Wikipedia:Categories for discussion

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Administrator instructions

Categories for discussion (CfD) is where the renaming, merging or deletion of categories – i.e. pages in the Category namespace – is discussed and action decided. Stub types templates are also discussed here.

Categories are used to organize pages and aid the browsing of related articles. For instructions as to how to use this page, perform cleanup maintenance or request speedy deletions or renamings, see "How to use CfD" below. The policies meant to guide category renaming may be found at Wikipedia:Naming conventions (categories).

Unless a change to a category is non-controversial – e.g. prompted by vandalism or duplication – please do not amend or remove the category from pages before a decision has been made.

Categories that have been listed for more than seven days are eligible for deletion, renaming or merging when a rough consensus to do so has been reached or no objections to the nomination have been raised.

When a category is renamed or merged with another category, it is usually helpful to leave an instance of the {{Category redirect|...}} template on the category's former page. See "Redirecting categories" below for more information.

Scope[edit]

CfD is only intended for discussions where an editor already has a clear action proposal in mind. For general brainstorming on how to improve the category system, good places for discussion include Wikipedia talk:Categorization, Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Categories, and the talk pages of any WikiProjects relevant to the content covered by the categories in question.

Current discussions[edit]

Add a new entry


Discussions awaiting closure[edit]


How to use CfD[edit]

Shortcut:

Procedure[edit]

To list a category manually for deletion, merging or renaming, follow this process:

I
Preliminary steps.

Determine whether the category needs deleting, merging, or renaming.

  1. If it is a red link and has no subcategories, then it is already deleted (more likely, it was never really created in the first place), and does not need to be listed here.
  2. Read and understand Wikipedia:Naming conventions (categories) and Wikipedia:Overcategorization.
  3. Nominate categories here which violate policies or guidelines, are misspelled, mis-capitalized, redundant to other categories (not redundant to stand-alone lists), small without potential for growth, or generally bad ideas.
  4. When nominating or commenting on people-related categories, please read the Wikipedia:Categorization of people policy.
  5. When nominating or commenting on Wikipedian categories, please read Wikipedia:User categories and Wikipedia:Overcategorization/User categories.
  6. In the following special cases:
    • If the category is empty for more than four days, use {{db-catempty}} for a speedy deletion.
    • If the category is only populated by a template and both the category and template are being proposed for deletion, follow the instructions at templates for discussion.
II
Edit the category.

Add one of the following tags at the beginning of the category text of every category to be discussed. (The tags belong on the categories' main pages rather than their talk/discussion pages.)

If the category is a candidate for speedy renaming or merging, use:
and follow the instructions at the Speedy page.
Otherwise, if a single category:
  • For deletion, {{subst:cfd}}
  • For a merger, {{subst:cfm|Other category}}
  • For renaming, {{subst:cfr|Proposed name}}
  • For splitting, {{subst:cfs|Proposed name 1|Proposed name 2}}
  • For converting the category contents into a list, {{subst:cfl|Proposed name}}
  • For converting the category page text into an article, {{subst:cfc|Proposed name}}
  • For other options (containerization, etc.), {{subst:cfd|type=nature of proposed discussion}} (see Template:Cfd/doc#Optional parameter)
If a group of similar categories or a category and its subcategories, use an umbrella nomination (each category must be tagged, and for nominations involving large numbers of categories tagging help can be requested at the talk page):
  • For deletion, {{subst:cfd|Cfd section name}}
  • For a merger, {{subst:cfm|Other category|Cfd section name}}
  • For renaming, {{subst:cfr|Proposed name|Cfd section name}}
  • For splitting, {{subst:cfs|Proposed name 1|Proposed name 2|Cfd section name}}
  • For converting the category contents into a list, {{subst:cfl|Proposed name|Cfd section name}}
  • For converting the category page text into an article, {{subst:cfc|Proposed name|Cfd section name}}
  • For other options (containerization, etc.), {{subst:cfd|type=nature of proposed discussion|Cfd section name}} (see Template:Cfd/doc#Optional parameter)
  • Please include "CFD", "CFM", "CFR", "CFS", "CFL" or "CFC" in the edit summary, and don't mark the edit as minor.
  • Preview before saving. The display will give more precise instructions about the next step.
  • See the documentation pages at {{cfd}}, {{cfm}}, {{cfr}}, {{cfs}}, {{cfl}} and {{cfc}} for more specific information.
  • Consider adding {{subst:cfdnotice2|Category name|date=2015 November 24|CfD section name}} ~~~~ to the main article's talk page or to categories that are merge targets to notify users that the category has been nominated for deletion or renaming. Doing so would not only extend an additional courtesy, but possibly also bring in editors who know more about the subject at hand. See the doc page at Template:Cfdnotice2/doc for more information on how to use this template.
  • Similarly, consider adding {{subst:cfd-notify|Category name|date=2015 November 24|CfD section name}} ~~~~ to the talk page of the category's creator or a related WikiProject.
III
Create the CFD section.

