Dmoz your driving me nuts!!!

ry415

Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2006
Messages
16
I'm an ATV enthusiast and I also operate an ATV related web site that sells parts and talks about ATV news and Politics. For those of you who don't know our right to ride on state property is shrinking by the minute due to a few bad apples littering, drinking and driving, not wearing helmets, riding on private property, and the list goes on. I tried becoming an editor of this section to try to clean up the ATV image and no luck or response. There are web sites listed in the ATV category like "We Drink Beer and Ride ATVs" yeh thats a great web site for the directory. Half the photos are of riders not wearing helmets and drinking while sitting on their ATV.
:confused:
 

spectregunner

Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2003
Messages
8,768
Perhaps, rather than being angry at a bunch of volunteers who categorize websites for a hobby, you should take your crusade to the people who build websites that have words and images that cause you angst.

You ae really venting to the wrong people as there is absolutely nothing we can or will do to allow any individual/organization/goverment the right to try and dictate which sites we choose to list.
 

ry415

Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2006
Messages
16
spectregunner said:
Perhaps, rather than being angry at a bunch of volunteers who categorize websites for a hobby, you should take your crusade to the people who build websites that have words and images that cause you angst.

You ae really venting to the wrong people as there is absolutely nothing we can or will do to allow any individual/organization/goverment the right to try and dictate which sites we choose to list.


It's almost like there isn't a person in charge at DMOZ. Aren't there editors in charge of what sites go up and what sites don't? Who approves these editors and if they are incompetent who removes them? I thought DMOZ was a reputable place to find good web content due to the fact that it is "human edited"
 

motsa

Curlie Admin
Joined
Sep 18, 2002
Messages
13,294
It's almost like there isn't a person in charge at DMOZ. Aren't there editors in charge of what sites go up and what sites don't?
That doesn't make us the Internet police.

Who approves these editors and if they are incompetent who removes them? I thought DMOZ was a reputable place to find good web content due to the fact that it is "human edited"
Editors are approved and removed where necessary by Meta editors. Not reviewing your site does not make someone incompetent. Reviewing sites that you don't approve of does not make someone incompetent. If your primary reason for wanting to become an editor was to remove all sites you don't agree with, then you're not likely to be approved.
 

bobrat

Member
Joined
Apr 15, 2003
Messages
11,061
I tried becoming an editor of this section to try to clean up the ATV image and no luck or response.
An editor has to be able to edit and review according to guidelines, not project his viewpoints onto the project.

One of the problems being an editor is that sometimes we have to look at sites that do not meet our personal world view. But if they indeed fit into the category, there is no permission to delete them. We however, do not have to review them, and can leave that to another editor.

On the other hand, if most of the sites in the category do not meet our personal view, it's best not to be an editor at all.
 

hutcheson

Curlie Meta
Joined
Mar 23, 2002
Messages
19,136
Let me see if I have this straight. You have a political agenda. And there are, it seems, facts that are highly unfavorable to your political programme.

Changing your viewpoint to something more in accordance with those facts is right out, I gather. Instead, you propose to suppress the facts. But the Open Directory is making it much too easy for your political opponents to find those facts. INTOLERABLE! the ODP cannot be allowed to continue pursue some mission of "cataloging facts" -- it must be perverted to be a tool of your political propaganda; it cannot be permitted to do anything that's detrimental to your ability to impose your political views on others.

That is not at all an unusual chain of reasoning. But ... Those editors who happen to think driving ATVs is on private property is criminal trespass (and the law OUGHT to be enforced rigorously) ... are highly unlikely to agree with your own particular form of political oppression.

And, since the ODP is not a political discussion group, you aren't going to have a chance to change their (our?) minds.

Which is going to make it extremely impossible for you to impose your own vision of political oppression on the directory. If that frustrates you, that's OK.

Now, if you want to create a website expressing your political beliefs, that's your right. Now, that site doesn't have any right to an ODP listing -- no site does. But, BUT: it is the right of farmers and ecologists everywhere to know what kind of agenda you're pushing -- what kind of limitations you'd like to impose on them, what kinds of value you'd like to take from them, for the sake of your recreational activities! And that is precisely the kind of right that the ODP was established to support. So, for the benefit of our surfers, we'd probably want to list such a site. And if there are more folk like you, that also is valuable information, which we'd like people to be able to find.

So: if you know about sites that promote your political views, feel free to suggest them. We can't know when an editor will be interested in working in that area, but sooner or later someone will.

As for expecting the ODP to be your political pawn: go ahead. It's probably good for you, for you to be frustrated by a continued failure to come to terms with reality. (But that's just my personal philosophical opinion. It may not be shared by other ODP editors, but it seems to me to be compatible with the ODP mission.)
 

motsa

Curlie Admin
Joined
Sep 18, 2002
Messages
13,294
It's NOT to ensure that only sites that you approve of are listed.
 

ry415

Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2006
Messages
16
"We will do our best to list web sites in a fair and impartial manner, and consider all user requests and suggestions for improvement."

I don't think this site should be listed
http://www.angelfire.com/tx4/bushwackersatvclub/

But who cares what I think, I'm only 1 person. Just type ATV into Google news and see how many deaths are related to people drinking and operating ATVs. So I make a suggestion and you guys just knock me down. Good job!:thumb2:
 

motsa

Curlie Admin
Joined
Sep 18, 2002
Messages
13,294
I was being serious as well. You're asking us to remove a site because you don't like it. We can't/won't do that. It wouldn't be very fair and impartial of us if we did, would it?
 

gloria

Curlie Meta
Joined
Mar 25, 2002
Messages
388
I'm a nurse, and I've taken care of many patients who were seriously injured while using ATVs, both drinking and sober, helmeted and not wearing helmets. I don't like ATVs, period. Does that mean that I should remove all of the ATV sites? People are killed daily while driving cars. Shall I remove all auto sites? I daily take care of patients who have life-threatening problems from drinking and/or smoking. Shall I remove all alcohol- and tobacco-related sites? I have a friend who was raped on a date. Should I remove dating sites? Once we start removing sites, where should we stop?

It is not illegal to talk about drinking and driving ATVs, and those sites will not be removed. As motsa said,
It wouldn't be very fair and impartial of us if we did
 
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