Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Freemasonry

Barnstar

I just created a Freemasonry Barnstar.

		The Freemasonry Barnstar
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Article review

How about we adopt something like this: Wikipedia:Version_1.0_Editorial_Team/Assessment/A-Class_criteria#Formal WikiProject review?

Splitting Category:American Freemasons by state

What do you think about splitting Category:American Freemasons by state? There are at the time of writing 862 articles in the category. Since members join lodges in a specific place, splitting them by state seems to make the most sense to me. Thoughts?--User:Namiba 15:55, 20 November 2024 (UTC)

I'd much rather see George Washington and John Philip Sousa in the American category than having to chase them down to Virginia and Missouri. --SarekOfVulcan (talk) 16:01, 20 November 2024 (UTC)

It's the basic principle of WP:DIFFUSE. I've started splitting categories by state, see Category:Freemasonry in Texas for an example. We already split masonic buildings by state (Category:Masonic buildings in Texas) and by year of completion. I think having a category for prominent masons from each state would aid navigation.--User:Namiba 16:14, 20 November 2024 (UTC)

DIFFUSE gives the example of Rivers of Europe. There's a subcategory of International Rivers of Europe for rivers like the Danube that don't fit in the Rivers by country subcategory. I can't imagine a useful breakdown of American Freemasons that would shove people like Washington to the top. --SarekOfVulcan (talk) 17:17, 20 November 2024 (UTC)

What does George Washington have to do with this discussion? His is one of nearly 900 articles in this category. Let's focus on aiding navigation.--User:Namiba 17:46, 20 November 2024 (UTC)

Remember that categorization is supposed to focus on DEFINING characteristics. In most cases, the DEFINING thing about famous Freemasons is that they were Freemasons… not that they were Freemasons from any particular state.

Even the Freemasons themselves don’t seem to care about what state a famous Mason was from … When you look at Masonic webpages that list the famous men who were/are members, they rarely break it down or limit the list to any particular state. Blueboar (talk) 18:15, 20 November 2024 (UTC)