No editor for DMOZ category

should I resubmit?

[ppg]

I submitted a site to DMOZ a while ago, and it was moved to the wrong (regional) category, and then this must have been noticed, because it was removed altogether from DMOZ.

I've now resubmitted to the correct regional category. I followed the DMOZ guidelines and submitted to the deepest relevant regional category I could find, but after waiting for a week I've now noticed that there's no editor for that category. I'm worried about losing PR for the site I work on, I only have 4 incoming links and one of them is the old DMOZ one which will be gone by the next update.

Should I resubmit to a higher cat? The next one with editors is two levels up, submitting to this one would be against DMOZ's guidelines I would have thought.

I'd consider putting myself up for an editor for that cat, but I'm not sure I have the background and really theres a big conflict of interest there.

I'm not considering this just so I get my site listed BTW, but actually would like to give something back to DMOZ.

Any advice on a resubmission?

[Mike_Mackin]

>Any advice on a resubmission?

Just resubmit to the correct cat with a note after the description that says "EDITOR: I submitted to the wrong category by mistake the first time"

[edited by: Mike_Mackin at 2:26 pm (utc) on Aug. 26, 2002]

[Chris_R]

I would advise you spell editor right :)

[Mike_Mackin]

LOL ;)

[ppg]

Thanks Mike, but I think you got the wrong end of the stick - my fault for rambling on too much as usual.

I'll try again - I have resubmitted to the correct cat now, but there's no editor for that cat. I'm worried my submission is going to languish and not be noticed by anyone. But I don't want to resubmit to the wrong cat just because its got an active editor.

[Laisha]

The fact that there's no editor in that specific category is not relevant.

Higher editors take care of subcategories, as do metas, editalls, and catmods. The fact that it's in a Regional category stands you in better stead, since editors in Regional seem to take care of business faster. I know at least 4 metas who do Regional edits almost exclusively when they're "relaxing." :)

[ppg]

Thanks very much Laisha, thats what I was looking for.

I'll sit here biting my fingernails for a while yet then :)

[Ozdachs]

I'd consider putting myself up for an editor for that cat, but I'm not sure I have the background and really theres a big conflict of interest there.

I wouldn't want your offer to edit to go by unacknowledged or unencouraged.

If you feel you have the time and can follow the editing rules, please apply. DMOZ rules allow people to edit in categories they have a business association with. However, the editors need to be impartial in their editing, declare their business associations, and play fair.

Pick three quality sites which should be added to the category, write up good descriptions, and include them in your on-line applications. (One of the new "quality" sites can be yours, BTW!)

You would have to feel comfortable about your "background". But, don't be discouraged from applying to be an editor because there is already an editor in a higher up category. That person likely has a bunch of categories to work on and monitor, and someone helping in a lower-level category would be, well, a help! There are lots of places for editalls and catmods to "relax"!

[Beachboy]

Yeah, I'm currently "relaxing" all over Los Angeles County....

[stockcar1]

When I became an editor for DMOZ I had a list in my category that you would not believe.I'm reviewing them by submission date therefore the oldest one is the one I review first. Hope this helps you understand the length of time it takes.

[ppg]

Thanks for the response Ozdachs. Certainly I'll look into it. I already know of a couple of competitor sites to my companies site which I think should also be in that cat. Time may be an issue for me but since its in a good cause I'm sure I can make the time.

Can anyone give me a rough idea of how much time you need to input to keep up a cat with presently about 70 entries?

[Callum]

>>> how much time you need

I have one very low level category at DMOZ. It has 360 entries which I'm reducing at the moment and sending many of them over to a REGIONAL/UK category - that's taking time. However, in my experience, I have about 10 new inclusions per week and I find the experience rather interesting. My wife occassionally hears me laughing out loud or swearing my head off!

When you first take over a category, and it didn't have an editor, you could find it in a hell of a mess. Eventually, you do need to check every single listing, examine the description and be prepared to send it to another category. I rarely mail another category editor and I take no notice if the category that I'm sending the listing to, has an editor. I don't have that time/luxury.

What is interesting is that I have a major conflict of interest and I find myself being extra diligent with my competitors and strangely enough being very fair indeed.

Sign up - go ahead! You could always resign if it doesn't work out for you. I'm amazed that more webmasters don't apply.

Callum.

PS - I suppose there are quite a number of DMOZ editors here? (I'm new around these parts).

[Beachboy]

Yes, those who become Dmoz editors can get the surprise of their lives when they discover a new category has 70 or 120 or 480 unreviewed sites. I know people that's happened to. It is far easier to put in an hour or two a week to keep a category up to date, rather than let months go by and have to deal with a huge backlog...so I hear. ;)

[PaulPaul]

I suspect some of the DMOZ editors submitted their application to DMOZ, just to get sites they are affiliated with, highly rated. Then they give up on their DMOZ responsibilities, and that category goes to hell. I pretty much have given up on DMOZ.

[Callum]

That's exactly what I did. Then I became "addicted".

:)

Callum.

[Beachboy]

To get them "highly rated"? And how might they do that, exactly? If you think there is something an editor can do to manually position his or her site at a specific place in the SERPs, there isn't.

[PaulPaul]

They could submit, and accept their websites into high PR categories. They also get to put their website into their profile which also provides a high PR link.

:)

[Beachboy]

I read somewhere around here that crawlers are, or will be, blocked from profile pages. And generally, categories with high PR tend to be be in the upper levels. Those with upper level editing privileges are not newbies with an agenda to get their site listed then quit doing work. There might be a few exceptions here and there, but you'll normally find upper level editors to have tens of thousands of edits under their belts, and at least a couple years of experience.

Hey! 600 posts! Too bad 497 of them were jokes.

[bill]

I read somewhere around here that crawlers are, or will be, blocked from profile pages.

It looks like they've been blocked already...check out DMOZ's robots.txt [dmoz.org]

[PaulPaul]

Out of respect to WW, I will not post links.

Go to DMOZ, find a directory with an editor, click on the name. If they have a website, click on it, and check the backwards links on the google toolbar.

You will see, a site with a title, "Open Directory - Profile - xxxxx",click on it.

And check out that PR8!

-Paul

[jatar_k]

There was a recent thread about that exact issue

Bookmarks of the DMOZ-editors [webmasterworld.com]

I think I read that this is only a recent development though so the backward links will still be around for a while.