ODP Editor/Non-Editor Communication Guidelines
- Thread starter Nitin M
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Eric-the-Bun
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Another thing that is often not fully grasped externally, is that the most productive way for editors to add good sites is through finding them themselves.
The majority of good sites are run by ordinary people (= the webmaster community) who do not see the need for SEO at all. If they link out, they link to sites that they (as surfers and 'experts' in their topic) think are good. I've found sites that could not be found on Google because they had not thought to get any external links to themselves at all.
I am currently building a new sub-category in an area just because there was 1 submission which had 5 links which then led to over 50 links all of potentially good sites, mostly unlisted. When added to the directory, this will mean that there will be a good resource for surfers on that small topic and the sites will be found by searches for that topic.
That 1 submission was pure 'gold' and will result in many listings being added eventually.
The majority of good sites are run by ordinary people (= the webmaster community) who do not see the need for SEO at all. If they link out, they link to sites that they (as surfers and 'experts' in their topic) think are good. I've found sites that could not be found on Google because they had not thought to get any external links to themselves at all.
I am currently building a new sub-category in an area just because there was 1 submission which had 5 links which then led to over 50 links all of potentially good sites, mostly unlisted. When added to the directory, this will mean that there will be a good resource for surfers on that small topic and the sites will be found by searches for that topic.
That 1 submission was pure 'gold' and will result in many listings being added eventually.
Certainly the webmaster will not have submitted them, but perhaps some acedemic doing some research looks at the relevant ODP category and realises that we are missing some of the most important sites on the topic, and the acedamic submits them for us to consider - or even perhaps volunteers to be an editor citing his university research as the key that led him to us...
The statement does not compare like with like. The logic is true, but the comparison is unrealistic. It might have held when the ODP started, but it isn't nowadays. Today, experts in internet-related subjects invariably have or are professionally affiliated to a website. I think that ownership or affiliation are more relevant to Nitin's point than webmastering.motsa said:
When did the ODP start only listing sites about Internet-related subjects? I must have missed the memo. The existence of a Web site about a subject doesn't suddenly turn it into an Internet-related subject. Someone could be an expert in the field of 13th century, left-handed widgets without owning a Web site on the subject.
I have to say that I do find it funny that, out of this whole thread, you chose my post to comment on.
Eric-the-Bun
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But these only represent a very, very small percentage of the directory. In the area I edit, none of the subjects are internet related, in fact quite the reverse and this is true of most of the directory.
The importance of being an 'expert' in something includes finding sites and determining unique content. For example I recently declined to list a site who had copied their content from another site which was rather obscure.
The difficulty with Nitims points is that the focus seems to be on a tiny part of the directory from which generalisations are drawn and applied to the whole directory.
I have read this interesting thread, and noticed a couple of things. As it appears that the ODP Editors are fed up with the Webmasters and spammers abusing the system, (or attempting too), it would appear that there is some annoyance from the webmasters about corruption within the editing community. It seems to me that this corruption probably limited to very few, (if any) editors, and will no doubt get lesser and lesser.
I also note that there some notes on businessmen, not doing ethical things, and the church was mentioned at least a couple of times. Do you have to be religious?
I also note that there some notes on businessmen, not doing ethical things, and the church was mentioned at least a couple of times. Do you have to be religious?
Alex75 said:
You might find it even funnier to discover that, today, an expert in the field of 13th century, left-handed widgets will first publish on the internet before he or she publishes in any of the other traditional media. Nothing to do with the ODP, that's just the sign of the times which the ODP, like anyone else, has to humbly keep up with.Motsa said:
Oh, here's just to remind you, Motsa, that there was more to Nitin's use of the word Webmaster than your reaction to it:
Nitin M said:
The concepts are in no possible way related. [And this is not the "ODP perception" -- this is just reality, with which all humans must deal.] One can be either an expert in a field, or a total idiot, without being a webmaster at all. And one can be a webmaster without possessing a clue in any field.
There are webmasters who specialize in one field while being an expert in another. There are webmasters who have specialist expertise in a field, and yet do not specialize on their website. And there are even webmasters who know something about the subject they specialize in. And ... some webmasters may know a great deal about the subject, but don't put any of their knowledge on the site.
You really can't have presuppositions like those. Every site has to be treated as a separate case: "Who is this webmaster? What does he know? What does he tell?"
I would, since it is incorrect. I'll grant you that *some* experts will publish first on the Internet but not that *all* experts will. In fact, some experts don't publish at all.
By the way, publishing something on the Internet doesn't make you a webmaster unless you manage the site on which you are being published.
I didn't say *all*. "An expert will publish" is roughly the same thing as "One or more experts will publish".motsa said:
I didn't say or suggest that either. In fact, I was arguing in favour of the point you've just made. There are websites managed by webmasters who know little, if anything, or care nothing, about the content. An ODP editor should therefore not assume that passionate complaints from a website are always coming from the webmaster. There could be a scenario with the monkey and the organ grinder.motsa said:
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