Back in our initial post, we mentioned that this site would serve as a forum for editors to share their stories. Why they joined. What they get out of the experience and why it matters to them.
Below is the first of many posts from our editors talking about why they joined the community.
Everyone say "hi" to ODP Editor Laigh : )
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The background to me applying was simple. I have written a few websites over the last two or three years and of course during this time I had come across the
I would like to point out at this time that NONE of my websites are listed in DMOZ and I declared
I first applied to join the
I received a rejection e-mail within about two days but this time I had a comment on it. It basically said that I had not filled in a certain part of the form correctly. I had a look and could have kicked myself. The form said in black and white what I needed to do but I hadn't done it right.
I had read the form religiously several times but this showed me that I had been looking at the form but not really reading it. I applied again with the parts fixed and within two days I received my joining e-mail to my complete surprise.
I immediately signed in and it was then that light began to dawn on me about the enormity of the actual community and the work that they do. It also dawned on me very quickly the reasons that you can only apply for a small category. There is so much to learn on how the system works and how to get started. I actually read for two days before I started to actually edit anything.
I quickly became enthralled with the community and now after two months or so have completed about 3000 edits. I really enjoy being part of this community and hope to be part of it for a long while.
To those reading this that are thinking of or have applied, there is a HUGE amount of help to be had. I have had nothing but encouragement from many folk in the
All that is left for me to say is that if you are thinking of applying to be an editor, please do. It is a great experience, definitely worthwhile and brings a great deal of personal satisfaction.
1. Since we are writing DMOZ stories here is mine...
You can find everything about by typing my name into Google, I run content rich pretty boring 2161+ pages multitopic multilanguage historical hobby website before I even applied to become editor I managed to get 9 deeplinks listed in DMOZ with almost no changes to description! Since I was constantly moving my website around for extra space I decided to spare DMOZ editors of having to constantly update URL of my website. I've diligently listed all of my affiliations including ones I hate or had a grudge with!
Let me check old e-mails, I've applied for editor 31 March 2004, got approved on 11 April for entire Total War series now Games category although I applied only for Medieval subcategory (which had one of my deeplinks already listed), didn't do much until 2005 (finding new websites to list is hard with such narrow topic) when my editor account expired for inactivity but got on reinstated 13 June 2005.
Applied for two totally deserted categories of two video games which I was playing at the time and got rejected because of use of acronyms, repeating and hype word huge which is used only 889 at DMOZ!??
http://search.dmoz.org/cgi-bin/search?search=huge
Few months later I reapplied for another category and got approved (this one also had my website deeplinks listed), I reapplied for one of previously rejected categories and this spent few weeks on waiting list until I applied for another category and got approved for both of them.
Few months later senior editors delist of my links screaming hype although I have used same description in my application for THAT category!??? Few months later I have restored link to my website while I was adding whole bunch of other websites.
In the meanwhile I have discovered gold mine called creating new categories which I filled with few dozen websites one of which being another deeplink to my website.
Everything was fine until I joined DigitalPoint forum and suddenly meta editor started checking my edits, I also made error by forgetting that DMOZ isn't wikipedia and that editor logs are top secret which must never be shown to the public so I accidentally revealed to a person that his website has zero original content and bunch of affiliate links (as if he didn't knew that already), fine my mistake got warning for that one.
Second part of the warning was confusing one based on partial sentences taken completely out of content for my posts at DP I was accused of self-interests!? Sure my interests was to promote my very odd niches which resulted in me adding over 300 unique websites virtually everything that could be found on the internet that had value to someone - and almost none of them where submitted by public, yep my categories where really obscure!
I didn't think much of the that second part of the warning and applied for another completely outdated category which I planed to reorganize and add some 200 missing websites two of which belonged to my friend, his personal and one on which we where working together, he also knows many of owners of those other 200 websites since we live in small country of little over 4 million people - all of this was stated in application to make sure that there wouldn't be any problems.
Next thing my login is removed and I'm banned with true reason remaining a secret to this day, my appeal was never replied to but since I could only guess at reason for my removal I could only write it in general and only hope I got it right.
So now I'm editor at Skaffe (and JoeAnt) doing basically same job I would have been doing at DMOZ but instead my old DMOZ categories haven't been edited since my removal and are slowly decaying. :-(
Posted at 9:19PM on Oct 26th 2007 by Ivan Bajlo
2. >>So now I'm editor at Skaffe (and JoeAnt) doing basically same job I would have been doing at DMOZ
Posted at 9:47PM on Oct 26th 2007 by laigh
3. Sorry Ivan, part of my post got lost.
Thanks for sharing your story and I appreciate that if you are as busy with your two new directory projects as you appear to have been with DMOZ you will have very little time to post over at DP and here. That is a shame but good luck with your new endeavours.
