Help:Categorising Guidelines

WIP: We're working on this admin article!

Not only is this page a work in progress, but the guidelines themselves are also a work in progress!

Here are some rules/guidelines for what categories to add to what pages.

General Rules

Every page (except for subpages maybe) should have at least one category. If you cannot figure out which category to give to a page, leave it be and someone else will come along to fix it. You can also ask Fanlore Gardeners.
In general, do not add parent categories of the category you want to add. For example, add the "Audio" category to the Spork! An Erotic Love Story page, but do not add "Fan Activities".
Most pages about fandom-specific topics get a fandom category if one is available. Use the most specific fandom category available. For example, add "Harry Potter Characters" to the Hermione Granger page, but do not add "Harry Potter".
Add date categories where applicable. Date categories can be found under Category:Chronology.

Fan Community Pages

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Fan Activity Pages

Add a subcategory under Fan Activities if one is applicable. Otherwise, add [[Category:Fan Activities]].

Fandom Pages

A general overview of a fandom should have:

a fandom category
if there is no fandom category, and the fandom is based on a particular source text, add [[Category:Fandoms by Source Text]]
one or more fandom by canon type subcategories if applicable

A timeline or historical overview of a fandom should have:

a fandom category
the Category:Chronology (included with the history infobox)

An overview of a certain aspect of the fandom should have:

a fandom category
one or more Fan Activities subcategories if applicable

Overviews of fan activity for a particular character or pairing are treated below.

Character Pages

Articles about fannish engagement with a particular character should have:

a fandom category

FPF characters pages also should have:

the character category (automatically included when you use the character infobox template)

RPF character pages also should have:

the People category (automatically included when you use the person infobox template)
[[Category:Celebrities & Real People]]
a subcategory under Category:Celebrities & Real People if applicable.

Relationship Pages

For pairings, threesomes, moresomes, and gen relationships:

Help:Relationship_pages#Which_templates_and_categories_should_I_add.3F

Fanworks Pages

For zines, see Help:Zines.

For other types of fanworks, see Help:Fanworks.

Glossary Pages

If you use the glossary template, the glossary category will be automatically included. If not, copy & paste [[Category:Glossary]] into the page.

Include a fandom category if the glossary term is fandom-specific.

People and Fan Pages

Help:People_pages#Which_templates_and_categories_should_I_use.3F

Trope Pages, Genre Pages

Help:Tropes_and_Genres#Which_templates_and_categories_should_I_use.3F

More on Adding Date Categories

Add a date, decade, or century category to articles on topics that have well-defined dates. That is, articles about fanworks, archives, websites, conventions, and other miscellaneous events. Do not give date categories to fandoms or people.

Topics that span several years (such as Escapade) should be given decade categories rather than every single year. Topics that span several decades (such as Worldcon) should be given century categories rather than every single decade.

As with fandom categories, create year categories when the decade category becomes too large and there are enough pages for each year (5-10ish). Prior to 1960, we recommend only adding creating decade categories and not year categories (so only Category:1930s and not Category:1931), because there are unlikely to be enough pages to fill them. Post-1960, individual year categories are fine if they have at least 5 pages in them.

Images and Files

Files should have categories if at all possible. Current practice is to add 1) a date and 2) a fandom category if there is one. Optionally: 3) a specific fan activity or fanwork type category if appropriate (especially if a specific fandom doesn't apply).

Some current practices

If there are enough files of a specific fanwork type for a specific fandom, a fandom subcategory is created for them.
- For example: Category:Star Trek Art
If you have a specific fandom subcategory, you don't need to add the general fanwork category.
- For example: scans of Doctor Who zine covers go in Category:Doctor Who Zines, not in Category:Zines.
Fanart images that are clearly shippy should also have a category for the type of ship: Category:Slash Art, Category:Het Art, Category:Femslash Art, Category:Poly Art.
Images of a fan activity/fanwork type that also has a category can be assigned to that category.
- For example: an icon should be sorted into Category:Icons; photos of cosplay or convention hall costumes can be sorted into Category:Costuming; photos taken at conventions can go in Category:Conventions.
Portraits of fans can go in Category:Fans
A file that is supporting a discussion about a related fan activity should be added to the category for that activity.
- For example, if you have a scan of a convention program book cover, and there's no category for Convention Program Books, you can add it to Category:Conventions (or the specific fandom convention category if available).
Screencaps of websites should be sorted into Category:Websites or into one of its subcategories. (For example, a rec site screencap would get Category:Recommendation Sites.) If applicable, they should be given a fandom-specific category.
Images related to Filk that are multifannish/more about Filk than a given show/book/movie should be sorted into Category:Filk Music.

If you don't know what categories to add, you can leave it uncategorized. You can see a list of all uncategorized files here.