Feedback and submission times?

Hi,

After reading the warning threads about 'please don't ask the status of a submission' I am a little worried about asking this but:

"What is the status of my submission?"

JUST KIDDING!!

But what I am wondering is how long a submission currently takes and whether there is any feedback given if it is rejected, etc.

The reason I ask is because I have been trying to get my site added in good faith for about 16 months now. When I initially submitted the site, I didn't receive any feedback and I (rather naively now I realise) re-submitted it about 6 weeks later.

A few more months past and I hadn't heard anything so I figured that the editors were probably really swamped with links to moderate and add so I decided I would apply to become an editor for the category which I wanted to be added (Recreation/Motorcycles/Touring/Reference). I thought it would help my site get added primarily, but not only that, I thought it would be interesting to be involved and review other sites, etc.

A few days later I received a message saying that there were already enough editors for this category and that I should try applying to another category to become an editor. This was not so interesting for me, as I am a bit of an expert in Motorcycle Touring, but not a lot else.

A few more months passed and I could see that no more links had been added to this category, so I tried to re-apply (thinking maybe I'd done something wrong in the application a few times), a couple more months passed and then nothing.

In the meantime (before I'd discovered this forum) I found an email address used by someone at DMOZ and I tried emailing them directly (I was by then, getting a bit desperate for some feedback) but I received nothing.

I recently tried again to re-add the site (a week or so ago) before I stumbled on this forum. But reading the tips that are posted here, I am a bit concerned that re-posting the application may have set me back to the bottom of the list.

So really what I'm wondering is:

How long would the applications typically take?
I understand that this may be a bit like asking 'how long is a piece of string?' but I think I can presume (judging by the fact that my application as an editor was rejected) that they have enough editors for my topic.
and the second part of my question would be, if no links have been added to the category have been added in the last 16 months or so, wouldn't it be a good idea to have some kind of monitoring system to check how many (if any) links are being added.

I would welcome any feedback about any of this, as I think DMOZ is a great idea, but currently it seems to be having some problems.

David

It is not so much "how long does a particular suggestion take to get looked at?" as "what are the 7 000 editors doing right now, tomorrow, and next week?"

Not one editor could tell you where they themselves will be editng tomorrow, how long they will spend, or what they will do (add, delete, move, edit, cleanup, etc) let alone speak for any of the others.

So, it takes as long as it takes. It will happen when someone edits the category you suggested to, and looks at the suggestion that you made. Whether the site will be added at that time, put back in the pile for later evaluation, or moved to some other category, is impossible to tell without looking at the site right now.... which is something that this forum does NOT expedite, ever.

So, to review: you have suggested, and someone will get to it at some time. Several suggestions to one category (or two) does not label you as a hardcore spammer, but multiple submissions to multiple categories on a regular basis may do so.

Bottom line: quit worrying. Things don't look too bad.

>A few days later I received a message saying that there were already enough editors for this category and that I should try applying to another category to become an editor.

That was a test. The exercise was to read the WHOLE e-mail and see which part applies. The tricky part is, IT'S NOT ALWAYS THE LAST SENTENCE.

Sometimes I think the people I hang out with, are cursed with terminal subtlety.

Thanks for the feedback, at least I finally got some even if it wasn't quite as positive as I had hoped.

hutcheson, I'm really not sure I understand your last message?

David

He was talking about the rejection email you got, where you wrote "A few days later I received a message saying that there were already enough editors for this category and that I should try applying to another category to become an editor." Most people only read the first part of the sentence in that email, where it says the category is already well-represented, and completely skip over the second part, where it says that it may be too broad for a new editor. The second part is usually the most relevent part.

Can I just say - this is quite frustrating. It's been 2+ mos for me, almost 3. I heard the avg turnaround time was 2-4 mos. I also heard it would be okay to politely contact the editor of the category I submitted to, but I couldn't find an editor to politely contact.

I'm sorry you're frustrated. I have no idea where you heard the average turnaround figure -- may I suggest that you tell whoever told you that that such a figure is meaningless?

While it's ok to politely contact an editor -- almost anything is ok as long as you're being polite -- it will not make the review of your site happen faster, and writing an editor is never guaranteed to elicit a response. In fact, editors are encouraged NOT to respond to email from people who suggest sites for review; a very few editors have had webmasters ring their doorbell and/or phone and threaten their children, but "a very few" is much more than too many. As a result, editors usually don't answer email from webmasters.

You may want to read the FAQ here at Resource-Zone about suggesting sites to the ODP; it's not an official ODP FAQ but does address some of your concerns, I believe.

giz said:

So, to review: you have suggested, and someone will get to it at some time. Several suggestions to one category (or two) does not label you as a hardcore spammer, but multiple submissions to multiple categories on a regular basis may do so.

Click to expand...

Hi there,

2 short questions:

1) If a root category does not have an editor, but the parent (or grandparent / great-grandparent) category has one, do new sites submitted under the root category get routed to the parent category editor?

2) Is it OK to re-submit sites to the same category every 2 - 3 months?

1) Not as such, no. Site suggestions are not assigned to any particular editor, they land in the category they are suggested to. Any editor with editing rights in that category, which includes the parent/grandparent category editors all the way to the top category, as well as all editors with editall/meta permissions, can review them.

2. Please don't. The site suggestion won't go away until it has been reviewed. If you suggest it to the same category it will usually overwrite the earlier instances of the same site waiting there. Nothing gained for you, but possibly something lost in case the reviewing editor deides to look at sites in date order.