Wikipedia:WikiProject The Simpsons/Proposal for managing song lists on Simpsons episodes

This is a proposal to better manage the list of songs features in each episode of The Simpsons and the complete list at List of songs featured in The Simpsons.

In short, I propose that they are managed by categories - add each song to a category corresponding to the episode it's on, then each episode page gets a link to a list of its songs. The current system is 'adhoc' in that there's no guarantee that a link on the 'list of songs' page will be also on the episode page or mentioned on the song page - this system ensures they're synchronised so a link on one is a link on all.

The Method

1. To any song featured in an episode, we'd add it into a category relating to the episode - for instance, on the page for Rock the Casbah we would add the category [[Category:Songs on the Simpsons episode 'Natural Born Kissers']]
2. To any song known to be on an episode but we're not sure which, we would add [[Category:Songs on episodes of The Simpsons]] until that's corrected to the right episode
3. All these categories, such as [[Category:Songs on the Simpsons episode 'episodename']], would be added to the category [[Category:Songs on episodes of The Simpsons]]
4. Each episode page would have added a line such as "For a list of songs used in this episode, see [[:Category:Songs on the Simpsons episode 'Natural Born Kissers']]" (the first colon causing generation of a link to the categories page)
5. The page List of songs featured in The Simpsons would be replaced by some introductory paragraphs and the line "For a list of songs, please see [[:Category:Songs on episodes of The Simpsons]]". I suspect we'd have to keep the 'original songs' section and not sure about the 'parody songs' section

The Pro's

1. When a new song is added by putting it into the right category, it will be added to the episode page and List of songs featured in The Simpsons automatically
2. The list will get a consistent format, automatic alphabetic ordering etc, and will be listed alphabetically or grouped by episode, depending on which category page is viewed
3. The songs pages will gain annotation that they're used in Simpsons episodes, which is mostly not present now

The Con's

1. I'm not sure if this is 'misusing' categories, for a purpose for which they were not intended
2. Not sure what we do about songs that have no page, although that's less than 10% of the ones listed on List of songs featured in The Simpsons
3. It would reduce, but not remove, the list on List of songs featured in The Simpsons
4. For non-wikipedia-regulars, the category page is a little less aesthetic than a customised list of pages
5. Some of the songs on the page currently have comments such as who sings them, not sure we'd be able to retain those - I'd have to check on the mechanism for annotating comments on category entries, if that's an appropriate mechanism

Comments please --Mortice 22:00, 19 November 2006 (UTC)