Help:Choosing Categories
From Jackcentric
This page provides guidance on choosing the best categories for fanwork pages. If you're looking for technical instructions on how to add categories, please read Category Markup instead. You may also want to read About Categories.
Categories are the most important functional part of the Jackcentric wiki, because they allow readers to find the specific types of fic that they're looking for. The better categorized a page is, the easier it will be for people to find it and, once found, the easier it will be for them to judge whether the fic is one they really want to read.
All pages in the wiki, except for talk pages and user subpages, should have at least one category. However, pages in the About the Wiki, About the Fandom, and About Jack branches of the category tree will usually only be in one subcategory apiece, and the subcategories themselves are fairly self-explanatory, so we won't discuss them here. The Fanworks Index, on the other hand, contains dozens of subcategories in different heirarchies (different branches of the tree), and most fanwork pages will have several different categories.
In general, it's appropriate to put a page in any and all categories that are accurate, except when one of the categories is a parent category of a subcategory that's also accurate. In those cases, the page should go only in the most specific, most narrowly defined category that's accurate and not in the parent categories.
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[edit] Essential Categories
[edit] Fanworks by Format
All fanwork pages should be in one format category, usually [[Category:Stories]]. Some of the format categories have subcategories, in which case you should use the most specific category possible. For instance, don't use [[Category:Art]] when you could use [[Category:Icons]] instead; a script-format story should get the more specific [[Category:Scripts]] instead of the more general [[Category:Stories]].
Most fanwork pages should have only one format category, but there may be occasional instances when you want to assign more than one format category to the same page. A Livejournal page, for instance, may include both icons and wallpapers, in which case the fanwork page here would be assigned to both categories. A podfic based on a text story will be listed on the story's main page, not given a page of its own, and so the fanwork page would have both [[Category:Stories]] to represent the text story and [[Category:Podfics]] to represent the audio file. (This is an exception to the "only most specific" rule.) On the other hand, [[Category:Series]] should never be used together with [[Category:Stories]]. The Series category should be applied only to pages that represent the series as a whole, not to pages that represent individual stories within a series.
Please put the format category at the head of the category list.
[edit] Fanworks by Creator
All fanwork pages should have at least one creator category, represented by the author's, artist's, or vidder's name. The creator categories should immediately follow the format category. If the work has more than one creator, they should be listed separately: [[Category:Author1]] [[Category:Author2]], for instance, not [[Category:Author1 and Author2]].
Some fans use slightly different names at different sites. If the creator's name category is redlinked when you preview the page, please check the Fanworks by Creator index to see whether it's already listed in a different variation. If it is, please use the existing category instead of making a new one. If you are a creator yourself and the variation we're using isn't the one you prefer, you can change it by editing the pages in the "bad" category to use your preferred name instead. Once you've moved any pages in the bad category to your new category, drop a line on an admin's talk page and we'll remove the old one.
In general, no one should have more than one creator category to their name. If you've changed your fandom name, so that older stories were published under one name and newer stories under another, or if you've used very different names on different sites, we can create a redirect page so that people looking for you under an alternate name will be redirected to your primary name category. Again, drop a line to an admin if you'd like us to set this up. On the other hand, if you've intentionally and consistently used different personas for different types of work (such as one penname for smut and another for everything else), feel free to use separate categories for each persona here.
Please do not use creators' real names, unless they themselves have chosen to publish their fanwork under their real name.
[edit] Fanworks by Rating
All fanwork pages should have one and only one rating category, chosen from one of the existing categories (Rating: All Ages, Rating: Teen, Rating: Mature, or Rating: Adult). In the rating section of the infobox, feel free to use whatever rating system you like, but in the category section, please use only one of these four and do not create new rating categories.
Keep in mind that the rating here does not have to match the rating given for the fanwork elsewhere. Authors make mistakes, so do archivists, and a single story can end up with different ratings in the author's notes and in the archive software. If the rating listed elsewhere for a story doesn't feel right to you, use your best judgment to select a rating that does feel right. The Fanworks by Rating page gives specific content guidelines for choosing between the four rating options.
[edit] Fanworks by Length
All story and script pages should have one and only one length category. Pages in the other format categories (art, vids, series, etc.) should not have a length category, although you may want to give some indication of the length in the page's infobox or notes section.
Length information is given in two places on story pages: the categories and the infobox. In the infobox, feel free to give whatever information you think is most useful; the word count is common but not required. However, in the categories, please choose one of the predefined length categories: Microfics, Ficlets, Short Stories, Long Stories, Novels, Epics, or WIPs. Drabbles are a subcategory of Microfics, Long Stories includes subcategories for novelettes and novellas, and Novels includes subcategories for short and long novels. If you know the specific word count, please use the appropriate subcategory. The individual category pages in the Fanworks by Length index give specific word count guidelines for each category.
[edit] Recommended Categories
[edit] Fanworks by Relationship
If a relationship is central to the story or other fanwork, please include the corresponding relationship category. There's no need to include a category for every relationship mentioned in a story, only those that are significant to the story or to Jack within the story.
Relationship category names should follow the standard convention of a dash to indicate platonic relationships and a slash to indicate romantic or sexual relationships. Jack's name should come first in the category name, even if the pairing is one where it normally wouldn't. For instance, if you would normally class a story as Nine/Jack, it's fine to put "Nine/Jack" in the pairing section of the infobox, but the category itself should be "Jack/Nine".
If the relationship doesn't involve Jack, please think twice about whether the relationship is significant enough to need a category. If it is, please think twice about whether the story belongs at Jackcentric. It might -- it's possible, for instance, to have a story that involves Gwen/Rhys in a major way but is still Jackcentric. However, that won't usually be the case.
Please do not create specific categories for pairings with original characters. For sexual or romantic relationships, use Jack/OFC, Jack/OMC, or for indeterminate genders, Jack/Other. There are also specific categories for semi-original characters that can be grouped together easily. These include characters whose names and personalities we don't know but whose existence is mentioned or implied in canon, such as Jack-Jack's Mother, Jack/Executioners, or Jack/Acrobat Twins. There's also a special category for Jack paired with an OC who is a clone, reincarnation, or other avatar of Ianto. Use your best judgment for stories like this; sometimes they should get just a Jack/Ianto category, sometimes just the Jack/Ianto-Avatar category, sometimes both. There are also special categories for stories involving Jack with an OC child (note that this category is for stories where the parent-child relationship itself is important, not merely for any story where he has a child) or with an OC Doctor. There may be other "character type" categories as well; please browse through the Fanworks by Relationship index to see what categories exist.
On the other hand, please do use specific named categories for relationships that match Jack with any named canon character in the Whoniverse or crossover 'verses, regardless of whether the relationship itself is canon. Most relationship category names will be intuitive, but please keep the following in mind:
- There's no need to include surnames, unless there's another character with the same first name or the character is primarily known by their surname.
- For threesomes, please check the index to determine the order of the second and third names.
- Each relationship category needs to be listed separately: [[Category:Pairing1]] [[Category:Pairing2]], not [[Category:Pairing1, Pairing2]].
If no particular relationship plays a major role in the story, it can go in Category:Gen for nonsexual stories or Category:Jack Solo for stories that are sexually explicit.
