Mar 25th 2009 1:08PM
A Day in the Editing Life
Ever wonder what editors do behind the scenes? What tasks they complete, how edits are made, etc? Editor mollybdenum has provided a great overview of a day in the editing life to help shed some light on the inner workings of DMOZ.
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I have been an editor for about four years.
I started out with one small category, and I was approved for more categories, as time went on, and my experience grew.
There is much more to being an editor than approving sites that have been submitted, and I would like to share a typical day in the life of this editor with readers.
This morning I logged in and went to the editor forums first. I greeted some new editors, and then made a comment in a discussion about the re-naming of a category. A rename is occasionally decided upon, for better organization of the directory, and for easier browsing by our site visitors.
After that, I looked over the categories where I edit.
There were some "reds" - these are former listings that have been removed from the directory by our link-checker Robozilla because they have been inaccessible for a few weeks.
I checked the first, and found that it returned a '404 - not found' error message. I used a search engine to learn if the site had perhaps moved to a new domain. There were no results. I left the link in the 'unreviewed' area.
I will search for it again in a few weeks. Perhaps by then, it will again be available. If not, it will
be deleted or sent into 'Test' for further investigation later.
The next site was also '404 - not found'. There were no results in the search engines. I visited the archive.org website, and saw that this site had not changed since 2006. Suspecting that it may no longer be available at anytime, I left it in 'unreviewed' for a check again later. If it is still unavailable in a few weeks, it too
will either be deleted or sent to 'Test'.
The next red site I checked was working again. I was able to return the listing back into the category.
There were a couple of 'purple' sites. The color purple indicates that a request has been made for an 'update' to the listed site.
In the first case, I went to the site, and found that the company named had changed, which the submitter
had posted. I was able to change the title and update the listing in the directory.
The second purple site was a request for a change to the description. The submitter for the 'Widget Inc." site wished to have the description read, "Widget Inc. based in Widgetville, State, Country, at 555-555-5555, sells Wonderful, Exceptional Amazing Widgets in the Widgetville, State, Country area". I had a look at the site, and decided that the current description, "Provides widgets and components. Features company history, newsletter and FAQ." was more appropriate, and left the description without any changes.
Next, I went to one of the smaller categories, and noticed a typo in the description. I fixed that, and then noticed that another site had capital letters in the description. I changed that as well.
I wondered if this category could be improved. Perhaps I could find a few more sites to add. I remembered seeing an ad in yesterday's newspaper for a site that would fit there. I got the paper, and typed in the url. I spent some time looking over the site, and then wrote a description of what the business does, and what can be found on the site. I added this new listing to the directory.
I then went off to the search engines, hunting for more sites to add. I was able to find three, out of about 5 that
I visited, that were unique and useful.
By then it was lunchtime. My daughter-in-law and granddaughter were coming to visit for the afternoon.
I logged off, glad to have made a contribution to the directory.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I have been an editor for about four years.
I started out with one small category, and I was approved for more categories, as time went on, and my experience grew.
There is much more to being an editor than approving sites that have been submitted, and I would like to share a typical day in the life of this editor with readers.
This morning I logged in and went to the editor forums first. I greeted some new editors, and then made a comment in a discussion about the re-naming of a category. A rename is occasionally decided upon, for better organization of the directory, and for easier browsing by our site visitors.
After that, I looked over the categories where I edit.
There were some "reds" - these are former listings that have been removed from the directory by our link-checker Robozilla because they have been inaccessible for a few weeks.
I checked the first, and found that it returned a '404 - not found' error message. I used a search engine to learn if the site had perhaps moved to a new domain. There were no results. I left the link in the 'unreviewed' area.
I will search for it again in a few weeks. Perhaps by then, it will again be available. If not, it will
be deleted or sent into 'Test' for further investigation later.
The next site was also '404 - not found'. There were no results in the search engines. I visited the archive.org website, and saw that this site had not changed since 2006. Suspecting that it may no longer be available at anytime, I left it in 'unreviewed' for a check again later. If it is still unavailable in a few weeks, it too
will either be deleted or sent to 'Test'.
The next red site I checked was working again. I was able to return the listing back into the category.
There were a couple of 'purple' sites. The color purple indicates that a request has been made for an 'update' to the listed site.
In the first case, I went to the site, and found that the company named had changed, which the submitter
had posted. I was able to change the title and update the listing in the directory.
The second purple site was a request for a change to the description. The submitter for the 'Widget Inc." site wished to have the description read, "Widget Inc. based in Widgetville, State, Country, at 555-555-5555, sells Wonderful, Exceptional Amazing Widgets in the Widgetville, State, Country area". I had a look at the site, and decided that the current description, "Provides widgets and components. Features company history, newsletter and FAQ." was more appropriate, and left the description without any changes.
Next, I went to one of the smaller categories, and noticed a typo in the description. I fixed that, and then noticed that another site had capital letters in the description. I changed that as well.
I wondered if this category could be improved. Perhaps I could find a few more sites to add. I remembered seeing an ad in yesterday's newspaper for a site that would fit there. I got the paper, and typed in the url. I spent some time looking over the site, and then wrote a description of what the business does, and what can be found on the site. I added this new listing to the directory.
I then went off to the search engines, hunting for more sites to add. I was able to find three, out of about 5 that
I visited, that were unique and useful.
By then it was lunchtime. My daughter-in-law and granddaughter were coming to visit for the afternoon.
I logged off, glad to have made a contribution to the directory.
21. I wonder if you can explain why 'unique' is a criteria for inclusion as you mention at the end of your article? If two companies sell the same widgets which one do you select for inclusion?
Posted at 10:49AM on May 30th 2009 by Jim
22. Hello! I have tried for over 4 years to submit my two sites to DMOZ. I did it once every year. Last Time I paid for Professional services to make a listing for me, even dough I thought my own listings were absolutely perfect within DMOZ Standards. Well, I got professionally created listings and they were submitted over 8 month ago, and guess what, nothing happens any way. My sites are legit sites and I just would like to know on Why I can not get listed? Thank You, Mark Gaker
Posted at 11:42AM on Jun 20th 2009 by Mark Gaker