Finding 3 sites

Hi,

I think my application may have been rejected because the sample sites I found may not have been specific enough for the category I was applying for.

Can someone tell me how I could find a site that belongs in:
http://dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/Web_Design_and_Development/Designers/Freelance/F/
It is impossible to find a site by a freelance web designer whose last name starts with F? I do not even know where to begin. Every time I do find a site, it is already on the dmoz.

Why do you want to apply for that category if you can't think of any way to improve it? I don't know, but I'd guess that the unreviewed queues in the web designer categories are pretty frequently updated with new submissions.

I can see three options available:

1) Google (or other SE) search - look harder than you already have, to pages further down the index than you already have.

2) Follow links between sites to find more web designers not yet listed in dmoz.

3) Apply for a different category, e.g. your home town, build up some editing experience, and then apply for this category at a later date when you're more skilled at finding quality sites.

There is actually a backlog of 30 websites in this category. There is no editor at the current time.

I really think that it is because no one can find the three sample sites for the application.

I thought google uses the dmoz? If I find a site on there, won't it already be in the dmoz?

I think that John gave you some good advice.

>>There is actually a backlog of 30 websites in this category.<<

Well, then there are likely more than 3 sites out there that could be added to the ODP (assuming they aren't all missubmissions and spam). <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" alt="" />

&gt;&gt;I thought google uses the dmoz? If I find a site on there, won't it already be in the dmoz?&lt;&lt;

The Google Directory is taken from ODP data. However, the Google search engine indexes far more sites than the ODP lists. Also as John suggested, Google isn't the only search engine on the web. There are others that have different degrees of overlap with the ODP (e.g. Fast, Altavista, and Teoma just to name a few). And for a specific category like this, John's suggestion of following links from other sites is one that I personally often find extremely useful.

There's a lot more to editing than just clearing backlogs of submitted sites. Editors are also expected to search the web to find new sites for their categories. Finding three sites, and writing good (though not necessarily perfect) descriptions for them, is an important part of showing what kind of editor you would be.

These Web Design and Development cats can be a bit tricky sometimes. We actually reorganized the whole Designers area last year to make it a bit easier for users to find what they were looking for and to give new editors a chance to get into them, but for the most part a lot of them are still too big for new editors (not this one in particular even though there are actually more than 40 waiting for review now <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" /> ).

I'm sure there are other Freelance/F sites out there, and the information that you've been given above will probably do the trick.

But if your sole motivation for taking on this category is so that you can get your site listed, that might be coming across in your application (I haven't seen your app and it's not archived anywhere). We don't have a problem with people applying to edit the category where their site will be listed (I did that when I applied), but you really do need to make sure that it is clear that this is not your primary reason for taking on a particular category.

I have actually seen applications that blatantly state that the person is only interested in taking on the category so that they can get their own site listed. Even if there is just a hint of this in an application, I can imagine a reviewer saying "Hmmm, looks like they only want to add their own site. Why should I bother with this one? They'll add one site and never come back." That would be frustrating to say the least <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" />

If you truely want to be part of the ODP, and not just to get your own site listed, then I would probably take option 3 from above in one of the posts there and apply for another category where you may have some interest or experience. That way you gain some experience in how things work, and you can eventually take on the other categories where you have interests.

This will all be moot though if you reapply with some good examples for Freelance/F and a clear indication of intent <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" />