Click on THIS LINK to edit the section of CFD for today's entries.

Follow the instructions in the comments (visible during edit), to copy and paste the template shown. All categories are specified without the Category: prefix.

For {{Cfd}}, use:
{{subst:cfd2|Obsolete category|text=Your reason(s) for the proposed deletion. ~~~~}}
For {{Cfm}}, use:
{{subst:cfm2|Origin category|Destination category|text=Your reason(s) for the proposed merge. ~~~~}}
For {{Cfr}} to a definite name, use:
{{subst:cfr2|Old category|New category|text=Your reason(s) for the proposed rename. ~~~~}}
For {{Cfr}} to an indefinite name, use:
{{subst:cfr2|Old category|to be determined by consensus|text=Your reason(s) for the proposed rename. ~~~~}}
For {{Cfs}} to definite names, use:
{{subst:cfs2|Old category|New category 1|New category 2|text=Your reason(s) for the proposed split. ~~~~}}
For {{Cfl}} or {{Cfc}}, use:
{{subst:cfc2|Origin category|Destination article|text=Your reason(s) for the proposed conversion. ~~~~}}
For {{Cfd|type=other type}}, use:
{{subst:cfd2|type=other type}}
When using these templates, the old and new categories you specify are automatically converted to links; do not use square brackets to specify them as links yourself.
For umbrella nominations, use one of the standard templates to build the "Cfd section name" for the first nominated category. After saving that, the second and subsequent nominations must be inserted manually, like this:
==== Cfd section name ====
  • 1st category
  • 2nd category [Make clear whether you propose deletion, merging or renaming]
  • Your reason for nominating the categories, and signature.
  • If an umbrella nomination is too long, consider using {{hidden}} to hide the bulk of nominated categories.
  • In your reason, please link appropriate articles or categories to help other editors.
  • In your reason, when linking to a category, always add a colon (:) to the beginning of the link, like [[:Category:Foo]]. This makes a category link that can be seen on the page, and avoids putting this page into the category you are nominating.
  • Preview before saving to ensure all the fields have been properly listed.

Once you have previewed your entry, please make sure to add your signature after your proposal. If nominating a list of entries as a batch mentioned after your rationale, it is somewhat neater to place these after the signature (rather than leave the signature dangling at the end of the list, apparently unrelated to your reasons).

Once you have submitted a category here, no further action is necessary on your part. If the nomination is supported, helpful administrators and editors will log the result and ensure that the change is implemented to all affected pages.

Also, consider adding to your watchlist any categories you nominate. This will help ensure that your nomination tag is not mistakenly or deliberately removed.

Twinkle[edit]

The use of Wikipedia:Twinkle greatly facilitates CfD nominations. To install Twinkle, go to "my preferences", the "Gadgets" tab, the "Browsing" section and check "Twinkle ...". Use the now-installed "XfD" (Nominate for deletion) tab while viewing the page to be deleted or renamed.

Users without accounts and users with new accounts[edit]

Users without accounts (unregistered users) may nominate and comment on proceedings, just as in Articles for Deletion (AfD).

Redirecting categories[edit]

Shortcut:

It is our general policy to delete categories that do not have articles in them. (Rationale: Unlike articles, categories are mostly for internal use only. If they don't have any articles, they shouldn't have any links from any articles or any other categories, because they are not useful for navigation and sorting.)

