How do I know if there is an editor for my category?

Hi there,

I submitted my site http://www.iwmwaterjet.com to the following category:
http://www.dmoz.org/Business/Indust...ng_and_Machining/Machine_Tools/Manufacturers/

My question is how do I know if there is an editor there for this category? If there is no editor there, do I just wait forever? Do the editors check each category and help to cover when there is no editor for a particular one?
Thanks.

Because I can't say it any better than the answer given in the FAQ (at the top of each screen), I'll simply refer you there.

http://resource-zone.com/forum/faq.php?faq=faq_site_questions#faq_no_editor

Please read our FAQ There's no editor for my category - will my submission ever get reviewed?

I think that an important part of the question has been missed...

The author posted the question, "how do I know if there is an editor there for this category?" I did not see thia covered in the FAQ - only the reference to "what if there is NO editor."

This first question is perfectly valid, as it can be useful to know before one submits their application to be an editor. I know that most probably don't follow the guidelines, anyway, but it's helpful to know, before applying for editor status. (so that one does not waste their time, if say, a local category already has 10 editors, and 30 listed sites, for example)

Did I miss the answer to that part of the question somewhere in the FAQ?

Respectfully...

The answer for that is that there are more than 200 editors for every category.

Ther is no misdirection involved. The question was asked in the part of the forum dealing with submissions, not the part of the forum dealing with editor applications.

I'm guessing that you are dividing the total number of editors by the total number of categories. Is that all that you wish for us to know? (I don't understand how some people seem to know that a particular category has x number of editors)

Again, no disrespect. I know that the original question was related to submision, and not editor application, but I'm actually trying to use the information in a positive way. You won't find me arguing about it...

You have guessed wrong. Dividing ht etotal number of eidtors by the total number of categories would yield a very, very small number, along the lines of 0.01 percent of an editor per category. Even doing it the other way around would yield a meaningless number of around 6.

The fact of thematter is that there are more than 200 editors who have permission to edit anywhere in the directory. Thus, evey category has at least 200 editors with sufficient permissions that they can edit in that category if they choose.

In a general sort of way, [brace yourself for an overly broad explaination -- your mileage may vary] there are no practical situations where there are too many editors for a category. If an exception were to occur, this is the kind of thing that one of the meta editors who work on applications would likely point out to an applicant.

Applying to be an editor is not some game of "guess the empty category", rather it involves identifying an appropriate category (that is covered extensively elsewhere) finding three excellent, appropriate candidate URLs, writing guidelines compliant titles and descriptions, declaring your affilaitons and hitting submit. Done right, it is hard work.

All categories have many editors - that is the answer to your question.

However I think you really want to know :: How do I know if there is an active editor busy with the category where my site wants to be reviewed?


Tbere is no easy answer to that. We could go look at that categroy, and see if an editor has worked there recently. But that still does not answer the question as an editor may have just dropped in to review one site and is not likely to come back. We would have to look at all editors that have worked in the category and try to posulate, whether one or more of those seems to be actively working through the category. Even if we came up with an answer it's absolutely no prediction of future performance.


Editor activity goes up and down and its totally unpredicatable. If you looked at one of the categories I edit a couple of months ago you might have made a guess that I do 20 edits a day, and there are 1000 unreviewed sites and give a statistical estimate based on that. Except that two months ago, I stopped editing that category because real life had demands on me and I hardly edit at all right now.

Or you could have looked at another categroy and seen that no edits were down for two months and assumed nothing would happen, except that yesterday I had a burst of energy and reviewed twenty sites there.

Thanks for the clarification. I guess I took the liberty to assume that some categories could be "overloaded" with editors, and therefore, might not be worth applying to. (speaking entirely in the context of relevance, of course - but people do have multiple interests)

Well -- IIRC, one of the standard editor rejection notes is

Although we would like you to join us as a volunteer editor, you have
chosen a category that is already well represented, or is broader than
we typically assign to a new editor.

