I submitted over 16 months ago

I submitted my site May of 2004 www.662mob.com submitted

http://dmoz.org/Shopping/Sports/Water_Sports/Surfing/Bodyboarding/


no updates ever???????

You are correct: we no longer do updates of any sort.

pretty shocking updates in that category
havent seen a new site up there in about three years and most of them up there are out of date

That's OK, we all miss a lot of things when we don't know what to watch. Don't worry about it.

The 10 X bodyboarding world champ and USC graduate Mike Stewart tried to become editor 3X and got denied

that is also pretty shocking

someone beyond qualified and with the most knowledge in the world about the category gets denied when he is just trying to help the sport

I wouldn't worry too much about that either. We run into problems with many "highly qualified" applicants (whether the qualification is in their own mind or shared by some group of other people, isn't germane to the point.) They often tend to gloss over the important parts of the application: as if it really doesn't matter whether they can find, describe, and categorize websites. Perhaps they could have -- who knows? The fact is, too often "qualified" people just don't bother. And when rejected one time, they just say more and more about their qualifications -- as if that were ever the problem!

But that's almost never the problem. I don't remember turning down anyone, ever, because I thought they didn't know the subject well enough. A weekend surfer who did well in high-school English (well, perhaps not in California, but in many public schools) and who COULD have passed Library Science 101 if he'd ever wanted to take the trouble of studying -- has all the technical skills and knowledge needed. I never took ANY coursework, at any level, in the topic that I started here -- or in several other topics that I've spent a great deal of time editing. And that's not unusual. the ODP community is rather stridently populist, at least in the sense of being intolerant of elitist posturing....which you'll often see in webmaster forums. "I'm the world's foremost expert on [whatever] and yet the ODP rejected me." Yeah, very likely. And even if they'd been accepted, with an attitude like that and a chip on the shoulder like that, they'd likely not have found the ODP community a congenial place to hang out. My experience has been that learning is generally worn lightly, but respected all the more for that. You won't be able to tell who the rocket scientists are (and yes, we have some) or who the pre-teenaged kids are (and yes, we have some) by reading the forums. Too many of the necessary editing skills aren't taught in most academic coursework -- in many categories, Introduction to Computer Fraud is perhaps the most important single skill.

when he is just trying to help the sport

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For what it is worth, when looking for directory editors, we most often look to those who want to help the directory.

yeah so I guess it is better for the DMOZ let the category go to terrible quality not being edited for years and years rather than let someone try to make it good

I highly doubt he had a bad attitude in his application and he is very humble and 40 years old

It is not even a big category but is important to a lot of people

The WORLD BODYBOARDING TOUR SITE is not even in the DMOZ

shocking

Well, in any case the ODP doesn't constrain YOUR options, since you have your own website. You can hang around being shocked because the ODP doesn't have a link to a site that ... your site don't have a link to either. (Shocking? You be the judge -- on your own batteries, and of your own website. I've got better surge suppressors on my equipment, and other things to do.)

Or you can promote the sport by building your own links list. Promote your own site as a portal; show the ODP editors (and the rest of the world) what could be done. My suspicion is that quite a bit more could be done than has been done so far.

Or you can help the ODP editors find sites. There are more sites reviewed than get listed, and much more work goes on in a directory than you'll see on the public category pages. Help is always welcome.

Your choice. I personally find it not "shocking" but depressing how many people get all high-horse arrogant when their own notion of other people's priorities are ignored by the other people who already had priorities. But that's just one of the uglier manifestations of human nature -- you see it in politics and the workplace, why should the net be immune?

Our site is actually the #1 source for bodyboarders to get the latest news about contests, pro interviews, and other resources including 4 pages of links to ACTIVE POPULAR websites. We get thousands of emails form bodyboarders worldwide thanking us for making the site

It doesnt really make a difference to me if we are in the DMOZ but I check it about every 6 months to see if we are in it. After 16 months and after the father of the sport has tried to support the DMOZ as an editor getting denied it makes the moderators/dmoz look not very respectable

I also have a list of things that I think ought to be on the net, but isn't. I admit, nothing having to do with bodyboarding is on it. And my list probably contains things you aren't interested in--I rather doubt, for instance, if Asia Minor figures big on your world tour, although its physical geography has some interesting aspects. But there's no point in looking down at anyone else for not doing what I won't do (that's hypocritical to the max!) -- and there's no point in looking down at anyone else for not doing what I am already doing (why should we be duplicating effort, when there's so much else to do?)

It's a big internet; and it's not finished yet. There's a great deal left to contribute.

Mike was trying to contribute.. too bad the dmoz didnt let him

too bad the dmoz didnt let him

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I would have thought the opposite was the case. Given that a bad editor, who can't follow the guidelines when applying to be an editor, would actually do more harm than good to any directory.

guidelines were followed perfect

your are a joke

guidelines were followed perfect

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Can I ask - how do you know that?
If they were perfect, then why was he rejected as an editor?

your are a joke

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I guess those who are trying to argue from such a weak position have to resort to name calling .... shame you have to stoop to such lows

Experts, world reknown experts, on a subject often have their own ideas about how DMOZ should be representing that subject. That might, for example, include populating categories with sites that guidelines and/or policy dictate must not be included, or not included in that category. Objectivity is a vital skill for editors; objectivity about sites being reviewed and about taxonomy. Subject experts often struggle with this with the occasional spectacular and damaging result.

Then you have to look at motivation and honesty about that motivation. For example - if I was interested in promoting a subject whatever that might be, with no ulterior motive, I would probably be looking at applying for the category about that sport, not the one for selling gear and making profit from it.

Now if we move to the category that promotes the sport of bodyboarding, as opposed to that for flogging the gear, what we see is an entirely different situation. 38 sites listed, none waiting, and a huge amount of editing activity this year. It looks to me like the sport itself is extremely well served by DMOZ.

It is not even a big category but is important to a lot of people

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That would be the Shopping category I suppose. As I indicated the bulk of people to whom bodyboarding is important are extremely well served but I accept that the bulk of people to whom the Shopping category would be important, the webmasters, are not as well represented. Since DMOZ serves websurfers not webmasters you can see how editors might determine that their own priorities when it comes to this sport lie with information rather than sales sites. But don't despair - I notice some of the information sites listed do link to your site though they don't seem to share your view on exactly how important it is. So since we link to sites that link to you our users, those interested in the sport, will find you by using DMOZ. What you might be more interested in - the page rank value of your own link increasing by virtue of a DMOZ listing, is of zero interest to editors and our users.

>> ...if we move to the category that promotes the sport of bodyboarding, ..... what we see is an entirely different situation. 38 sites listed, none waiting... <<

"None waiting".

So, if there really are important sites that are not listed, then no one on the entire planet has found it important enough to make us aware of them by using the "suggest a site" link - and you can't blame the editors for that. That's a failure of the entire bodyboarding community.