Fast tracking noble websites?

I have a suggestion that would make this directory even more amazing and beneficial to society, which is the point of dmoz...right? My suggestion is to prioritize the inclusion of sites that are promoting social responsibility, environmental awareness, green business, or any cause that betters our global situation. The community where I live is very difficult to build structures in. Our city and county planning offices are notorious for long and slow approvals for building permits. However, there is now a local governmental review committee who's responsibility is to review green building projects and suggest alternative building solutions. I can't tell you how successful this project has become. People are lining up to be including in this program that not only creates more responsible structures but also promises a faster approval period. Why can't something like that be implemented here? I personally believe in rewarding those who are making our world a better place. Thoughts?

greenguygoes

I am pleased to hear that your community is doing such a thing.

Regrettably, there is an innate flaw in what you are proposing. In order to determine which sites to fast track, we would have to review every site. Otherwise how could we tell if a site were worthy?

We certainly could not depend upon the webmaster to submit to an expedited queue -- every spammer in the planet would immediately flood a priority queue.

I can see it now, "My pornsite is environmentally good, no trees were killed in the production of these pictures."

Not to mention we have to be unbiased in our editing and treat each site equally, . We can't show preference to anyone.

(off topic)
I just wish I'd stop getting so much personal spam suggesting I need to take a certain kind of medicine, how rude!

more amazing and beneficial to society

Click to expand...

Well, this is what we are doing

If you check Shopping category, you will see that there are around 109,548 sites listed. Those listed under Society are 261,242

About your projects - please feel free to aplly for editor, if you wat to contribute to social responsibility, environmental awareness and green business.

Porn is beneficial to society? Everybody's inclusion is treated equally...right? So how could you be making this directory "more amazing and beneficial to society"? I thought the earlier post said that there is currently no preferential treatment for business sites that are making solid contributions to society. I think it would only take a second to see who was making a difference and who was a phony. I'm not saying to ignore the other sites that may not do us a damn (first amendment) but instead to encourage some social, ethical, or environmental responsibility. That's all. As for becoming an editor, I was denied. Followed all of the rules for submission and was very interested in assisting. I have a site I'm trying to get listed and am worried that no one is editing in this category at the present. Apparently the category I applied for was too broad even though at present there are no good subcategories to fit my site into.

Patiently Awaiting,
greenguygoes

I think you misunderstand what it is we do, or what it is we don't do.

Porn is beneficial to society?

Click to expand...

Not in my personal view, no, which is why I don't edit in Adult.

Everybody's inclusion is treated equally...right?

Click to expand...

No, that's wrong. I said we have to be impartial in our editing, not that every site will be included. We review sites only, we don't make judgements about one company compared to another, or how valuable one entity is compared to another entity, . We look at the unique content that is or is not on the site itself, and whether it (the Site) will add value to the topic of that particular category. (when an editor actually gets to it)

Being impartial in our editing means that even though I may not personally like a certain site or its subject matter, I have to set that aside and judge the content of the site itself using our Guidelines, not the entity, just the site.

I don't judge whether the company or entity is worthy or not, I only judge the content, and whether it will add value to the category.

I think many people have the wrong opinion of what it is we do. If a site suggestion doesn't get listed, it's not because we don't approve of the entity, it's because there is no unique content on the site that will be of benefit to the web surfer who is looking for specific information.

If there are 20 sites in a category and every one of them has the exact same information, 19 of those sites should be deleted. Why would the web surfer want to look at the same exact information 20 times? They wouldn't.

If every one of those 20 sites had something unique on them, that the other sites didn't have, then all 20 would be listed, that's what we look for, . It has nothing to do with the entity itself, only the website suggestions content.

I'm not Jewish or Catholic, so does that mean I won't fairly review and edit such sites? Absolutely not, because I'm looking at the type of content that might be of value to someone who is. I'm keeping that person in mind, not myself, . That's being impartial.

I think it would only take a second to see who was making a difference and who was a phony

Click to expand...