Click to expand...

It's almost certainly the second, if you get that one.

bobrat said:

All categories have many editors - that is the answer to your question.

However I think you really want to know :: How do I know if there is an active editor busy with the category where my site wants to be reviewed?

Click to expand...

No, that wasn't my question at all. I've recently signed on to be an editor, and I just assumed (wrongly, if the last post by SpectreGunner is any indication) that some editors would be rejected, simply because the ratio of editors to entries was too high. I applied for my hometown category, and was just curious to know how to find the number of editors in a particular category - but even then, ONLY after I read the question, as posted by someone else.

I'm not really interested in it from any standpoint other than clarifying the intent of the original question. I spend a lot of time reading posts here, and I just thought that it was a good question, and it drew my curiosity, as well.

MHAN,

While the original message seemed crystal clear, regarding suggestions to a category that may or may not have a named editor, I can see that there is a secondary question inherent to the subject.

Let's see if I can clarify - there is, at the bottom of every category screen in the ODP, either a 'Volunteer to edit this category' or 'Category editors: name(s) . (or neither, if, I believe, editor applications are not accepted at that level. )

If you see the former, there is no named editor. That does not mean that no one edits there regularly, or that no one can edit there. The public information does not extend beyond showing who is(are) named editor(s). You cannot tell how many editors may have privileges to edit in any particular category.

I, personally, have editing privileges in many categories and subcategories, however I am a named editor in only a few. If I were listed in each category where I can edit, it would tend to discourage others from applying to become an editor, which would be a bad thing.

Hopefully, that was the information you were seeking.

Yes, that's the answer...

That's all that I was asking. In light of this information, it's not particularly useful to know how many editors there are.

Since I found a "volunteer" link, I suppose that I may assume that to be a welcome mat, based on what you've said.

Thank you for the information. It's very helpful.

Any further questions, should probably be asked in your other thread in "Becoming an Editor."

And, you are welcome.

MHAN said:

Since I found a "volunteer" link, I suppose that I may assume that to be a welcome mat, based on what you've said.

Click to expand...

Although seems to be a ligical conclusion your assumption is wrong
At the bottom of the page you will see a text
"Category editors: editorname" which means there is an editor (or maybe more) who are listed for this category, but you can still apply to become an editor for that category (link at top of page) and you may be accepted if your application is OK.
or
"Volunteer to edit this category." which meens there is no special editor listed for this category and still we might not accept your application for several reasons. It might even be possible that no new editors are welcome in that category (for instance because the category is much to large for a new editor).

I've never seen one of those "category editor" labels, so maybe that's why my understanding was clouded.

Regarding the acceptance issue, I didn't mean that I was guaranteed an editorship - I just meant that it seemed that it was being said, that if there was a "volunteer to be an editor" link, that this was an eligible category, whereas no "welcome," means no editors were needed.

Again, probably just a misunderstanding on my part. It seems that none of the categories that I was interested in, had editors named as such, which is why I may not understand the issue.

No problem, no problem at all.

Yeah, it's just a matter of presentation. The "become an editor" link is on every category that can accept applications (whether or not it already has editors); the "volunteer to edit this category" is only on categories that do not already have editors. But both link to the same place.

Regarding the acceptance issue, I didn't mean that I was guaranteed an editorship - I just meant that it seemed that it was being said, that if there was a "volunteer to be an editor" link, that this was an eligible category, whereas no "welcome," means no editors were needed.

Click to expand...

Just keep in mind that not all categories that have a "volunteer to be an editor" link are appropriate for a new editor -- some are too large or too spam/abuse-prone, etc.

I did a little further research on the subject, and for fun, explored a bunch of different categories. (none that I was personally interested in, just as a matter of proving a concept) I did, after some searching, come across some categories that have editors listed. I had never seen this before, but now I know, and it's perfectly clear in my mind. (I just chose unpopular categories, I guess)

Thank you to all who responded.