Posted at 9:53PM on Oct 26th 2007 by laigh
4. All of my sites were removed from the directory after I became an editor - I did not add them, another editor added them before I joined.
I was also accused of not following the guidelines but I always have...I'm just saying that if you're a webmaster do not expect to be made welcome at DMOZ.
Posted at 5:46PM on Oct 27th 2007 by marc
5. Hi marc,
>I'm just saying that if you're a webmaster do not expect to be made welcome at DMOZ.<
I have found the exact opposite. I am a webmaster of about 10 sites, none of which are on DMOZ. I have been welcomed and have felt absolutely no ill will. In fact the opposite.
>I was also accused of not following the guidelines but I always have<
I have made mistakes especially as I am new. I have been contacted by Metas who were nothing but polite and helpful, describing what I had done wrong and why it was a problem and how to fix it in the future. I was able to have dialogue about it with no repercussions in fact I believe I got a bit of respect for asking the questions.
I am a webmaster and basically I want to be part of the community for its sake not mine. My sites do very well without DMOZ with the SEO I employ (white hat of course) so I have absolutely no conflict at all. DMOZ to me is a way of helping to improve to the Internet and not to promote my sites.
Posted at 7:00PM on Oct 27th 2007 by laigh
6. @laigh
I'm glad you're having a good experience editing. I usually do as well, I've been editing for almost 6 years now.
I'm just like you. I didn't join for my own sake, as I said my sites were already listed when I joined, they were removed after I became an editor.
Just to be clear :) I did not make a mistake, the guidelines are pretty straightforward, most of them are common sense. I was accused of doing something that I did not do. It happens from time to time.
My sites, like yours, also do very well without DMOZ, it's just another link out of thousands that a good site can get, and once you have thousands of backlinks, losing one doesn't matter.
I don't care that my sites were removed, I think it's silly, I care about being treated unfairly. It's no fun, but whatever, we're talking about our experiences as editors and this is mine.
Nothing is perfect, overall my experiences have been good, and yours most likely will be too. Just make sure that none of your sites or sites that you are affiliated with get added to the directory and you should be good to go. :)
Posted at 11:28PM on Oct 27th 2007 by marc
7. Hi marc,
>My sites, like yours, also do very well without DMOZ, it's just another link out of thousands that a good site can get, and once you have thousands of backlinks, losing one doesn't matter.<
I couldn't agree with you more. Only one of my SEO tactics is directory submission. I think my sites are already listed in over 1000 directories so as you say DMOZ would only be one of many. I feel that this takes the pressure off of me wanting to list my own sites in the ODP. I have no need to.
I honestly think that too many webmasters are worried about TBPR when in fact it really doesn't matter very much at all. All I want is high SERP's for my sites and therefore high traffic and hopefully high conversions. TBPR has little or no correlation with SERP placement so why have heart attacks over not being listed in DMOZ. It is good to be listed but just as good to be listed in some other directories. Yes DMOZ data is used by some other sources including Google to some extent or other. I am on the first page on Google for most of my main keywords and not in DMOZ. That tells me again that DMOZ is good but you certainly can survive without it.
In other words I am genuinely editing for the sake of ODP and because I enjoy it, which may sound odd, but I do. It is a worthwhile project IMHO and that's that.
Posted at 7:26AM on Oct 28th 2007 by laigh
8. Hi laigh,
I have been an editor for 1.5 years, a little bit longer than you. I think the most interesting thing is developing a category about a subject you care about. Anyway that's what I derive my pleasure from, and I have even managed to create several new categories on topics that weren't covered before.
I hope more volunteers will join, it's easy to sit on the sidelines and criticize, but it's better to join and actually make a difference. I am glad you did.
Posted at 3:30PM on Oct 29th 2007 by otto
9. Hi otto,
>>I think the most interesting thing is developing a category about a subject you care about.>I hope more volunteers will join, it's easy to sit on the sidelines and criticize, but it's better to join and actually make a difference.
Posted at 4:44PM on Oct 29th 2007 by laigh
10. Sorry otto,
Another post gone a bit wonky.
"I think the most interesting thing is developing a category about a subject you care about."
Totally agree here. I am at the moment involved in three categories which are very dear to me. I get immense satisfaction from seeing them grow and flourish.
