Memory Alpha:Category tree

About → Policies and guidelines → Category tree

This page documents one of Memory Alpha's guidelines.

The standards and practices described below are widely accepted and should not be substantively changed without consensus. If you have any questions, suggestions, or complaints, please post them on the talk page.

With the MediaWiki software, it's possible to sort articles into categories. In order to ensure that these categories will be useful to users of the wiki, categories should be suggested and discussed before creation so that a clear category tree can be maintained and the correct sort keys can be added.

Creating new categories []

Categories may only be created if there is consensus to do so. The process is pretty straightforward:

If you have an idea for a category, first check to see if it is covered by one of the existing categories.
Before creating a category, suggest it on the category suggestions page. Explain what its purpose is and what it would be called.
Suggestions without opposition can be created after remaining open for at least seven days.
Suggestions with support can be created after remaining open for at least four days.
Suggestions with opposition can be archived after remaining open for at least two weeks.

Successful category suggestions may be implemented by anyone, including the user who started the discussion. When a category is created, the discussion should be moved to the new category's talk page, with an added {{from}} template to indicate where the discussion originated. Make sure to use sort keys where needed when implementing a new category.

Types of categories []

There are two general types of categories: a list category and a locational category. List categories generally just list articles that are the name of the category, while locational categories generally contain articles that are related to the name of the category.

While the overall category structure is a work in progress, these categories are a good place to start browsing.

Note that this is just a small sample of the categories that are currently in use. For a complete list, see the full category listing or tree.

In-universe categories[]

These categories are used on in-universe articles, and are named to maintain Memory Alpha's point of view.

Category:Planets: This is a list category (a category for instances of planets). This means that every planet may, and should, be included in this category. Don't include moons, planetoids, asteroids or other celestial bodies, colonies, cities, lists of planets, or other articles related to planets. If the name of the planet contains a Roman numeral, use a sort key in which this numeral is replaced by a double-digit (Example: [[Category:Planets|Rigel 07]] for Rigel VII).
Category:Qo'noS: This is a locational category. Anything (species items, terms) relating to Qo'noS or Klingons, who are native to Qo'noS, should be listed here.
Category:Delphic Expanse: This is a locational category. Anything (species, planets, terms) relating to the Delphic Expanse area should be listed here.
Category:Mirror universe: This is a locational category for anything relating to the mirror universe. Only articles directly talking about "mirror universe items" should be listed here.
Category:Sectors: This is another list category. Include all sectors, but nothing else - no quadrants, zones, areas, regions, systems, no lists of sectors or other articles related to sectors.
Category:Starships: List category for individual starships.
Category:Starship classes: List category for all starship classes.

Production POV categories[]

These categories are used on production articles, which are written from the real world POV.

Episodes: List categories for episodes of all the series and films.

Performers: List categories for all performers in the series and films.

Maintenance categories[]

We also use categories to help with the regular maintenance task of listing specific articles somewhere ("attention needed", "featured article", etc.) by creating a category and adding it to the relevant template. The prefix "Memory Alpha" is used for all maintenance categories that are included via a template.

Category:Memory Alpha images: main category for "images" uploaded on this site.
Category:Memory Alpha audio files: main category for "audio files" uploaded on this site.
Category:Memory Alpha featured articles: category for all featured articles. Use via template {{featured}} only.
Category:Memory Alpha pages needing attention: supercategory for "special" PNA categories - also category for PNAs that don't belong on those subcategories. Use via template {{pna}} only.
Category:Memory Alpha inaccurate articles: category for "inaccurate" PNAs. Use via template {{pna-inaccurate}} only.
Category:Memory Alpha incomplete articles: category for "incomplete" PNAs. Use via template {{pna-incomplete}} only.
Category:Memory Alpha unformatted articles: category for "unformatted" PNAs. Use via template {{pna-unformatted}} only.