checking out [[Template:Lifetime]], which seems to be in a state 
of flux, and was surprised to read

"Since Categories are preferred to be listed in most-common order, the 
Lifetime template should generally be placed after the last Category tag 
..."

WP:CAT has:

"The order in which categories are placed on a page is not governed by 
any single rule (for example, it does not need to be alphabetical). 
Normally the most essential, significant categories are listed first."

Which makes more sense to me, as representing the traditional view. 
Calling birth and death dates somehow less essential than other 
categories rather jars with my feelings.

Charles