However, some categories frequently have articles assigned to them accidentally, or are otherwise re-created over and over. But categories cannot be redirected using "hard" redirects: #REDIRECT[[target]]. (See Wikipedia:Redirect#category for the technical details.)

Instead, we use a form of "soft redirects" to solve the issue. You can "create" a category redirect by adding {{Category redirect|target}} to the category page. Bots patrol these categories and move articles into the "redirect" targets. Notice that it's not a redirect at all as a wiki page; it's bots that virtually make them redirects.

In particular, we set up category redirects at the former category name when we convert hyphens into en dashes or vice versa (e.g. Category:Canada-Russia relations → Category:Canada–Russia relations). It is also helpful to set up redirects from forms with plain letters (i.e. characters on a standard keyboard) where the category names include diacritics.

You can see a list of redirected categories in Category:Wikipedia soft redirected categories.

Closing[edit]

When closing CfDs, document their results (e.g. with links to CfD page history) on the talk pages of the affected categories, if not deleted. If deleted, document the deletion decision in the deletion edit summary. See {{cfd top}}.

Special notes[edit]

When nominating a category, it's helpful to add a notice on the talk page of the most-closely related article. Doing so would not only extend an additional courtesy, but possibly also bring in editors who know more about the subject at hand. You can use {{Cfdnotice}} for this.

Categories that should exist but are missing articles or subcategories should be added to Category:Underpopulated categories using {{Popcat}}.

If a category is only used as generated by a template (e.g. Category:Foo Stubs to correspond with Template:Foo-stub), and that template is deleted by a regular WP:TFD process, then the category can be deleted as well as long as it was nominated along with the template, or mentioned early in the discussion.

Speedy renaming and merging

Shortcut:

Categories may be listed for speedy renaming or speedy merging if they meet one or more of the criteria specified below. They must be tagged with {{subst:cfr-speedy|New name}} so that users of the categories are aware of the proposal. A request may be processed 48 hours after it was listed if there are no objections. This delay allows other editors to review the request to ensure that it meets the criteria for speedy deletion, renaming, or merging, and to raise objections to the proposed change.

Categories that qualify for speedy deletion (per Wikipedia:Criteria for speedy deletion, e.g. "patent nonsense", "recreation", categories that have been empty for four days) can be tagged with the regular speedy tags, such as {{db|reason}}, and no delay is required to process these. Renaming under C2E can also be processed instantly as it is a variation on G7.

Contested requests become stale, and can be un-tagged and de-listed, after 7 days of inactivity. Optionally, if the discussion may be useful for future reference, it may be copied to the category talk page, with a section heading and {{moved discussion from|[[WP:CFDS]]|2=~~~~}}. If the nominator wants to continue the process, they need to submit the request as a regular CfD in accordance with the instructions here.

Speedy criteria[edit]

The category-specific criteria for speedy deletion, renaming, or merging are strictly limited to:

C1. Unpopulated categories[edit]

Shortcut:
That have been unpopulated for at least four days. This does not apply to disambiguation categories, category redirects, featured topics categories, categories under discussion at Wikipedia:Categories for discussion (or other such discussions), or project categories that by their nature may become empty on occasion (e.g. Category:Wikipedians looking for help). Place {{Empty category}} at the top of the page to prevent such categories from being deleted.
Tag category with {{Db-c1}}.

C2. Renaming or merging[edit]

