Oct 9th 2009 5:00PM
Another Year: Two Years in ODP
We first met editor laigh nearly two years ago when he blogged about his first month as a DMOZ editor. A year later, we checked in to see how he was doing. Believe it or not, another year has gone by, and laigh is back to give us an update on his second year as an editor - it's been eventful!
- - - - - - - - - - -
Yes it is that time of year again, the time for me, laigh, to pop in and say hello and let you know how I am getting on and what I have been up to.
I have now been an editor for just over two years and have completed just over 75000 edits in that time but the number of edits is just a part of the story.
Late last year I decided to take a rest. I had been spending quite a lot of my spare time editing, and although enjoying it, I decided to have a break for a while. I took some time off and returned with increased vigour about two months later. To my surprise, within a month or so of my return, I was given further permission in the directory. I was entrusted with the position of editall and catmv. This allowed me to work in most parts of the directory and to be able to change category names. Within a few weeks of that "promotion" I was then given permissions to work in all of the Kids and Teens. I now can edit anywhere in the directory.
Obviously the senior editors (admins and metas) consider very carefully if an editor can handle permissions such as editall, and I am very happy that they thought I could. The first time I opened up my editor interface I was amazed at the amount of scope ODP actually has. I had worked in large parts of the directory before these permissions but the utter size of the directory actually dawned on me that morning. What I was taught that day was not how much I knew about ODP but how much I didn't know. Being an editall doesn't automatically qualify you to edit anywhere, all it does is open up a huge learning curve so that you can start to educate yourself to edit in places that you have not been before.
What do I concentrate my time on now that I can "go anywhere". Basically I spend a lot of my time in QC (Quality Control) work. I go around the directory looking for sites that may have gone bad, changed, or even disappeared all together. I see this as a very important part of maintaining the projects standards and keeping the user experience to the highest possible degree. I have also being doing a bit of work within the Kids and Teens <http://www.dmoz.org/Kids_and_Teens/> area. I have been working on expanding the category that deals with The Boy Scouts of America at http://www.dmoz.org/Kids_and_Teens/People_and_Society/Organizations/Pe rsonal_Development/Scouting/Boy_Scouts_of_America/. I have added quite a few sites to these categories and tidied up quite a few too. Still a long way to go but anything good is worth taking your time over.
I do tend to do a few other jobs around the project, but don't worry I will not bore you with them, suffice to say it all keeps me busy.
Anyway, time to go now. I hope I will be able to talk to you again next year. I would like to say thanks to all my fellow editors for all their help, support and friendship over the last year and I would like to thank all members of the public and webmasters for continuing to support us by suggesting relevant quality sites and using the directory for their own projects.
- - - - - - - - - - -
Yes it is that time of year again, the time for me, laigh, to pop in and say hello and let you know how I am getting on and what I have been up to.
I have now been an editor for just over two years and have completed just over 75000 edits in that time but the number of edits is just a part of the story.
Late last year I decided to take a rest. I had been spending quite a lot of my spare time editing, and although enjoying it, I decided to have a break for a while. I took some time off and returned with increased vigour about two months later. To my surprise, within a month or so of my return, I was given further permission in the directory. I was entrusted with the position of editall and catmv. This allowed me to work in most parts of the directory and to be able to change category names. Within a few weeks of that "promotion" I was then given permissions to work in all of the Kids and Teens. I now can edit anywhere in the directory.
Obviously the senior editors (admins and metas) consider very carefully if an editor can handle permissions such as editall, and I am very happy that they thought I could. The first time I opened up my editor interface I was amazed at the amount of scope ODP actually has. I had worked in large parts of the directory before these permissions but the utter size of the directory actually dawned on me that morning. What I was taught that day was not how much I knew about ODP but how much I didn't know. Being an editall doesn't automatically qualify you to edit anywhere, all it does is open up a huge learning curve so that you can start to educate yourself to edit in places that you have not been before.
