One can only guess of what categories existed before that time.
None of the crashes we've had have really affected categories... Each time it's mainly the logs which buy it.
I dug through what we have left and actually found our first volunteer editor (
sadly no longer active)...
The first categories were created from the Usenet structure by the founders (
see post #4 above) - an early one is
Business.
Our history is documented in a directory format (
see post #6 above)
here - it starts in 1998.
How were the Editors in this Forum accepted?
The editors in Resource-Zone are accepted if they are editors in Dmoz - so one application is good for both.
As some of you have been here for a long long time, i assume you guys were accepted by the odp staff or were there any Meta or Catmod Editors at that time?
Apparently in the beginning there was no or little control over who edited what and how, the idea being like Wikipedia, that the directory would police itself. Since those "wild" times, rules (guidelines) have been added to improve the general quality and uniformity of the directory, and an editor application process put in place.
I was accepted (
fourth try) by a bravish meta in 2005. Staff can accept editors, but most applications are reviewed by the volunteer metas and catmods.
Did you guys instantly become Administrators/Catmods/Meta Editors, or with a passage of time?
With the possible exception of
Admins (
the list there is out of date) who are directly appointed, the wider permissions are granted by peers following the passage of edits and category reorganizations more than by time... A good working knowledge of the directory is a requirement for higher level permissions, so the "senior" editors have fairly large numbers of edits behind them. The quality is checked by peers, and advice given for areas to improve. Although it might appear similar, it's not a military rank thing.
I must admit that editing is a far from simple hobby.