Dec 14th 2007 3:19PM
Team DMOZ
As a follow up to our last post and as a chance to continue allowing our editors the chance to share their experiences with the world at large, here is a post that came to us from a fairly new member of the editorial community.
Unlike the previous post about why folks join, this speaks to a perception of DMOZ/ODP as a group of elitist few or a tribe of warring editors. A popular mis-conception that seems to pop up when whenever DMOZ pops up.
In fact, what the DMOZ community is...is a team. A collaborative group that partners to produce the data and results that so many people around the planet rely on.
Read away and let us know what you think.
-----------------------------------
Team that is ODP
I am now three months into my ODP "career" and enjoying it even more than when I started.
My eyes are still being opened daily about the enormity and complexity of the directory but one thing that has struck me most of all is the fellowship and the "team" nature of it all. The team spirit is obvious in many things that we do and very apparent from all people involved from those in staff to editors.
I have chosen my words in my last sentence very carefully and for a reason. You will notice that I did not say something like "...very apparent from all people involved from those in staff down to editors" or "very apparent from all people involved from those in all levels".
The overriding feelings that I get is that we are all in this because we care about the directory. Yes there are different people doing slightly different jobs but the overwhelming care is about the directory and I have met no one that seems only out for their own agenda. Of course there are disagreements about how things should be done, that will happen in any organization which is made up of people from the whole planet, but things are discussed, usually at length, and resolutions are come to.
Over the last few months I have been seeing things from a slightly different perspective than before I was an editor. I can see that many of the accusations made against the ODP are unfounded and sometimes downright wrong.
I do feel that some of the accusations come from people who think that the ODP is a "mutually exclusive club for the few" that no ordinary person can join and that the directory is a place that you would not be allowed access to unless you are part of that exclusive club. I must start off by saying that I am just an ordinary person who liked the look of the directory and applied to become an editor. I did not know any editors and I did not have any sites in the directory.
Anybody can apply to become an editor and as long as you have the skills to do the job then you will be welcomed. I have seen posts from people that have been rejected and are quite upset by this. We are very proud of this directory that we are all helping to build so it is without reservation that I say, the integrity of the directory has to be protected or it would just end up in chaos and would not be an entity worth doing. Some people are better at some things than others. Some people have the right skills for editing, some do not. That is no reflection on them as a person, which is how it is seems to be taken.
I would be willing to wager a lot of money that they will be capable of doing things that I am not. For instance, I am totally inept and drawing and artwork. Where would we be today without all the wonderful artists in the world. If I applied for a job as an artist, no matter how much I wanted it, I would be rejected. There are also many places within the directory that I could not edit in. The many parts of the directory that are not in the English language are out of bounds for me personally as I cannot speak any languages fluently enough to edit in them. If I applied to edit in these parts of the directory I would be rejected quite obviously.
There are some people out in Internet land that are vehement ODP haters and no matter what anybody says that will be their attitude. That is their business. I have also seen many folk slagging off the ODP and using unsubstantiated claims to forward their point of view. The ODP team has an official way of dealing with any claims of wrong doing and if substantiated these instances are dealt with both severely and unequivocally.
I would like to say that if you see anything that does not look right, DO NOT HESITATE to report it and the matter will be investigated. No one person is above ODP.
I have really enjoyed being part of this team and I would cordially invite all those who would like to be part of it as well to become editors. It is a really rewarding hobby and I would recommend it to anyone. I would also say to those that do not want to become editors but want to participate that your help is also most welcome. Please feel free to submit sites that you find on the Internet and are not listed and as discussed above please do not hesitate to let us know of problems that you find. Together we can make a great directory and the Internet a better place.
-----------------------
While this editor has remained nameless, feel free to ping me directly from this site :)
BBQGrant
Unlike the previous post about why folks join, this speaks to a perception of DMOZ/ODP as a group of elitist few or a tribe of warring editors. A popular mis-conception that seems to pop up when whenever DMOZ pops up.
In fact, what the DMOZ community is...is a team. A collaborative group that partners to produce the data and results that so many people around the planet rely on.
Read away and let us know what you think.
-----------------------------------
Team that is ODP
I am now three months into my ODP "career" and enjoying it even more than when I started.
My eyes are still being opened daily about the enormity and complexity of the directory but one thing that has struck me most of all is the fellowship and the "team" nature of it all. The team spirit is obvious in many things that we do and very apparent from all people involved from those in staff to editors.
I have chosen my words in my last sentence very carefully and for a reason. You will notice that I did not say something like "...very apparent from all people involved from those in staff down to editors" or "very apparent from all people involved from those in all levels".
