Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Military history/Category restructuring

message: *Comments --ROGER DAVIES talk
**I'd rather see :Category:Navies by country, :Category:Air forces by country, :category:Armies by country and, where appropriate :Category:Coastguards by country directly under the :Category:Armed forces by country. This would enable us to bypass or remove :Category:Military by country. 
*** :Category:Armed forces materiel could replace :Category:Military equipment
*** :Category:Armed forces life could replace :Category:Military life
*** :Category:Armed forces organization could replace :Category:Military organization
*** :Category:Armed forces personnel could replace :Category:Military personnel
:::Moved from main page by Kirill 17:01, 25 December 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Most of these renamings are (or should be) listed as being planned in the second (renaming) phase.  I think we'll need to figure out the top-level structure before we go on mass renaming sprees, though, as some categories may become obsolete depending on which structure is adopted. Kirill 17:01, 25 December 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Comments 

message: I wanted to air some thoughts on this off Wiki, so apologize if I'm
eating into your other activities.
It seems to me that this issue has been approached from the start in a
less then logical way, and is overly complex.
Militaries throughout history have really been a part of their
societies, and very much reflect this in their structures (aside from
weapon use). So why are we reinventing the wheel in Wiki?
Consider this for existing Military (root) subcategories:
[+] Military art
[+] Military by country
[+] Military decorations
[+] Military diplomacy
[+] Military equipment
[+] Military history
[+] Military images
[+] Military in fiction
[+] Military industry
[+] Military law
[+] Military life
[+] Military lists
[+] Military locations
[+] Military operations
[+] Military organization
[+] Military organizations
[+] Military personnel
[+] Military science
[+] Military stubs
[+] Military veterans' affairs
[+] Politics about the military
Now consider this as Wiki major root (portal) categories:
Culture and the arts
Geography and places
Health and fitness
History and events
Mathematics and logic
Natural and physical sciences
People and self
Philosophy and thinking
Reference
Religion and belief systems
Social sciences and society
Technology and applied sciences
Now consider this restructuring:
Military Culture and the arts
Military Geography and places
Military Health and fitness
Military History and events
Military Mathematics and logic
Military Natural and physical sciences
Military People and self
Military Philosophy and thinking
Military Reference
Military Religion and belief systems
Military Social sciences and society
Military Technology and applied sciences
Essentially all one needed was to replicate most of the existing Wiki
portals with addition of the 'Military' and the exclusion of
Military, Military Science and War roots!
In fact War and Military science can be eliminated as a root altogether!
Consider War sub-categories below:
[+] Warfare by era - Historical events = Military Historical events
[+] Warfare by type - This is actually a mix of Military
doctrines and and Military technologies (already there)
[+] Aftermath of war - is actually a part of Society = Military society
[+] Anti-war - is Politics = Politics about the Military (already there)
[+] Causes of war - is International relations = Military
Strategy (which is a part of IR)
[+] War deities - Religion = Military theory (the theory being
that if the gods are good to us we will win ;O)
[+] Depictions of war - Media = Military art, Military in
fiction, and Military images
[+] Laws of war - Law = Military Law
[+] Military and war museums - Culture and the arts (most larger
museums have significant art collections) = Military Culture, and
Military History!
[+] Military operations - Military = this becomes the root
category primary special 'branch'
[+] People associated with war - Biographies = Military
History/Military biographies/Military writers (deceased service
personnel), Military veterans' affairs (retired service personnel),
Military personnel (current service personnel), Military decorations
(usually attached to a chest)
This would not only make the management of categories easier, but
provide a more consistent and standardised guide within the overall
Wiki categorisation environment for non-military authors/editors to
follow.
The objective would be to make the categories more focused and
descriptive, as well as more Wiki-standard. It would half the work of
administrators since currently they are managing three roots that
describe same concept from three POVs, what happened? (War), who did
it? (Military), and how was it done? (Military Science). Is it necessary to ask three questions where one suffices? The scheme as it currently stands is a task better equated
to "shoveling sand into the sea" since there will always be more authors
and editors then administrators.
Please forgive me is this has/is already been proposed elsewhere and
is under consideration or has been discarded. -- mrg3105mrg3105   03:53, 6 January 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  On keeping things simple 

message: Category:Military history - root category for topics dealing with events 
:Category:Military history by branch 
:Category:Military history by country 
:Category:Military history by era 
:Category:Military history by topic 
:Category:Military diplomacy
:Category:Military operations -> Military history by events
:Category:Causes of war 
:Category:Aftermath of war
Category:Military history by events
:Category:Military events by scale
::Category:Wars
::Category:Military Theatres
::Category:Military campaigns
::Category:Military operations
::Category:Battles
::Category:Operations involving special forces -> Unconventional forces operations
--mrg3105mrg3105 03:14, 30 January 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Restructuring phase