Forum Moderators: open
1. You become and editor and submit for free
2. pay $40 for a submssion and avoid editing there
I not sure if this represents such a dearth of current editors that they need press-gang new editors in this way.....
....or whether they are in a healthy enough position with submissions that they feel they can charge.
But as I cannot see there being a long line of people wanting to pay $40, I assume that editor recruitment is the aim.
Can't compare the two like that.
If you look at the number of sites JoeAnt is adding (check it on their additions page) it has averaged 80 a day recently, which is only 30,000 a year.
At that rate it would take 100 years to get to 3 million sites!
Craig
We don't want to be compared with dmoz, but how fast did they grow the first year? I thought the old webdirectory of Go.com had about 400.000 files listed and they were very popular.
I try not to limit myself to the direction the herd is going. Just because the herd isn't rushing over to JoeAnt isn't a reason NOT to help out.
I am with you all the way with that remark.
If they are small they have two choices, either to remain smaill (which may be indeed what their preference is) or to grow.
If they grow, then they will run into the "people management" problems that one perceives exist at ODP. But before they get to that point, they have to attract more editors, my guess would be around 10 times their current number of active editors.
To attract more editors, then they have to be better known. If they then succeed in getting more editors, it may be at the expense of ODP. My contention always has been that there are only a lmited number of individuals who are prepared to edit as volunteers.
but how fast did they grow the first year?.
Not to pick on JoeAnt, but DMOZ added about 1 million sites in the first year.
> You can become an editor in less than 5 minutes without taking any quizzes. So it won't cost you so much extra time.
Tried it and it worked exactly as advertized. Am still waiting for editor to approve or not my first submission, but the system seems very smooth.
Agreed, it is not clear how well it will scale up. But at the current levels, it works.
JoeAnt has currently a front page PR of 6, which one would hazzard a guess should grow) therefore you should be able to get a link off around a PR 4 page, with comparatively small number of other links off it.
No doubt the carrot of getting more editors by offering free placement of sites to editors will cause more senior editors at JoeAnt to have to get involved in managing new, perhaps over enthusiastic, editors.
>but I balked at the paid submit so I'm just sticking with my free listings at ...
It takes the better part of 5 minutes to become an editor and submit your site for free.
Cornwall, you forgot to factor in the 300 editors that sign up every month. Nothing on the Internet is a simple linear formula.
Track the acceleration in listings over the next 6 months, then do the math. Or track the acceleration in listings over the past 6 months, and do the math.
Don't forget, JoeAnt doesn't have PCP's adding sites, doesn't accept deeplinks period, and isn't the default directory for AOL, Netscape, Google, etc. It's a nice little directory, and it'll grow. Count on it.
They already have quite a few truly volunteer-minded editors.
I am all the way with you on that, it is a nice directory and it will grow
>> you forgot to factor in the 300 editors that sign up every month
You have me there. I cannot find a record to show that 300 editors sign up every month, only that 1546 total editors are listed (I do not know if that is active or who have ever enlisted). And I think it has been going 2 years now.
However, whatever way you look at it there are comparatively few volunteer editors available to any directory on the web, that have the time and the honesty to produce volumes of quality edits every day.
Windharp suggested in another forum here that around 1000 editors did the bulk of the "work" at ODP. That figure is obviously much smaller at JoeAnt.
Provided the owners have the inclination to continue with JoeAnt then it will grow. I am perhaps highlighting the fact that more editors are needed if it is to reach "critical mass"
But where are these guys to come from, more are needed at ODP too :(
This matches my experience: five sites approved with edits within ten minutes. Very refreshing...
Even if you're not, the Guidelines are public: [joeant.com...] . Pretty much similar to the ODP Guidelines -- with the exception of Adult content considered as objectionable and a few other small differences -- and I'd say quite comprehensive...
As in any human-edited directory, I think that editorial discretion and common sense play a great role when it is necessary to go into small details, and where micromanaging every possible occurrence with straight rules could become a hard task.
