Forum:Adding a category to a redirect page - GUI method fails

I suppose this is more a bug report than a help question.

I find the Add category button near the bottom of each page very handy for adding or changing categories. However, I recently noticed that this GUI method of adding a category fails for a page that has the #redirect wiki markup.

The only dependable way that I can add a category to a redirect page is to use the source editor and type the  Category:Category name wiki markup and then save the page. Using the GUI method, the named category does not always display at the bottom of one of these redirect pages. Even when it does get displayed correctly, if I visit the page for the named category then I do not see the subject redirect page listed as a member of the category.

It occurs to me as I type this that the reason for this may lie in the annoying job queue. Perhaps the GUI method of adding a category is not, by itself, enough to make the change "take effect" and my opening, editing and saving the redirect page is really all that was stopping redirect pages from showing up as members of a category. Checking just now the job queue length is 0 but I can't be sure it was 0 at the time I noticed the anomalous behavior.

najevi 13:57, 16 June 2009 (UTC)


 * I have to confirm this problem! It even removes existing categories from redirection pages. But it only happens when editing a page. When you use the category select feature at the article without editing the page it works.
 * To give an example: Nobody has ever remove a category on purpose at this redirection page (until now). It always happend when editing the page, for example to fix the redirection (2nd, 4th, and 8th edit), to break the redirection (6th edit) or even when you try to do a null edit (10th edit). Note that all edits with summary "Adding categories" are done at the page without editing. --Justme2 15:08, 21 June 2009 (UTC)

ok, there were/are 2 different problems here, and i want to clarify them.

the original post was about that newly added categories (via the quick button) didnt actually forcably add the page to category right away (the same way adding it manually did). this was fixed last week. and pages added to a category via the quick button do now show up right away.

the second issue is that categories added via the button to a redirect page "dont show up" right away. this is a visual only bug (yes, it is confusing), but the text is actually added the page correctly.

i'm filing a bug on the 2nd one right now. --Uberfuzzy 00:24, 22 June 2009 (UTC)


 * I don't know if the techs are also aware of this, related to the 2nd bug: I have CategorySelect disabled via preferences. When editing a redirect page, and I do a preview, the category links at the bottom of the page doesn't appear. --Ciencia Al Poder (talk) -WikiDex 19:27, 22 June 2009 (UTC)


 * I'm not sure that's a bug? I just tried a redirect on Wikia without the new editor or CategorySelect and the category text still appears in the edit window as normal. I then tried a redirect on Wikipedia to check whether the category itself appears on the preview, and it doesn't, same as I saw on my Wikia test. 15:55, 25 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Oh, you're right. Seems that categories on redirect pages never are shown when previewing... I wanted to see if the category I added to one was correct (blue or red link) and I though it will be shown when previewing. --Ciencia Al Poder (talk) -WikiDex 17:58, 25 June 2009 (UTC)


 * This problem is still active! And it is regularly confusing users at my wiki, which causes them to add the same categories twice to the redirection pages. Could somebody please try to fix it? --Justme2 16:39, 7 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I think that this is not a Wikia problem but a Mediawiki problem. — TulipVorlax 17:14, 7 August 2009 (UTC)
 * It's not a problem; it's an improvement. This change was packaged with MediaWiki 1.14. Why should a redirect have a category anyway? Also, keep in mind that MediaWiki's main tasks is mainly to provide features for Wikimedia projects, and I guess that Wikimedia discourages categories for redirects. --Michaeldsuarez (Talk) (Deeds) 17:22, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

Wrong 1 because, if it would be a design decision by MediaWiki to disallow categories at redirection pages, it would have been implemented in an consistent way. They would have done it by disabling the possibility to do this, and not by having a display error after doing it anyway. Doing something in an inconsistent way is definitely not an improvement. Wrong 2 because the documentation at metawiki even explains that it is possible (source 1 and source 2). Wrong 4 because even English wikipedia supports adding categories to redirection pages. Quote: "Category-tags are not ignored. If a category is set, the redirect-page is listed in the category it belongs to. When following the link from the category page to the redirect page then as usual the redirect is applied." (source). And they have douzends of such maintenance categories for redirection pages (see right column). --Justme2 20:12, 7 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Wrong, wrong, wrong, and wrong!
 * Wrong 3 because there are cases in which this makes sense. One example is given at wikipedia. Another example is if you combine several small articles (for example a short list of items in a game) on a larger page. Furthermore it makes sense to place invisible maintenance categories at redirection pages.