Shortcuts:
C2A. Typographic and spelling fixes.
  • Correction of spelling errors and capitalization fixes. Differences between British and American spelling (e.g. Harbours → Harbors) are not considered errors; however if the convention of the relevant category tree is to use one form over the other then a rename may be appropriate under C2C. If both spellings exist as otherwise-identical category names, they should be merged.
  • Appropriate conversion of hyphens into en dashes or vice versa (e.g. Category:Canada-Russia relations → Category:Canada–Russia relations).
C2B. Enforcing established Wikipedia naming conventions and practices.
C2C. Bringing a category into line with established naming conventions for that category tree, or into line with the various "x by y", "x of y", or "x in y" categorization conventions specified at Wikipedia:Category names.
  • This should only be used where there is no room for doubt that the category in question is being used for the standard purpose instead of being a potential subcategory.
  • This criterion should only be applied when there is no ambiguity or doubt over the existence of a category naming convention. Such a convention must be well defined and must be overwhelmingly used within the tree. If this is not the case then the category in question must be brought forward to a full Cfd nomination.
  • This criterion will not apply in cases where the category tree observes distinctions in local usage (e.g. Category:Transportation in the United States and Category:Transport in the United Kingdom).
C2D. Facilitating concordance between a particular category's name and a related article's name.
  • Renaming a topic category to match its eponymous article (e.g. Category:The Beatles and The Beatles).
  • This applies only if the related article's current name (and by extension, the proposed name for the category) is unambiguous, and uncontroversial – either because of longstanding stability at that particular name or immediately following a page move discussion which had explicit consensus to rename. If the page names are controversial or ambiguous in any way, then this criterion does not apply.
  • This criterion also does not apply if there is any ongoing discussion about the name of the page or category, or if there has been a recent discussion concerning any of the pages which resulted in a no consensus result.
C2E. Author request.
  • This criterion only applies if the author of a category requests or agrees to renaming within 28 days of creating the category.
  • The criterion does not apply if other editors have populated or changed the category since it was created. "Other editors" includes bots, but excludes an editor working with the author on the renaming.
For C2A to C2E, tag category with {{subst:Cfr-speedy|New name}} and list on WP:CFDS. Administrators may implement C2E cases without delay.

For any categories that are not speedy candidates, use Wikipedia:Categories for discussion.

  • A nomination to merge or rename, brought forward as a full CfD, may be speedily closed if the closing administrator is satisfied that:
    • The nomination clearly falls within the scope of one of the criteria listed here,
    • And no objections have been made within 48 hours of the initial nomination.
  • If both these conditions are satisfied, the closure will be regarded as having been as a result of a speedy nomination. If any objections have been raised then the CfD nomination will remain in place for the usual 7-day discussion period, to be decided in accordance with expressed consensus.

Add requests for speedy renaming and merging here[edit]

If the category and desired change do not match one of the criteria mentioned in C2, do not list it here. Instead, list it in the main CFD section.

If you are in any doubt as to whether it qualifies, do not list it here.

Use the following format on a new line at the beginning of the list:

* [[:Category:{old name here}]] to [[:Category:{new name here}]] – {reason for rename here} ~~~~

This will sign and datestamp an entry automatically.

Remember to tag the category with: {{subst:Cfr-speedy|New name}}

A request may be completed if it is more than 48 hours old; that is, if the time stamp shown is earlier than 02:07, 22 November 2015 (UTC). Currently, there are 116 open requests (refresh).


Current nominations[edit]

Opposed nominations[edit]

