Excited, Pending Approval

Hello Ladies and Gentleman,

I recently applied to be a volunteer in the slots section for the gambling file. I have been familiar with DMOZ for sometime however just never applied for it. Well I have now and it's a bit of relief Why is it relief? Well since I have been an employee of excite for sometime I finally have some free time. My employment has put me in a stage finally where I can spend a little of my free time helping others with a variety of projects.

If anyone needs any help feel free to email me at EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED

Thank you for your interest in becoming an Open Directory Project editor.
After careful review, we have decided not to approve your application at
this time. The most common reasons a reviewer will deny a new application
include, but are not limited to,

* Incomplete application. Insufficient information has been provided in some
fields including reason, affiliation and/or Sample URLs.
* Improper spelling and grammar.
* Sample URLs are inappropriate for the category which one has applied to
edit. They may be too broad, too narrow, completely out of scope, poor
quality, or in a language inappropriate for the category. All non-English
sites are listed in the World category. Applications for World categories
that include sites only in English will be denied. Likewise, applications
for World categories that include sample URLs in languages other than the one
appropriate for the applied category will be denied.
* Not properly disclosing affiliations with websites that are, or have the
potential of being, listed in the category.
* Titles and descriptions of sample URLs (and other information provided)
were subjective and promotional rather than unbiased and objective. ODP
editors do not rank or write website reviews. ODP editors provide objective
and unbiased descriptions of websites and their content.
* Self-Promotion. Application which leads us to believe that the candidate is
interested primarily in promoting his/her own sites or those with which the
applicant is affiliated. The ODP is not a marketing tool, and should not be
used to circumvent the site submission process. If this is an applicant's
motivation for joining, then we ask him/her not to apply. Editors found to be
inappropriately promoting their own site will be promptly removed.

Due to the large number of applications we get every day, we are unable to
provide personal responses to every application or to respond to inquiries
about why you were rejected. If a reviewer chose to provide additional
comments to you, they will be given in the "Reviewer Comments" section below.

Your willingness to volunteer is greatly appreciated and perhaps we will be
able to utilize your talent in the future.

Regards,
The Open Directory Project

Reviewer Comments:

1) The first site suggestion (hotslot)does not yet have enough content for listing (too many empty forums).

2) The third suggestion (excite) would not be listable in a gambling category. IF it were listable, it would be in a category somewhere near http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/On_the_Web/Web_Portals/ .

3) Incomplete response to "Please give details, including URLs, of any sites that you own or have designed or promoted, either in full or in part. Also, mention whether you have contributed content to any site, and give URLs as
appropriate".

We are happy to accept editors who are affiliated with websites, and, in fact, most of our editors have some affiliations. However, to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest, we ask that editors be completely
upfront about those affiliations when they apply.

If reapplying, please give a more comprehensive answer to this question.

Must not be compatible.

Maybe in another 5 years, have a good day ladies and gentleman!

You were given three very specific reasons for your application being declined. That the reviewer took the time to spell these out, I'd take as a positive sign, and an encouragement to re-apply.

The first two points are telling you that you need to do better in selecting the example sites to include with the application. They need to be suitable for listing in the category you apply to. This generally means that the category should be the beest single category for that site anywhere in the directory.

The third point is about your answer to the "associated websites" question. Lots of people seem to misunderstand what we're asking for here, and consequently don't list all the relevant sites. For more details see http://www.dmoz.org/guidelines/conflict.html -- you should be aiming to list anything that would be classed as an "affiliation" under those guidelines. We generally don't care if you have affiliations in the category you apply to, as ong as you're honest about them, and show you can edit fairly without favouring your own site(s).

Finally, gambling categories are notorious for spam and affiliate sites, and as such are hard for a new editor to work in. You'd probably have a much greater chance of success if you applied to a different area first. Once you're an editor, and shown that you can follow the editing guidelines, you're able to apply to for additional categories to edit.