The overriding feelings that I get is that we are all in this because we care about the directory. Yes there are different people doing slightly different jobs but the overwhelming care is about the directory and I have met no one that seems only out for their own agenda. Of course there are disagreements about how things should be done, that will happen in any organization which is made up of people from the whole planet, but things are discussed, usually at length, and resolutions are come to.
Over the last few months I have been seeing things from a slightly different perspective than before I was an editor. I can see that many of the accusations made against the ODP are unfounded and sometimes downright wrong.
I do feel that some of the accusations come from people who think that the ODP is a "mutually exclusive club for the few" that no ordinary person can join and that the directory is a place that you would not be allowed access to unless you are part of that exclusive club. I must start off by saying that I am just an ordinary person who liked the look of the directory and applied to become an editor. I did not know any editors and I did not have any sites in the directory.
Anybody can apply to become an editor and as long as you have the skills to do the job then you will be welcomed. I have seen posts from people that have been rejected and are quite upset by this. We are very proud of this directory that we are all helping to build so it is without reservation that I say, the integrity of the directory has to be protected or it would just end up in chaos and would not be an entity worth doing. Some people are better at some things than others. Some people have the right skills for editing, some do not. That is no reflection on them as a person, which is how it is seems to be taken.
I would be willing to wager a lot of money that they will be capable of doing things that I am not. For instance, I am totally inept and drawing and artwork. Where would we be today without all the wonderful artists in the world. If I applied for a job as an artist, no matter how much I wanted it, I would be rejected. There are also many places within the directory that I could not edit in. The many parts of the directory that are not in the English language are out of bounds for me personally as I cannot speak any languages fluently enough to edit in them. If I applied to edit in these parts of the directory I would be rejected quite obviously.
There are some people out in Internet land that are vehement ODP haters and no matter what anybody says that will be their attitude. That is their business. I have also seen many folk slagging off the ODP and using unsubstantiated claims to forward their point of view. The ODP team has an official way of dealing with any claims of wrong doing and if substantiated these instances are dealt with both severely and unequivocally.
I would like to say that if you see anything that does not look right, DO NOT HESITATE to report it and the matter will be investigated. No one person is above ODP.
I have really enjoyed being part of this team and I would cordially invite all those who would like to be part of it as well to become editors. It is a really rewarding hobby and I would recommend it to anyone. I would also say to those that do not want to become editors but want to participate that your help is also most welcome. Please feel free to submit sites that you find on the Internet and are not listed and as discussed above please do not hesitate to let us know of problems that you find. Together we can make a great directory and the Internet a better place.
-----------------------
While this editor has remained nameless, feel free to ping me directly from this site :)
BBQGrant
21. In my personal opinion
Team Dmoz is doing a great work...
i feel that this largest human edited directory is really gonna help many of us... It will not just help people save time finding what they want but will also help the website to reach a more and more pople all together...
thats a good work Team DMOZ...
PPS
Website Designing and Development Company
Posted at 10:56AM on Dec 30th 2007 by akshay
22. I'm glad to hear that you editors feel like a team and that you help each other. And if any of you would like to take charge of the babies and parenting categories I would be forever grateful! As of now, it is almost impossible to find a category with an editor within these areas.
Best regards, Paula
Posted at 6:41PM on Dec 30th 2007 by Paula
23. Wow... how many YEARS ago did i suggest that DMOZ have open communications outside of the hidden DMOZ forums? Lets see? 7 years ago.
O P E N up your hidden / Closed to the public forums to the public DMOZ. (What are you still hiding)
I proposed many, many ideas to make DMOZ a better entity and better environment for it's FREE LABORERS - maybe you will look them up and not take 7 more years to implement them.
Lastly, there has never been a problem with DMOZ - Just certain people who are in power. Its not about DMOZ as a utility, its about the people who control it.
Nick Sahadi :)
Posted at 4:16AM on Jan 2nd 2008 by Nick Sahadi
24. re. item 18. "if you feel you are a fine example of being a category expert and that category is vacant...we'd like you to reapply."
FTR The fact a editor may be already listed is not a reason to with-hold application to edit in partnership.
It may be best to apply for a category without sub-categories in the first instance.
re. item 19 & 20. >
These are categories where submissions have been disabled, to encourage the submission to sub-categories or related categories.
Where the apparant subcategories end in @ the category is termed a link farm.
Please make your best guess, before submitting.
Posted at 6:13AM on Jan 2nd 2008 by sutty
25. BBQGrant,
Thanks for the post, I just read it through and feel that it gives a good insite about whats its like to be an editor at DMOZ. I have got to say that it sounds like a lot of work althought I guess you can take it or leave it. Online communities and forums are only as good as the editors it you ask me. Look at the editors on webmasterworld. They are sh*t hot with new posts, commetns and everything.
