Be Stricter to Speed Up Submissions

I submitted a site to DMOZ over a month ago, and honestly, I just want it to be submitted to help my google ranking. However, I was very careful to make sure I submitted it to the correct directory. I hear of a lot of editors spending hours re-sorting submissions to the correct directory. I would much rather DMOZ simply deny anything submitted to the wrong directory. This would do 2 things:
1. Greatly increase the number of submissions to the correct directory.
2. Save the time of editors, so that correctly submitted URLS get added faster.

Just an idea,
Rhett

Interesting idea, but I'm not sure how you would determine if something is in the wrong category until you sort through the listings in the unreviewed queue, which is what you're doing when you sort them and filter them to the correct category

>This would do 2 things:
>1. Greatly increase the number of submissions to the correct directory.
>2. Save the time of editors, so that correctly submitted URLS get added faster.

I hate to throw cold water (well, actually I like to throw cold water, so I try not to give in to temptation too often) but ... bad idea. very bad idea.

Would you tell your librarian how much work he could save by letting people put their own book back on the shelves? Just throw away any book that was placed wrong? But the ODP Taxonomy is just as complex as the Dewey Decimal System or the Library of Congress card cataloging system!

And, you (in common with many site submitters) are acting under the delusion that editors' concern is with handling submittals quickly. It's not. It's really not. We don't care how long it takes. We really really don't.

We're building a comprehensive directory. We list sites that have never been submitted. We list sites that can't be found on any search engine. We'll take hints from anywhere. And we aren't going to ignore a site just because the person that found it didn't fully comprehend the intricacies of the taxonomy (like, in fact, about 99.995% of the world's population.)

If a mis-submitted site can be kicked over in the direction where it ought to have gone, that's a contribution to building the directory. And that's what we do. So don't tell us not to do it.
In summary, what you are asking us not to do fits our goals. What you hope to accomplish is no part of our goals.

I think that part of the issue might be down to how ODP presents its pages when it comes to adding a url.

On the top of each page it says "add url". If this was changed to "suggest url" then I believe people submitting sites would know that they are not guaranteed a listing, they are merely suggesting a site.

Even as far as saying on the site suggestion form: Suggested Title and Suggested Site Description. The submit button could also have a label that says "Submit Suggestion".

At all points through the process, the person suggesting the site would know that they are only making a suggestion.

I like your idea, jcserve

Much better wording - conveys the reality of what's happening

I've been wanting that to happen for some time.

Update: I posted the idea of changing it to 'Suggest URL' to the internal forums a few hours ago, and it was so popular that staff have already implemented it .

When the public side updates, you'll start to see categories with 'Suggest URL', rather than 'Add URL'. It will be a gradual roll out, I imagine, since the public pages are (normally) only refreshed when an edit is made in the category - less active categories will have the old text for a while.

That is excellent, all that remains now is for me to become an editor and help you guys and girls with the massive backlogs!

The idea would backfire more or less... In theroy it will work but think of it on the average Joe Smoe side, what if you submit it to the category that your site belongs to or your site is "in reasonable" measurement to be in that category that the category is removed or there becomes a new subcategory for it. Wouldn't the site then become rejected? And in most cases you wouldn't realize there was a new category for your site. Anyway... please note these are volunteer people and they devote their time for the ODP just go with whatever they say because it always is the most wisest and is the most reasonable decision.

Just putting my two cents out there

- Chris Schoik

swiftrhett - Thank you for being careful to choose the right category. That's always a good idea.