Assisting the ODP editors

Even though I have been unsuccessful a few times in apply for an editor of http://www.dmoz.org/Recreation/Travel/Lodging/Vacation_Rentals/Directories/ I wondered if there was a forum where I could report any abuse?

I must also say that I read your guidelines which were very useful, and spent over an hour completing the form, and I received a response within 20 minutes of completing the form, with a list as long as your arm of possible reasons for been rejected.

It doesnt help you if you want to reapply and look at the areas you need to improve on.

Not a critism more a constructive comment.

You might want to read this

Regards.

Do you mean helping by looking for cases of editor abuse (self-serving editing, for example), or quality control (e.g. duplicate listings, sites down, non-compliant guidelines and descriptions)?

You can't always tell the difference -- particularly without the information that's not publicly available.

From our point of view, one of the more successful aspects of this forum is its use as a fast conduit for quality control information. People can report something here, and often get a response within hours, which seems to make it worthwhile to make more reports. (When public page update works, you'll be able to _see_ the results within hours, which will be even better.)

Vacation Rentals is a very challenging area - I'm sure it gets a lot of spam. Have you considered applying for a totally different category, such as a hobby or your hometown? Once you have established your ability to edit and understanding of the guidelines, you could try applying there again.

Hi Lissa,
It gets alot of SPAM on other search engines, so my frustration brought me here hoping to assist ODP with some experience in getting rid of this SPAM.

I've got 15 years + experience and thought I made a very good application, I was very disheartened to receive a rejection so quickly!

Sorry, but obviously we can't judge your experience before you are editor. So you should become an editor in an easier part of the directory, showing your skills in editing (which not only includes spam-control but finding good sites, writting guidelines-compliant descriptions, being able to communicate with others and a lot of other abilities). After you proved that you are able to fulfill our requirements you may apply for a spam-category to help there.

Yes, there is spam in those categories - if we would accept everyone who wants to edit in those areas, you would not find the good entries in the amount of spam. So we decided only experienced editors should be able to handle this.

Experience in the industry/topic is a wonderful asset, but when it comes to starting at the ODP everyone starts at the bottom in categories that aren't deemed "for more experienced edtiors." If Stephen Hawking were to apply to edit Science/Physics, he'd be denied and asked to apply to a lower level category.

Think of it as preemptive damage control. The Metas don't want to accept someone to a category where they could cause a lot of damage, without having a good idea of the editor's skills and motivations first. And the only way to find this out is for them to become an editor in a different area first. I hope you consider applying to join in a different category. Areas that are spammy really benefit when a knowledgable and skilled editor takes it over. Maybe you will end up following poker's footsteps. (Recreation/Gambling)