Logic behind selecting an editor for categories

I am just curious on a few items here. First, let's say we have someone who is interested in editing a section that fits him perfectly. Let's say this category has not been updated for months, so the person feels no one is editing and he could do it. This category has 114 sites in it. Why would this be too large for someone to handle?
Also, if someone is willing to do something for free, and his contribution would help out an area that has no editor, would this not be a good thing?

Basically, for a newbie editor, what do you all feel is a resonable site limit for a category and why. Also, if one is rejected two times, but still desires to edit that category, would you recommend him to keep trying? Especially when no additional comments were given both times.

Re: Logic behind selecting an editor for categorie

Roughly speaking, 20-50 sites (depending on category complexity) would be typical. We want a site that is small enough that a malicious editor can't do too much damage (yes, we have a few like that, and we do have to be prepared, because we're the ones who have to clean up) and small enough that a new editor can make a perceptible (positive) difference with only a few edits.

It's always a tradeoff: risk to the directory versus potential help. The only people who can make that judgment call are those who have to pay out on the risks (i.e. monitor for and repair the damage).

Note that "damage" can be either in the unreviewed sites or the visible sites, so a category that "looks" small enough may be temporarily out of consideration because there are 500 unreviewed sites waiting.

There are a couple of things that an interested wannabe-editor can do to work toward an oversized category. One is to work on a smaller category in a secondary area of interest. (Hobby? hometown? new movie coming out that we haven't got a category for yet? term paper topic? any little tidbit of a dozen or two sites that you can suggest for a neglected corner.)

Another is to propose a new subcategory of that category, with justification, category charter, etc. We could create that subcategory, populate it (partially) from the parent, and then you could apply for it. This also has been done before (and by visitors to this forum.)

Re: Logic behind selecting an editor for categorie

Sorry for the late reply, been away and also been working crazy on a software project.

Where could I propose this new sub category?

thank you for your reply. It really answered all my questions very well.

Re: Logic behind selecting an editor for categorie

This doesn't happen so often that we have a formal procedure for it.

Post here, if you like.

Just list the new category name, charter, and list of parent category's sites that could be moved into it.

Note: we may not create it immediately -- we may enter into that sometimes-frustrating consensus-building mode to make sure the names and charters are generally accepted as consistent with what we do elsewhere. But we'll certainly look at it.

Re: Logic behind selecting an editor for categorie

I noticed that you have a section with various 3D animation software. The area I refer to is:
http://dmoz.org/Arts/Visual_Arts/Computer_Graphics/3D/

I noticed Alias Maya was not there, so I would like to propose adding it. Maya has become quite popular, so I am sure this would be a great addition to dmoz's directory. I am learning it myself, and I can see why its so popular. Here is a link to their site:
http://www.alias.com/eng/index.shtml

Thanks again for your input!
Rob

Re: Logic behind selecting an editor for categorie

I think Alias has enough listings
http://dmoz.org/Computers/Software/Graphics/3D/Animation_and_Design_Tools/Alias_Wavefront/