Multiple sub-categories for genealogical societies

Question

i'm a little new to the category hierarchial structure and I was searching for where the genealogical societies are housed and I see that they are in at least 3 subgroups.  As I look more and more it seems that we have two or three overlapping trees, some by region, some by subject, some by other form of parent group.

I found one path to US societies:

Category: Categories
Category: Genealogy Help
Category: Genealogy Societies
Category: United States Genealogy Societies

I had seen a "lineage" sub-category and after I searched it out I found its path: (starting from Category: Society)

Category: Society
Category: Societies
Category: Lineage Societies
Category: United States Lineage Societies

the problem is, after finding it in a search, I wanted to know who the parent was and I found that there isn't one, there is in stead a:

Parent loop:

On the Category: Categories page, if you click the parent, you get Category: Categorization Help.

On the Categorization Help page, the parent is Categories: Wikitree Help

On Categories: Wikitree Help, the parent is Categories: Categories

But, when you click on Categories: Categores (the shown parent), it takes you instead to the page Categories: Categorization Help.

There appears to be a loop; I kept trying to get to the parent page, but there is none, just a circle of siblings, linking to themselves in a loop.  I don't think this is by design?

And so, I guess my question is two parts.  Is there any plan to consolidate and/or organize the categories so that there is one sub-category for genealogical societies or will there be multiple sub-cats?

Just from the Category: Societies page, I see three choices:

1. Hereditary Societies, 2. Lineage Societies, and 3. Genealogy Societies, and a 4th sub-page here: Category:Categories, Genealogy: Help, Category: Genealogy Societies, 4. Categories: Genealogical Societies | United States Organizations.  All 4 subs appear to be the same thing but in different places.

And second question, is that loop (described above) normal or a typo?

Answer 1

Parent loop:

On the Category: Categories page, if you click the parent, you get Category: Categorization Help.

On the Categorization Help page, the parent is Categories: Wikitree Help

On Categories: Wikitree Help, the parent is Categories: Categories

But, when you click on Categories: Categores (the shown parent), it takes you instead to the page Categories: Categorization Help.

There appears to be a loop; I kept trying to get to the parent page, but there is none, just a circle of siblings, linking to themselves in a loop.  I don't think this is by design?

Yes, there is currently a loop (cycle). This has been discussed in the Categorization Project, but has not yet been addressed. For all practical purposes, Category:Categories is the top of the category tree - and should have no parent. 

And so, I guess my question is two parts.  Is there any plan to consolidate and/or organize the categories so that there is one sub-category for genealogical societies or will there be multiple sub-cats?

This is a bit harder to address. First, we need to address the wording differences.

1. A lineage society (also can be called a hereditary society) is an organization whose membership is limited to persons who can prove lineal descent from a qualifying ancestor (e.g., Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR)).
2. A genealogy (genealogical) society (also can be called a family history society), is an organization or interest group that looks to share knowledge. They may often have their own libraries, sponsor seminars, etc. (e.g., the LDS Church or the Historical Association).

So, I would say there should be two listings (lineage and hereditary are technically one in the same and should be merged in some fashion).

The second point is that subcategories can be classified in many different ways, so there may be many 'paths' to reach the same category.

Comments

Thanks for your answer Steven, sheds some light on it.

Based on that description, some of these don't belong in here:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:United_States_Genealogy_Societies

but rather in here:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:United_States_Lineage_Societies

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:United_States_Hereditary_Societies

---

That is very possible... I haven't reviewed the categories in depth - but the Categorization Project's (and should be everyone's) process, would be to start out contacting the original creator of the profile.

So for example, if Lineage Society categories were created in 2012, and Hereditary Society categories were created in 2014, we would contact the creator of the Hereditary Society categories to figure out if the two were in fact the same, and could be combined.

Next, a review would need to be done to make sure that Genealogical and Lineage Society categories were not being used interchangeably, by reviewing the subcategories and reaching out to those creators as needed.

---

On another note - You mentioned that you were new to the category structure: If you were wanting to learn more, and be a part of helping to keep items like this cleaned up, you may want to look into joining the Maintenance (Category Doctors) Team of the Categorization Project.

More information can be found at:

Project:Categorization and Space:Categorization Project Maintenance Team.

---

Thanks for mentioning it, I'll check it out.

---

SJ joined the Cat Project yesterday. 

---

This is such a fascinating subject but after reading this conversation for understanding my head hurts... :)