For what it is worth -- accusations of editor abuse without any substantial supporting information are probably next to worthless.
It seems as though everyone who either cannot get in, or was once in and is not longer in, or is unable to properly use the search function to find the site that is actually in the directory cries "editor conflict."
Let me tell you why this is mostly B.S.
First, no single editor controls a category. There are 200+ editors called editalls and metas who can edit in every single category of the directory. We do need permission from anyone to make any edit we determine is worthwhile.
Second, any editor can edit in any subcategory that is beneath the category where they edit. That means more possible hands and eyes looking for great sites to add to the directory.
Third, the numbers are simply not favorable for this to be happening in a widespread manner. We have fewer than 7,000 active editors and more than 600,000 categories. What are the odds that the editor of a give category both works for your direct competitor and is corrupt?
Fourth, the accusation presupposes that the site has never been down. Remember, if a site is down on two consecutive visits from our automated link checker, it is made inactive until a human editor comes by and looks at it.
Fifth, there is an old saying that a rising tide lifts all boats fortunately, this is not true for the directory, as we grow categories and branches of the tree, sites that may have been listed two or three years ago -- but that have not added more unique content -- may no longer qualify for a listing. A quick read of this forum shows webmasters complaining that category X contains a bunch of marginal sites. It is not uncommon for an editor to go into a large category and remove the low hanging fruit, thus rising the tide in that given category.
Sixth, many webmasters are simply project what they would do if they were editors. Fortunately, the vast majority of editors are interested in building directories, not in screwing their competition.
There is a certain mindset that a lot of editors have. We edit because we love editing. Many of us also edit for multiple directories, and some editors even own their own directories. We often view ourselves as dedicated hobbyists. We are not unlike model railroaders, or R/C airplane owners. Just because someone else has a shinier locomotive, or a faster P-51 Mustang, we don't grab baseball bats and smash their locomotive or airplane to bits. Similarly, with a few, rare, exceptions, we don't block competitor sites. Doing so is a zero sum game because if we were to get caught -- and we would get caught -- we would be expelled from the directory, our own sites would be removed, and every edit we ever made would be put under the microscope.