Latter.
Peace.
Al
Posted at 8:12AM on Jan 21st 2008 by FireflySEO
26. the submission doesn't seem to be working on dmoz.org. the captcha comes back with a "Please check again"-message every time i try to submit
(sorry, couldn't find an email address on dmoz.org, nor a "report a bug", hence me posting here)
Posted at 3:37PM on Jan 23rd 2008 by daniel
27. @daniel: You should probably have a look at http://www.resource-zone.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49508
Posted at 5:28AM on Jan 24th 2008 by chaos127
28. You are the best people's of the net. I want to be in with your team.
Posted at 12:42PM on Jan 25th 2008 by SavaS
29. Hello I was referred by Jackie that there maybe potential visitors who may be interested in working or seeking for other ways to earn income as a full or part time basis. I am interested in promoting a site provided by World Marketing Systems. Because of my regional area (Guam) recommendations as to where I should be placing my ads to promote world marketing recruits may just be here. I an new so I don't know exactly if this is the regional area I should be in. The 3 areas of location based on Google Adsense advised in the recent google are groups are North America, South America and Japan. I am not sure if I need to notify Adsense of this change. Please advise. I am promoting possibility for others to make income as well as shop at two availabe acessible sites. Ebay, Amazon and World Marketing recruitment. Have been around and still need to get traffic to visit the site that is provided by them. There are 2 sites I would like to promote.
url: http://cmp.cathymarieshoppingcenter.com
url: http://Cathymarie.lawnchairmillionaire.com
Please advise me as to what to do or where I should go from here.
Thank You,
CP Palomo
Posted at 7:33AM on Feb 9th 2008 by Cathymarie
30. Dear BBQGrant,
I need to communicate with an editor, and I chose you because I was impressed with your post. Although I have no way of absolutely verifying your sincerity, I had the sense it would be extremely difficult and probably not worthwhile for any person to attempt to concoct such a statement. I therefore trust you.
I visited http://www.dmoz.org/user-banners, which indicates that users have submitted banners, but does not tell us how or where to send them. I have created a banner, but instead of submitting it, I would prefer to create a website (when I have time) that would allow visitors to capture a string of HTML code, insert it into the body of any web page, and thereby add the banner to that page. The banner is thus unique, in that it does not consume DMOZ's resources; furthermore, unlike the others, it allows the user to *interact* with it.
I would like to upload this banner to a secret URL, which I would submit to the appropriate editor for approval, because I would not want to use any such banner unless DMOZ is happy with it. I believe it offers an alternative way of linking to your site that would be appreciated by DMOZ enthusiasts.
I would be grateful for any advice you could provide, and again, I appreciate the attitude and tone of your post.
Yours truly,
Howard Earle Halpern
P.S. In case you should look at one of my websites, I will mention that I have emulated the DMOZ logo and uploaded it, with a link, to a few sites—but it is straightforward, harmless, and boring. The one I wish to submit has an original, interactive component, and that is the banner for which I seek approval, before making it public.
Posted at 7:21PM on Feb 11th 2008 by Howard Earle Halpern
31. Hi Howard...all claims are honest and sincere and I appreciate you taking the time to post : )
I'm a relatively new addition to the ODP community, so in terms of getting the banner into the right portion of the site, upload protocol...I'll need to follow up with the community and see.
Will add this comment to the forums and I expect one of our editors will reply to this post and provide insight.
Thanks again for the comment.
Posted at 7:27PM on Feb 11th 2008 by bbqgrant
32. Hi BBQGrant,
You're welcome. My first and only post to this blog was made Feb. 11 at 7:21 p.m. You responded within six minutes, in an appropriate manner. I think this shows that it is possible to communicate with a DMOZ editor and receive a prompt and reasonable response. It certainly exceeded my expectations . I look forward to hearing from an editor familiar with the procedure for banner submissions. I checked the box that allows me to receive an email when someone replies to my comment. If all goes well, I will be able to make a significant contribution toward publicizing the DMOZ directory. I think it is important to have a human eye on the web—after all, most websites were designed with the human eye in mind. I intend to make heavy use of DMOZ myself when I greatly expand the number of links that exist on my many websites. Most of us want links. One way to earn links is to give links. But what's the point in linking to sites of low quality? And how can we find quality if we rely solely on assessments made by mechanical entities that are insentient and have no capacity to think or feel? This is why I am here.
Regards,
Howard
Posted at 1:47AM on Feb 12th 2008 by Howard Earle Halpern