Do those same people think that this amount of downtime is acceptable?
Well, what I most absolutely refuse to accept is someone else's definition of what is acceptable.
If I'm willing to wait and let someone else do something--anything--, then, by definition it's acceptable, however long it takes them and however badly they do it.
This ESPECIALLY applies, a fortiori, when (as in this case) I wait for someone else to do something because I respect their ability and zeal, and I think they might do it better than I could, even if I tried. And in the Open Directory community, I think any honest volunteer will often feel that way about many of the people around him.
And it most especially applies when (as in this case) I am perfectly confident that the workers are, more than anyone else, acutely aware of how, um, eagerly the volunteers are waiting to get their tools back.
But, when it comes down to it, the ODP is not the only project that draws on online volunteers to add to the sum of human knowledge online. I know some ODP volunteers participate in Wikipedia and Project Gutenberg; some maintain websites pro bono for local educational, charitable, or religious organizations. We don't have to, and we aren't going to, "wait" until the ODP comes back. We may work on the second, third, ... tenth items on our priority list, but volunteerism is still active.
So ... there's no need, ever, for ME to tell YOU that YOUR work is unacceptable -- I will either tacitly accept it, or I'll just start doing it better, all by myself.
And ... I don't ever care who thinks my work is unacceptable. Anyone who wants to do it better -- and can show some evidence they CAN -- will find me cheering them on, just before I check THAT item off MY to-do list and go on to the next.
There's plenty of work for everyone; and there's plenty of work done, that every fair person will appreciate, and ... that's not just acceptable, that's just marvelous.
