Forum:Category Tree Streamlining

I've been making an effort to streamline the category tree in this wiki since a few days ago. There are some editing issues I'd like opinions from the admins and users here:

• Duplicated Categories : There are many instances of duplicated categories. I have seen in other wikis that some categories are duplicated on purpose. Are there categories here duplicated for a purpose? If so, please state them, otherwise I intend to merge them together.

• "Big Bang Theory" or "The Big Bang Theory" : They are duplicated as the main category. Which one do you prefer? The one with or without the article? I prefer the one with the article since it's same as the name of the show. But there are other categories start with "Big Bang Theory..." without the article, and they include many more pages.

• "Episodes" or "The Big Bang Theory episodes" : Again these are duplicated categories. I prefer simply "Episodes" since "TBBT" should be understood.

• Duplicated season pages : There are pages such as "List of The Big Bang Theory episodes (season 1)" and "Season 1" which are very similar to each other. The "List of... (season #)" pages are more detailed but have pages only up to season 6 while the "Season #" pages have up to season 8. However, I want to put their content into the category pages and then remove them. What is your opinion on this?
• Sorting of the names : There are a mix of sorting method for the names of the characters and cast here. Some names are sorted by the last names and some by first. While sorting with the last names is more formal, I prefer to sort them by the first names since most other wikis sort the names this way, and the names are more easily identified in the category pages.

Please give me your opinions on the issues above. And feel free to give other suggestions that may help to improve the category tree. :)

Wavingdragon (talk) 16:00, March 9, 2014 (UTC)

• Character Sub-categories : I intend to divide the "Character" category into these main sub-categories:
  • Main Characters
  • Recurring Characters: Characters who appear (or used to appear) in the show from time to time. They may have a more important role in the series. As a (loose) guideline, they would have appeared more than 1 season and/or more than 3 times.
  • Minor Characters: Characters who have appeared only once or a few times (let's say 3), and are not especially expected to appear again. They may even have a prominent role in the episode(s) they appeared in, but are not significant to the whole series.
  • Unseen Characters: These characters, while unseen, are played by actors or voice actors. So they are not to be mixed with "Mentioned-only Characters" (see below). These characters may also belong to other character sub-categories.
  • Mentioned-only Characters: I'll divide these characters from the "Minor Characters" so that they don't mix together because both categories have already included a lot of characters. I'll put this as a sub-category in both "Minor Characters" and "Unseen Characters".
  • Starred As Themselves: This category is for actors and other people who have appeared in the show as themselves, even though they may have appeared as a dramatized version of themselves. This category also include those who have appeared as another character's imagination, e.g., Katee Sackhoff. This category will stand alone and not be mixed with "Minor Characters". However, the only exception may be Wil Wheaton since his many appearances also make him one of the "Recurring Characters".
    This category will replace "Actors Who Play Themselves" since not all of them are actors.
    Note that those who belong to this category may be credited in the show as below:
    • Special Guest Star (role), e.g., Wil Wheaton
    • Special Appearance (cameo), e.g., Charlie Sheen, Stephen Hawking
    • Co-starrring, e.g., Mike Massimino
    • Guest Starring, e.g., Bill Nye
  • Male Characters / Female Characters: These 2 categories will include all characters according to the gender, including those in the "Starring As Themselves" category.

Wavingdragon (talk) 17:52, March 9, 2014 (UTC)

I concur. Nice job. --Sheldon Cooper PhD (talk) 10:46, March 20, 2014 (UTC)

Thanks, Sheldon Cooper PhD! And yeah, I have not checked the forums for over a month. Wavingdragon (talk) 12:01, May 3, 2014 (UTC)