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I wouldnt mind, but you submit a site and it takes months and months to get listed. So i thought I woud help the community by becomming an editor and speed up the process for everyone.
The category i applied for is within my business field (out side of web development) I have years of experience in the chosen field and region.
I submit my application and within two minutes it comes back saying "Sorry ....."
Not even enough time for someone to read it?
Anyone have any ideas on whats going on here, has anyone become a dmoz editor, if so did you lie to get in :) (joking) but i wouldnt mind knowing the secrets of being accepted
Andrew
Reading through all the posts, i may have slipped up on my submission, I only found 1 site to submit :( - this is where it must have gone wrong.Although the other times ive applied i have submitted at least 2 URL's.
I'm always baffled by applications where the person has only submitted only one or two URLs :) If you can't find at least three good URLs to add to the category, then it's probably not the category that you want to be editing. I always think that before you even fill out the application you should be able to find a solid half dozen good web sites that you think need to be added to the category when you become the editor.
I think it makes the editing experience better for you if it's a category that you think you can improve greatly. The point is to improve the directory, not to scam the application process. If you demonstrate that you are truly interested in volunteering to help, we notice that.
dwilson what are the tips to choose correct category?
and how one can improve after getting into one category.
I think others have answered your questions better than I could have.
Improving your category, though, has many aspects. I usually start by processing the unreviewed list if there is one -- "greens" we call them. Often some of the titles/descriptions need work on existing listings. Then there's searching for new sites to add, connecting to related categories, and sometimes creating sub-categories. Category descriptions and charters are also recommended, and most categories I have seen (I can't speak for the whole directory) are incomplete in this regard.
When you have done a good job there & built up your number of edits, you are well on your way to editing bigger categories.
Don't bother lying about anything else! Otherwise, like the man said, you are just wasting everyone's time..
I disagree. It makes no sense to lie about anything. Even if you happen to not get caught, what would be the purpose? Additionally, how can one tell the truth about everything else (such as sites with which you have a relationship) without saying who you are?
Consider those as rhetorical questions. If one wishes to be an editor, the application form should be completed with diligence and honesty.
-- Rich
You may want to meditate on that for a few before applying. (-:
What possible other reason could they have? They don't like how someone spells their name?
Sound advice in general, actually, not only with the ODP. But next time you find yourself wondering "Gee, why DO so many people on SEO boards complain about not being accepted as ODP editors and/or being kicked off as ODP editors?", maybe the frequently-repeated advice on SEO boards to would-be applicants advising them to lie their butts off might have a little something to do with it. No one's doing any advice-seekers any favors with that kind of suggestion, that's for sure.
Yeah, we can always apply the easy template of cheap moralizing to the issue of who to accept and who not to accept as a DMOZ editor.
However, what would be much more interesting than someone put into a category based on what they typed as their name or on the basis of unreliable and generally irrational reputations would be some kind of statistical measuring tool which could automatically let the meritous editors rise to the top. Something like the number of times their links get clicked on as a percentage of how often other links in a category gets clicked on. And how many submissions they process and how many they forward.
Sure, some guy may rock at writing internet protocols, but do we really want him ingoring submissions and using DMOZ as some weird online massaging for his massive ego?
No, I think we'd rather the librarian type. Detailed and thoughtful, someone who actually cares that people find what they need.
Truth be told, if someone lied in their application for a job with me, as long as they were thoughtful, knowledgeable and intelligent in conversations with me, I could really care less.
In fact, I have actually worked with a couple who are obviously hiding from some past misdeed. Generally, they are humble, hard working, and productive. I wouldn't promote them to some position beneath the bright lights .. but to take the comparison a bit further, I don't equate dmoz-editors with rock star status either..
Once you have been accepted, you may put as much, or as little, of that information as you like on your public profile. You can change your e-mail address to a free webmail account, or not show it at all. Many editors don't show their given name there. That's all OK.
It's just common sense, people. Maybe not *all* bosses would trashcan your resume if they noticed you made the stuff on it up; maybe not *all* bosses would fire you when they found out you after the fact that your references had never heard of you and your degree was a figment of your imagination, but very many would. I'm really surprised how many people on here think faking applications is a good idea, and can't help wondering whether this is some kind of attempt to sabotage other users. It is definitely -not- good advice, in the ODP or anywhere that I know of.
Could you imagine how little people would say if everyone knew each other?
Man, we're not the Justice League of America. If your life is so complicated that you have a secret identity, your online affiliations are classified information and you can't be reached except by Batphone, then in my personal, completely unofficial opinion, the ODP is probably not a good working environment for you. No one's talking about giving up your social security number here; but if it's that important to you to keep your business and its website URL a secret, I don't see how you could function within an Open Directory Project.
To be honest i did look around for URL's to add, but I know the topic and area im applying for, and to be honest the sites I found were total rubbish, so i didnt bother suggesting more rubbish sites - dmoz should be filled with quality sites, and if at the time i applied I could only see one relevant site for inclusion so be it, its better than submitting 3 rubbish ones!
After all im applying to become an editor for everyones benefit, and people do not want to see rubbish within the directory.
If i were accepted, I would search for more sites and review sites. As i said i have a great knowlege of the field i was applying for (over 15 years experience) know the area very well and know of the good businesses. There are less than 100 sites within this subject and no editor! which is why it took me months to get my site listed.
Now my site is listed, i wanted to become an editor so others wouldnt have to wait as long as me for a response. - After all i have nothing more to gain as im already listed. I was only thinking about helping dmoz and other users.
Still never mind, I'll spend my spare time doing other stuff :) until i get accepted.
thank for all the comments,
Anyway my 2c.
Better feedback to webmasters - an automated email showing the progress of a review would be enough. At the mo it feels like a black hole.
Work on the re-application scripts, a complete minefield of forms, processes and scripts await the former editor.
More good editors needed; somehow there needs to be a way to get the enthusiastic but not so good candidates helping the ODP... without the demoralising rejections, and without giving the power to potentially wreck categories. Maybe somekind of Proposed Edit/Mentor system... enough accepted proposed edits and then the editor is promoted.
I wish there were solutions that didn't involve more work...
This is the Internet. You NEVER give your real name to anyone ever. Too many creepy perverts out there.
Besides, even if I did trust everyone, the suggestion that DMOZ might "check me out" before letting me be an editor is uncomfortable. Sounds like a job interview, and the people checking me out are the bosses and that they think they are in a position to turn people down.
If I really thought the ODP was run by creepy perverts that if they merely knew my real name I would be in peril, I wouldn't have applied. Note that lots of real names, addresses and phone numbers are easy to find in online phone books.
Well, yeah. That's kind of the point of a job application, right?
I'm an ODP editor. The meta-editors are my supervisors. Why is this a problem? *Every* company and organization of large scale has somebody in charge of managing other people. I have bosses in job and the real-life nonprofit I volunteer for, too. Should this offend me somehow?
*scratching my head in puzzlement*