You might be exaggerating. The huge majority take more than a second each to load. In actuality, it takes at least a few minutes to properly evaluate a single website. To decide which of say a thousand was the most noble )) would take weeks.

greenguygoes said:

I thought the earlier post said that there is currently no preferential treatment for business sites that are making solid contributions to society. I think it would only take a second to see who was making a difference and who was a phony. I'm not saying to ignore the other sites that may not do us a damn (first amendment) but instead to encourage some social, ethical, or environmental responsibility. That's all.

Click to expand...

What are "solid contributions"? What sort of "difference" are we talking about?
Who decides what is "phony" and what isn't?

Your idea, while worthy-appearing on the surface, is a very slippery slope.

I see your point Sarge. As you can understand, it's hard not to get discouraged when months go by after requesting to be listed. I understand that you're not obligated to list anyone. I'm just chomping at the bit like everybody else because I realize how important it can be for a site to be listed by dmoz. How do I find out if anyone is even editing in my category?
Regional - Santa Barbara, CA - tourism - wine tours. Thanks for any help.

greenguygoes

There are arguments everywhere that contradict the importance of a DMOZ link. I think the general idea is that while a link in dmoz is a 'good' link, for the most part its any more important than any other 'good' link. There are many fantasies floating around that dmoz is the magic bullet for search engines. They are simply not true. dmoz is no magic bullet, rather it can be icing on the cake for a good site.

My advice is (and always has been) suggest the site and then focus on the promotional strategies that fit the audience you are targeting. Build a good, useful site to your audience, and any links you get from third parties really won't make much of a difference. In fact build a good site that is useful to your audience and one of them might even be or become an editor and list it if it fits the guidelines.

I think every website should get the same priority

My suggestion is to prioritize the inclusion of sites that are promoting social responsibility, environmental awareness, green business, or any cause that betters our global situation.

Click to expand...

Regional - Santa Barbara, CA - tourism - wine tours.

Click to expand...

Wine tours?

Gosh, I was thinking you had a site along the lines of a working on a cure for cancer, or world peace, or housing the homeless.

Take a look at the site and decide for yourself. I feel that I'm doing my part to educate the public about sustainable agriculture in an entertaining manner. We are members of 1% for the Planet (which donated 1% of revenues to environmental organizations), we use biodiesel in our tour vehicles, and we support sustainable businesses and farmers. We thoroughly enjoy helping people understand the connection between what one buys in the store, where it comes from, and what it took to produce. No it's not a cure for cancer, but it is responsible business.

greenguygoes

OK...take a look at the site and decide if I'm noble. No I'm not curing cancer or creating world peace, however, I feel that I am educating the public about agriculture and how to make wise purchases. We've found that by doing this in an entertaining way (wine tours) we are most effective.

greenguygoes
<url removed>

Nice try but we don't review specific Web sites here. Please do not put your URL (in any form) in your posts. Thanks.

Sorry about editing your post, greenguygoes, but we really don't allow discussions of specific sites here. The general discussion about giving more deserving sites special treatment is fine, of course, but this isn't a forum for specific site critique - as I think you'll appreciate.

As editors we might think that some sites we review are more deserving than others (but as already mentioned we have to review them first to see that - and by then the fast-tracking to review is a moot point.) And many editors do focus on "deserving" sites, by editing in categories that they personally feel are more deserving than others of being content-rich. The focus is on the category, not on the specific site, though. And of course with 8000 editors there will be many, many different opinions of which areas are more deserving - which is the only way the directory can grow without becoming too specialised. Me, I agree with you about sustainability and biodiversity being one of the top priorities, and so do many other editors. I don't really think the directory suffers from a lack of resources within those areas, though of course there are still many, many sites that are not yet listed. We're working on it.

[added: the two posts immediately above this one weren't there when I started writing it! ]

Sorry for the second post. When I wrote the first message on Aug 1st I got a message that the system was down. When I logged in today that first message hadn't shown up, at least on my computer. So I figured I'd post it again. Sorry again for the repetition. I'll sit tight.