windharp - 4:45 pm on Jan 13, 2007 (gmt 0)

I'll try an explanation, why new editor applications are still not possible. I don't know for sure, but I think the following is rather likely.

Of course the ODP wants and needs new editors all the time. But the tools to receive and process those application are amongst the most complex ones in the whole system. An editor appication requires the email verification (incoming and outgoing mail), an interface to view & process those applications and the creation of new accounts / permissions to work. Which basically is the same as "the whole system needs to be working again". :-)

With site suggestions, it wouldn't be much of a problem if they "pile up" somewhere on the server for some time before they appear in the internal system. They have no expiration date. So if technical staff is sure suggestions arrive somewhere in the system, it sounds reasonable (at least to me) to reactivate them and bother about the rest later.

But people applying to become an editor would rightly be annoyed if their applications are just stacked somewhere. Especially since doing an editor application is quite some work compared to a site suggestion.

I don't know what the precise status of the repairs is, but to me delaying the new applications until one can quite sure nothing will go wrong sounds reasonable.