"I hope more volunteers will join, it's easy to sit on the sidelines and criticize, but it's better to join and actually make a difference."
A great point well made. It is so much easier to be a critic than to be a helper. I think that has been proven. I appreciate that not everyone may have enjoyed their time in ODP, that's a fact of life and a fact that is easy to understand when the project deals with so many diverse cultures and people, but hopefully factual and personal accounts from people like myself, yourself and marc may help encourage others to have a try.
Thanks for your kind comments and I hope to see you around ODP.
Posted at 6:29PM on Oct 29th 2007 by laigh
11. Hummm, I think Erol is a spammer. Someone should check his links - one is a porn site.
Posted at 11:26AM on Oct 31st 2007 by Gloria
12. Thanks for sharing your story and I appreciate that if you are as busy with your two new directory projects as you appear to have been with DMOZ you will have very little time to post over at DP and here. That is a shame but good luck with your new endeavours.
Posted at 6:12PM on Oct 31st 2007 by klasis
13. Thanks Gloria.
BBQGrant is on a break at the moment, so I'm filling in for him.
If there is a dubious link, it will be removed when I notice it. feel free to ping me on ian _at_ holsman . net if you see one i missed
Posted at 4:29PM on Nov 1st 2007 by ian holsman
14. heart warming post ; )
...
Off topic... but have you guys ever thought about turning dmoz into a wiki, a la MediaWiki. It is so flexible, and would allow for greater participation and openness.... just a thought. : )
Posted at 9:09PM on Nov 7th 2007 by remi
15. Hi remi,
>>Off topic... but have you guys ever thought about turning dmoz into a wiki, a la MediaWiki. It is so flexible, and would allow for greater participation and openness.... just a thought. : )
Posted at 8:33AM on Nov 11th 2007 by laigh
16. Thanks for your thoughts. I would basically say that there already is a Wiki so why have another one. Wiki is a wonderful resource and IMO so is ODP so why change either. I appreciate what you are saying but its the differences that makes things worthwhile.
Posted at 8:34AM on Nov 11th 2007 by laigh
17. I applied to be an editor but was rejected. I don't know exactly why, but thay gave me a number of possibilities. The reason I wanted to edit is because I represent Bethany Divinity College and Seminary of Dothan, AL and someone has posted false information about our school and it needs to be corrected. It states that Bethany is affiliated with the Church of the Brethern in Indiana. This is not true. Our school is not and never has been affiliated with this organization. Bethany is an independant, seminary, Baptist in identification, but trans-denominational in its student body. Please someone help me get this corrected.
H. D. Shuemake
Posted at 1:46PM on Nov 20th 2007 by H. D. Shuemake
18. The recommended way to report mistakes in descriptions and broken/redirecting websites is to use the "update listing" feature. Start at http://www.dmoz.org/ , navigate to the category page with the listing in, and copy the URL of the listing. Then click on the "update listing" link, enter the URL when asked, and follow the instructions. An editor will review your suggested update and amend the listing as necessary.
Posted at 10:21AM on Nov 20th 2007 by chaos127
19. Bethany Divinity College and Seminary is not affiliated with the Church of The Brethern, and never ever has it been. The statements on the internet regarding this is false.
H. D. Shuemake, Chancellor
Bethany Divinity College and Seminary
Dothan, Alabama
Posted at 2:35PM on Nov 20th 2007 by H. D. Shuemake
20. lol.
I know why some editors joined and why they love DMOZ so much.
SO THEY CAN promote their own sites :)
Look at an easy example http://www.dmoz.org/profiles/oshatz.html
Declares himself CEO of an Israeli SEO company. Bluntly posts links from his profile page to his clients (where is the volunteering spirit of DMOZ? You know... like do stuff free of charge?). Oh and look at his bookmarks.. also his sites.
But heck, you go DMOZ, keep it up. All webmasters already adore you, and why not. I mean just take a 5 minutes stroll in Digital Points forums and find an editor willing to include your site for just a few bucks... great deal.
I wonder if you'll be transparent enough to include this comment. I mean sure it may not me the easiest to hear, but have I told any lies? Sure maybe it's a bit hateful, but be honest towards yourself DMOZ, after years of corruption don't you deserve it? I'm sure most editors are honest and truly do it to make the web a better place. But that doesn't mean a few bad apples can't ruin it for us all :(
Hope to see this comment posted, and to see an honest reply.
Cheers
Posted at 2:45AM on Dec 3rd 2007 by Amir