Wikipedia talk:User categories

Just what is the standing of this page?

I've still not managed to work out the history of why user categories are controlled as tightly as mainspace categories. Looking into this today, I'm left wondering as to what credible standing this page has.

The project page has only four editors with more than one edit, and one of them was adamant that it didn't justify the guideline tage. It has less than 30 watchers.

It is asserted to have been advertised, but if you follow the link to Wikipedia:Village_pump_(policy)/Archive_42#Wikipedia:User_categories_has_been_marked_as_a_guideline, you'll find the formal ratification is not so impressive (no one said anything).

Looking at a couple of discussions at Wikipedia:Deletion review/Log/2012 August 27 & Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2012 September 5, I'd say that it is clear that the "long standing consensus" of WP:USERCAT is at odds with the wider Wikipedian community. There is some talk of a change in consensus (ie WP:CCC), but I'd say that there was never more than a local consensus for the rules for user categories. --SmokeyJoe (talk) 13:44, 8 September 2012 (UTC)

The "credible standing" of this guideline is based on hundreds upon hundreds of discussions whose outcomes have, for the most part, confirmed the principles stated herein. There will be exceptions, of course, and the community consensus may move back and forth over time, but that applies to any guideline; the fact that there are exceptions is, I would argue, one of the key characteristics separating a guideline and a policy.

I don't consider the number of watchers to be a reliable indicator of acceptance; for example, the page was not on my watchlist until today. Perhaps the relatively low number reflects the limited scope of the guideline. WP:USERCAT applies to just 10,000 pages, whereas Wikipedia:Categorization has just over 500 watchers but applies to more than one million pages.

You seem to base your conclusion on a handful of discussions that have overturned past outcomes, but I could point to a hundred other discussions since 2012 that demonstrate that WP:USERCAT reflects the community consensus. It is a feature of category discussions in general that they generally involve only a handful of participants, and it is only natural that consensus in each discussion can be judged only by the opinions of those who weigh in. -- Black Falcon ^(talk) 06:23, 15 September 2013 (UTC)

RfC on Category:Wikipedians and subcategories

See Category_talk:Wikipedians#RfC:_Is_this_category_and_current_subcategories_appropriate_for_Wikipedia. --SmokeyJoe (talk) 23:59, 2 September 2013 (UTC)

Discussion at Wikipedia:Categories_for_discussion/Log/2014_February_14#Category:Wikipedians_who_edit_Wikipedia

You are invited to join the discussion at Wikipedia:Categories_for_discussion/Log/2014_February_14#Category:Wikipedians_who_edit_Wikipedia. Obi-Wan Kenobi (talk) 06:39, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

Blacklist entry for "Category:User:" pages

Every so often, some user creates a personal category called "Category:User:Foo" (replace foo with the user's username). I propose blacklisting this patern, with a message along the lines of User:Od Mishehu/cat-user-prefix. Any issues? עוד מישהו Od Mishehu 11:45, 23 February 2016 (UTC)