  <h1 align="center">Reorganising Categories</h1>
  <ul class="toc">
    <li><a href="#basic">Basic Principles</a></li>
    <li><a href="#background">Read Background Information (If It Exists)</a> </li>
    <li><a href="#mockup">Create a Mock-up</a></li>
    <li><a href="#thread">Start a Forum Thread</a></li>
    <li><a href="#invite">Invite Affected Editors</a></li>
    <li><a href="#comment">Give Everybody a Chance to Comment</a></li>
    <li><a href="#ideas">Entertain the Ideas of Others</a></li>
    <li><a href="#wrapping">Wrapping Things Up</a></li>
  </ul>
  <h3><a name="basic"></a>Basic Principles</h3>
  <p>You may feel that your category's taxonomy is sub-optimal. You may have a 
    suggestion as to how it could be improved. If so, then there are some key 
    points to bear in mind:</p>
  <ul>
    <li>No editor owns their category. Therefore, you should discuss suggested 
      changes in the editor fora prior to effecting them.</li>
    <li>Categories should never be moved manually. This is to say that you should 
      not move/rename a category by creating a new category, populating it with 
      sites from a pre-existing category, and then deleting the old category. 
      This procedure can be carried out quickly, easily, and effectively by editors 
      with catmv privileges.</li>
    <li>Search for related categories, and ensure that the appropriate relcats/@links 
      are in place (for more information on these concepts see: <a href="/ddp/01001/">Categories: 
      Related Categories and @links</a></li>
    <li>Remember the user. The prime purpose of a category is to help the user 
      locate relevant sites. There are a number of ways that most categories can 
      be structured, and when in doubt as to which organisation should be used, 
      decide which will be the easiest for the user to navigate.</li>
  </ul>
  <h3><a name="background"></a>Read Background Information (If It Exists) </h3>
  <p>Before you start you should review the <a href="http://dmoz.org:8080/preferredterms.html">Preferred 
    Terms</a> list and <a href="/ddp/01005/">Categories: Creating Sub-categories</a>. 
    In addition, it's advisable to read up on how the original ontology of the 
    category was determined, and if available previous reorg threads. Such threads 
    can be located via Forum Search. You're more likely to receive better results 
    if you restrict your search to the appropriate top-level category's forum.</p>
  <h3><a name="mockup"></a>Create a Mock-up</h3>
  <p>It is far easier to envisage a proposal, particularly one for a complex structure, 
    if one can actually see how it would look. Therefore, it is advisable to create 
    a mock-up category in your bookmarks beforehand, so that you can show your 
    fellow editors. A suggested way in which to go about this:</p>
  <ul>
    <li>Create a category in your bookmarks. Call it something like &quot;Pets_Reorg&quot;.</li>
    <li>Create sub-categories, and if necessary subdivide them as well. Use descriptive, 
      non-redundant names. You may wish to consult: <a href="/ddp/01005/">Categories: 
      Creating</a></li>
    <li>Insert the relevant @links/relcats.</li>
    <li>Add detailed category descriptions that clearly define the scope of the 
      categories you've created.</li>
    <li> If necessary, experiment with Sort Priority to better separate like categories 
      on the page.</li>
    <li> If you find that you wish to move/rename a category, you are free to 
      do so manually as they will contain no sites and they're being used for 
      testing purposes, or, you can request that a meta make the changes for you.</li>
  </ul>
  <h3><a name="thread"></a>Start a Forum Thread</h3>
  <p>Start a thread in the appropriate top-level forum. So for instance if you 
    were proposing a reorganisation of a category within Recreation/ you should 
    post to the Recreation/ forum. I suggest a title such as: <i>Recreation/Pets 
    - Reorg Proposal</i>. In the first post of the thread provide a concise explanation 
    of your idea, and a link to your mock-up category.</p>
  <h3><a name="invite"></a>Invite Affected Editors</h3>
  <p>Most editors don't regularly read the fora, therefore you should notify them 
    of the thread you have started, and request their comments. The way in which 
    you invite them depends on the size of the category in question, and its depth 
    in the taxonomy. As a general rule you should invite at least the editors 
    from the category you are proposing to reorganise, and those listed for the 
    category below. So for instance if you were attempting to reorganise Foo/Widgets/By_Colour/Purple 
    you'd invite all editors of that category and all editors of Foo/Widgets/By_Colour. 
    There are no hard and fast rules as to who should be invited; you should exercise 
    good judgement as always; but obviously the more people you invite--from either 
    lower, higher, or related categories--the more feedback you are likely to 
    receive.</p>
  <p>If you only wish to invite a few editors then you may wish to simply find 
    their editor names from the bottom of the category page, and enter them in 
    the <a href="http://dmoz.org:8080/editors/send.cgi">editor feedback form</a>, For 
    larger amounts of editors, the hardest part is assembling the list of names. 
    There are tools to aid you in this process listed in <a href="http://dmoz.org:8080/Test/Tools_for_Editors/Power_Tools/List_Editors/">Test/Tools_for_Editors/Power_Tools/List_Editors</a></p>
  <p>It is a good idea to list the editors that you have invited in the thread.</p>
  <h3><a name="comment"></a>Give Everybody a Chance to Comment</h3>
  <p>Don't try to rush the discussion; not everybody will login as regularly as 
    you, and it may take several weeks before everybody has even had a chance 
    to comment. Also, I suggest not being too eager by replying to everybody's 
    post as soon as they've made them. (I've done it myself). It can cause the 
    discussion to slow down, and can result in people not putting forward suggestions. 
    Patience is a virtue. :)</p>
  <h3><a name="ideas"></a>Entertain the Ideas of Others</h3>
  <p>You may find that people suggest improvements/modifications to your proposal. 
    Generally, it's a good idea to try adding these to your mock-up; do they improve 
    the category? You may find that there are disagreements over the proposals. 
    Try to work these out rationally and fairly, remember to be polite. </p>
  <h3><a name="wrapping"></a>Wrapping Things Up</h3>
  <p>What constitutes a reasonable amount of time to wait? It is suggested that 
    you wait at least a week, preferably a fortnight, before considering bringing 
    the discussion to a close. You should factor into this the complexity of the 
    issue, the size of the category involved, and the amount of responses you've 
    received. As with most things in the ODP, there are no firm rules here, just 
    use common sense; the more responses you receive the better the end result 
    is likely to be.</p>
  <p>After you've received a number of responses, assess what changes need to 
    be made. If you need categories moved/renamed then I suggest that you post 
    something similar to this:</p>
  <p>If there are no objections then I plan to request for:</p>
  <p>Recreation/Pets/Wombat to be renamed to Recreation/Pets/Wombats </p>
  <p>and for Test/Recreation/Grasshopers to be moved to Recreation/Pets/Exotic/Grasshoppers</p>
  <p>in a couple of days.</p>
  <p>If there are no last minute objections, post your requests in the R/M/D/S 
    thread in the same forum. Remember to use the syntax specified in the first 
    item of the thread. </p>