On hold pending other discussion[edit]
  • Oppose all – The state is Kwara State. The move request has logic concerning the dab page but makes no case for Kwara State being moved to Kwara. All the other States in Nigeria contain the name 'State' (see Category:States of Nigeria) and the article Kwara uses the phrase 'Kwara State' throughout (apart from the first occurrence, changed on 14 Oct 2015). Oculi (talk) 22:01, 22 October 2015 (UTC)
  • A lot of the other category names for states of Nigeria are misnamed because they also do not match the article name for the state. Someone appears to have adopted a "convention" to name the categories "FOO State", but that's generally not how category names work. We tend to follow the article names, even if that leads to inconsistent naming patterns between categories of related topics. I think the article rename makes sense in this case. Good Ol’factory (talk) 03:00, 23 October 2015 (UTC)
  • It's Kwara State according to Kwara State itself. The article should be moved back (there was the nom plus 1 support, hardly overwhelming). Oculi (talk) 13:14, 23 October 2015 (UTC)
  • I knew this would happen. I give up on CFDS, it's more trouble that it's worth. Apologies to the editors who do a lot of good work keeping this page running, but it's too frustrating to have every single nomination that removes a dab opposed. Jenks24 (talk) 13:27, 23 October 2015 (UTC)
  • It is frustrating when users oppose C2D changes based on the fact that they disagree with a recent change in the article name that was made via formal processes. Probably the nicer thing for users to do, in the name of inter-Wikipedian comity if nothing else, would be to allow the category renames to go through, and then to pursue a reversal of the decision to rename the article. Then, if they are successful in reversing the article name, the category names could speedily be renamed back. This makes sense because there is no guarantee that they will be successful in getting the rename reversed. Users' arguments will be more or less strong in different cases—but users always think their own arguments are strong. Good Ol’factory (talk) 08:39, 24 October 2015 (UTC)
Oppose all : I concurr with Oculi regarding the singling out of Kwara State for speedy renaming mainly because it will result in inconsistency with all other similarly named categories, (Category:States of Nigeria) which follow the same pattern 05:49, 10 November 2015 (UTC)
Moved to full discussion[edit]
I have opened a discussion for the Hindu cat here AusLondonder (talk) 01:50, 19 November 2015 (UTC)
  • Thanks for that link—I was unaware of this previous discussion. It looks like I should move these to a full discussion—maybe removed from the other categories, we can get a rename for just the Norwegian ones. Good Ol’factory (talk) 02:33, 23 October 2015 (UTC)
Sorry if I missed something. Wikipedia:WikiProject_Luxembourg#Spelling_and_usage: “'Luxembourg' is to be used for the adjective of Luxembourg (e.g. Luxembourg elections, Luxembourg government). 'Luxembourgian' has unfortunately become widely used on Wikipedia, however this is incorrect and should be changed when encountered. 'Luxembourgish' is the name of the language, whilst 'Luxembourger' is the demonym.” – Kaihsu (talk) 17:59, 17 October 2015 (UTC)
@Kaihsu: Can you start a full nomination of Category:Luxembourgian people on that basis? As there are so many categories to align, this is best done through a group discussion then let a bot make the changes if required. SFB 18:01, 17 October 2015 (UTC)
I left a note at Category talk:Luxembourgish people, but I would rather someone else formally nominate the whole bunch of categories for moving. – Kaihsu (talk) 17:31, 18 October 2015 (UTC)
@Kaihsu: If you go to your preferences and enable Twinkle in "Browsing" then you'll get the option to nominate the rename through the "CFD" Twinkle drop down. The tool makes it quite simple to do. I don't feel confident to advocate the request on your behalf, as I do not agree with it, largely on the basis that it conflates ethnicity with a legal nationality. SFB 20:16, 18 October 2015 (UTC)
A similar rename was proposed in 2012, but the CFD closed as "no consensus". Based on that, I'm going to reverse these category moves. However, this is not to say that a new proposal to rename would not be successful. Good Ol’factory (talk) 02:45, 19 October 2015 (UTC)
@Sillyfolkboy: Thanks for the tip. It is good to distinguish citizenship and ethnicity, but that does not justify making up the new word ‘Luxembourgian’. – Kaihsu (talk) 04:32, 19 October 2015 (UTC)
That's a good argument for a CFD discussion and you might get a consensus around that view. Since we had a previous discussion and there was no consensus, we stick with the status quo until there is a consensus to change it. The best way to establish what the consensus is would be to start a CFD, providing the evidence of WP consensus (eg, the wikiproject guidelines) and usage outside WP that you might have access to. BTW, I don't think anyone on WP made up the term "Luxembourgian"—a casual search of old books has the word turning up with surprising frequency in reference to the people of Luxembourg. Good Ol’factory (talk)
A full discussion has been started here to rename Category:Luxembourgian people to Category:Luxembourgish people. Good Ol’factory (talk) 00:55, 20 October 2015 (UTC)

Ready for deletion[edit]

Check Category:Empty categories awaiting deletion for out of process deletions. In some cases, these will need to be nominated for discussion and the editor who emptied the category informed that they should follow the WP:CFD process.

Once the renaming has been completed, copy and paste the listing to the Ready for deletion section of Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Working/Manual.

Categories possibly emptied out of process[edit]

Note. Categories listed here will be automatically moved to Category:Candidates for speedy deletion after 96 hours.
Note. Due to limits of the software, all contents of the category may not be displayed. View the category directly to see all contents.

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