Commons:Meta categories
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The proposal may still be in development, under discussion, or in the process of gathering consensus for adoption. References or links to this page should not describe it as "policy".
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- Note that this page is currently very skeletal. Propose and discuss sections to add or change on the talk page.
Meta categories are a specific type of category. They are useful tools for both finding and organizing media on Wikimedia Commons.
Definition
[edit]This section details what a meta category is.
Identifying
[edit]Users can identify meta categories by their name, content, and place in the category hierarchy. Some categories which look like meta categories are not, however, so take care before labelling a category as a meta category.
Meta categories group sub-categories or instances of a topic by a given class of criteria. For example, a topic may have several contents which are specific to different countries, and thus are grouped into different sub-categories for each specific country. If there are only a few countries, it may be okay to retain these directly under the parent topic category, but once there are more than a few, it will be more useful to group all of the country-specific sub-categories in an index category under the parent topic category. When this is done, the index category becomes a meta-category.
| Initial parent topic category | Category:Aircraft |
| Files get diffused into several sub-categories | |
| To reduce clutter, some sub-categories get grouped by certain criteria These new categories are not meta-categories |
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| These criteria categories can be grouped into specific indices These categories are meta-categories |
What meta categories are not
[edit]There are several types of categories that may seem like meta categories but are actually not. This is important, as mixing meta and non-meta categories together can create inconsistencies in the category hierarchy.
List categories by name/title/etc.
[edit]In some topics, there are enough instances of the topic that the categories for these instances may be grouped in a child category by name, title, or other such criteria. These categories are quite easily confused with meta categories as they can be named and appear exactly the same as a meta category. However, there is a subtle difference that makes them not a meta category. See the example below with some example contents, and then to the right the kind of contents that would be expected if it were a meta category.
| Not a meta category | If it were a meta category |
|---|---|
These categories are common for people and works, but can also be found in other topics.
Topical categories with contents that could be grouped in a meta category
[edit]In many cases, normal topical categories will have sub-categories with some criteria in their name which could be grouped in a meta category. Sometimes, all of the contents will be such and the category will appear like a meta category if one merely reviews its contents. See the example below for an example of how this can appear.
| Not a meta category | Would be a meta category |
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This category also contains no other types of child categories, nor any direct files within it. It may even be the creator's intent that all content be diffused to the relevant country sub-category. However, this is still a normal topical category. If the child categories were grouped in an index at Category:Artemis Accords signing ceremonies by country, that would be a meta category, but not this parent category. A key reason why this is so is that this category would be an appropriate home for certain files if they exist--for example, a video montage of several different countries signing, or a file in which there is not a relevant specific country or the relevant country is not yet determined. Such categorization would be prohibited in a meta category.
Usage
[edit]Browsing
[edit]Meta categories can help users find files they are searching for in several ways.
Organizing
[edit]When organizing files and category trees, there are cases when meta categories may or may not be useful. Meta categories have specific requirements on where they should be categorized, which categories belong under them, and what sort keys are appropriate to use for each.
Creation and maintenance
[edit]Meta categories should be created and maintained in a consistent manner. There are several templates that can be helpful in identifying, categorizing, and maintaining these categories correctly.
Naming
[edit]Meta categories should be named in a particular format.
Useful templates
[edit]Several templates can be used on meta categories:
See also
[edit]- Commons:Categories for general categorization policies