What do I concentrate my time on now that I can "go anywhere". Basically I spend a lot of my time in QC (Quality Control) work. I go around the directory looking for sites that may have gone bad, changed, or even disappeared all together. I see this as a very important part of maintaining the projects standards and keeping the user experience to the highest possible degree. I have also being doing a bit of work within the Kids and Teens <http://www.dmoz.org/Kids_and_Teens/> area. I have been working on expanding the category that deals with The Boy Scouts of America at http://www.dmoz.org/Kids_and_Teens/People_and_Society/Organizations/Pe rsonal_Development/Scouting/Boy_Scouts_of_America/. I have added quite a few sites to these categories and tidied up quite a few too. Still a long way to go but anything good is worth taking your time over.
I do tend to do a few other jobs around the project, but don't worry I will not bore you with them, suffice to say it all keeps me busy.
Anyway, time to go now. I hope I will be able to talk to you again next year. I would like to say thanks to all my fellow editors for all their help, support and friendship over the last year and I would like to thank all members of the public and webmasters for continuing to support us by suggesting relevant quality sites and using the directory for their own projects.


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21. @Team eurotiendaonline
Your site 'eurotiendaonlien.es' - it helps if you spell it correctly :-) => eurotiendaonline.es
The search on DMOZ is sometimes out of date.
If you suggest to 1 category, it is easy to look to see if it is listed. If you suggest to many, you have to make many checks and can forget to look at all the categories.
If you use a search engine that lets you only search on a site, you can search for Eurotiendaonline on dmoz.org. If that is your site, it has been there a while.
regards
Posted at 7:54AM on Nov 22nd 2009 by Eric-the-Bun
22. The information is really helpful
Thanks
Diana
Posted at 1:18AM on Dec 2nd 2009 by Diana
23. I have been trying to get my site listed in DMOZ for years now. But i submited and resubmitted our site a dozen times. Its pretty blogging, since there are dozen of new sites in the arena, and of cource DMOZ gives unfair SEO advantage to older sites.Mio Navman Spirit S300
Posted at 10:52PM on Dec 7th 2009 by Mio Navman Spirit S300
24. Well,
The process of submitting a site to Dmoz is definitely very frustrating. Why is not my site included yet? No one knows. How can i find out? No one knows. Don't you think that you should do something about this?
I am really just suggesting here, but when your directory plays a role in site performance, then your obligations are much higgher
Dimitris
Posted at 1:13PM on Dec 13th 2009 by Dimitris Petropoulos
25. Hi,
I have always thought highly of the ODP but recently sites that I've had listed for years in the directory have been dropped! Why? What happened?
Posted at 10:46AM on Dec 17th 2009 by Ruth Maude
26. Hi
How many time it delay in register?
We need to wait a long time more ?
Regards,
Eurotiendaonline
Compare Price
Posted at 11:41AM on Dec 21st 2009 by eurotiendaonline
27. I was reinstated in October but still can't log in. Email to staff@dmoz.org bounces. Can someone help?
jpk
Posted at 1:26AM on Feb 4th 2010 by Jon
28. Oh, I can't deny the pleasure, which reading your posts arouses in me. You've always been reasonable and consistent, what I admire about your manner of posting. You take into account all the recommendations of your readers and site visitors. Now I know what ODP means on downloading an article on the matter on search engine. Thanks for sharing)
Posted at 9:24AM on Feb 11th 2010 by Jemma
29. Thanks for your info.
nice article.
Posted at 3:38AM on Feb 21st 2010 by itemgarden
30. I have tried to add several of my websites to dmoz.org directory over the past several years. I had one that was registered many years ago which is in dmoz.org directory. Other people that I have spoken to also have not been able to register in the past several years, either. I even volunteered to be an editor and never heard anything back. I just don't understand why the problem still exists.
Posted at 9:33PM on Apr 9th 2011 by Dr. Arnie Katz
31. We would appreciate a little help. Small business are having a tough time lately an additional in DMOZ would certainly help with rankings. Please help a small business succeed.
over 2 years waiting
Many thanks(Home & Garden / Fireplaces)
Posted at 5:56PM on Mar 14th 2011 by Marbleyech Fireplaces