holidayzone

Thanks for your input. /images/icons/smile.gif I agree that personalized responses would be ideal, if not always feasible. (And as a reviewier, I generally take time to include personalized responses unless the applicant seems like a totally "lost cause.") As for those people who get no response whatsoever, (barring the occasional technical glitch) they truly are a minority. Generally, "no response" options are reserved for well-known abusers or instances when we receive multiple copies of the same application (and don't want to send the same applicant rejection e-mail 15 times over). That said, certain spam filters were do block e-mail sent from dmoz.org. Thus, we can actually send e-mail, but the recipient's e-mail filters may prevent them from getting it. This doesn't just hamper the receipt of rejection notices, but also acceptance letters, communications with webmasters, editor-to-editor feedback, etc. ... A real nuisance! Once again, thanks for taking the time to get involved in this forum. Conversations such as this one help us build a more user-friendly directory.

>Well, IMHO www.a.foo.bar and www.b.foo.bar are different sites. < Correct. Sites are defined in terms of content rather than domain names. /images/icons/smile.gif While we won't list every single page of http://www.geocities.com , we will list separate and distinct portions of the domain's offerings (i.e. http://www.geocities.com/user1/ , http://www.geocities.com/user2/ , etc.).

>>I agree that a customized response might be asking for too much, but if these people spend lots of time preparing applications shouldn't they at the very least receive a form letter with suggestions?<< Under the current system configuation, a standard letter noting the most common reasons for rejection is sent by default unless the reviewing meta selects the no feedback option (a rare occurence).

Sorry your experience was such a negative one. As one of the editors who reviews applications, however, I'd like to explain a little of the "other" side. Let me begin by emphasizing that none of us want to discourage people from applying. We want good editors -- and lots of them. But we don't always have as much time as we'd like to devote to the project. We're all volunteers -- with jobs, families, commitments, etc. Processing a single application can take anywhere from a few minutes (in the case of a really bad application that's an automatic reject) to two or three hours (in situations where an applicant appears to have some potential). And while the number of applications we receive on any given day varies, the number always exceeds the number of reviewers -- usually several times over. Writing a customized response takes anywhere from 10-30 minutes, depending on the situation. Initially, that doesn't sound like much, especially when one considers that an applicant may have spent three or four hours completing an application. But the applicant completes only one application. It's not uncommon for a reviewer to process a dozen or more applications in a single sitting. Sometimes, it's mathematically impossible for us to write personal responses and still process as many applications as we need to process in the time we have available to edit. At other times, real life intervenes. There have been a few times I've rejected without feedback because I suddenly got called back in to the Job That Pays The Bills, or because the baby woke up, or because the dog needed to go out, etc. Especially in instances where one of us has spent a great deal of time reviewing an app, we don't want to throw our work away and leave it sitting in the queue just because real life beckoned. If you truly want to be a part of this project, please take time to read the editing guidelines, available at http://dmoz.org/guidelines.html. Look for a small category (fewer than 100 listings, including listings in any sub cats). And give it another shot. We do need and want editors, even if it is humanly impossible to write a personal response to every application.

>2a. Reply to the automated reply... < This just confirms that you included a valid e-mail address with your applications. /images/icons/smile.gif This reply is never seen by human eyes. >3. May or may not recieve a reply if rejected . < *Most* of the time, you will receive some sort of reply, even if it's a generic one. The no-reply option is generally reserved for a handful of specific situations. >4. If after 2 weeks or so, if i don't recieve any communication from the application reviewers...understand that, the application is rejected...and re-apply after reading the guidelines and finetuning the application...! < Not necessarily. Applications are often processed within two weeks, but not always. Sometimes (particularly in World categories), no one is available to review the application for several days. Sometimes we simply get a backlog of applications that take several weeks to work through. And sometimes, we hold off on accepting an application due to extinuating circumstances. A few weeks ago, for instance, I left a really good application sitting in the queue for almost three weeks because the category for which the person was applying was about to be moved to another part of the directory. I planned to accept the application (and eventually did), but didn't want to join a new editor in the middle of a massive re-organization.