Category talk:Tian Xia deities

{Deities list}

Like the majority of deity groups on PathfinderWiki, the Tian deities group is listed in two locations: in Category:Tian Xia deities, and also in {{Deities list|tianxia}} (which populates the {{tl|Deities navbox}), so making an addition to one location does not automatically propagate to the other. If an editor wishes to modify both lists, then you must manually edit both locations.

It's not clear if there exists an overarching policy on how to assign deities to these lists on PathfinderWiki, so User:Ravenstone on Discord has asked editors to provide any input on deciding how PFWiki should incorporate the 2024 book Divine Mysteries's introduction of the deity Genzaeri, whose worship originated among hobgoblins in the Darklands beneath Tian Xia. I think that users who look up the group of Tian deities will absolutely find it important and useful for Genzaeri to be included among their search's results. I would add Genzaeri to both of the two locations. --Descriptivist (talk) 21:44, 3 December 2024 (UTC)

A single source of truth would be ideal, but note that navigational templates and categories serve different purposes despite their overlap. Categories that might be appropriate on an article are not necessarily relevant to navigation, and vice versa.

I created and used {{Deities list}} to populate navboxes focused on individual pantheons as well as for {{Deities navbox}}, and it also populates Portal:Religion, one of the highest-trafficked pages on the wiki. It is the closest thing on the wiki to a single source of truth. If there are obvious discrepancies between categorization and the list, inclusively aligning the categories to the list seems uncontroversial. I would oppose removing categories from deities based on the list without a clearly stated rationale, because category inclusion can remain relevant when its navigational value has passed (i.e. Tsukiyo's past as a dead deity being relevant for categorization, but not for navigation as a currently living and actively worshiped deity).

Generating lists from categories, using tools like DPL3 or Semantic MediaWiki, would also omit deities that lack articles on the wiki from those lists and make it difficult (or impossible) to manually add them. Redlinks in those lists clearly and prominently indicate relevant articles that should be prioritized for creation and should be resolved not by hiding them, but by at least stubbing them with links to relevant sources.

There is no policy or definition for inclusion on {{Deities list}}, and codifying one would be prone to exceptions, especially to valid canon references to divine entities that might exist only as offhand references without mechanics or sufficient detail to define them more precisely. Deity navboxes prior to {{Deities list}} traditionally followed how primary sources organized deities, and I based {{Deities list}} on those existing navbox lists in order to consolidate them into a single source for easier maintenance and improved consistency across navboxes and Portal:Religion. As published sources change or add how deities and pantheons are defined and organized, so should the wiki.

I changed the relevant group in {{Deities navbox}} to "Tian Xia" to more clearly indicate that it's a primarily geographic grouping, added Genzaeri to that list, and categorized her into Category:Tian Xia deities as that's sufficiently uncontroversial to act boldly and close that end of the discussion. I also have no further opinion on any other suggested actions. -Oznogon (talk) 18:13, 4 December 2024 (UTC)