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 ODP. The actual idea of many people from around the world coming together in a huge community really intrigued me and over time I decided that I wanted to become part of that community and try to be involved in making the Internet a better place.

I would like to point out at this time that NONE of my websites are listed in DMOZ and I declared ALL of them on my applications and I have declared ALL of them on the internal system, so believe me my motives weren't and aren't to do with my own sites, they are genuinely and honestly to do with being part of the project. I would also like to say that as a person new to the community I am not being influenced by any other editors in any way and I am writing this as a reflection of my own true feelings and experiences. I do not wish to make any political points or otherwise but just to pass on my experiences as somebody who has just started to edit.

I first applied to join the ODP as an editor about a year ago and at that time I was rejected. The rejection notice did not have any specific comments on it and I assumed this was because the reason was contained within the list that the e-mail already provided. I decided to leave my application for a while and as usual, life took over and I didn't re-apply until mid August 2007.

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 ODP. Everybody from Metas to newbies like me have been eager and willing to help. The rules and regulations within the ODP are to make it run smoothly and in my honest opinion they are not hard to follow. They are just there to make it work. As I have been told before in the community, "The only daft question is the one you didn't ask"

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.