Thank you editors

A lot of what I read on these forums could be classified as disgruntled. I submited my site for inclusion in the ODP sometime in October after reading all the submission policies on the site. After a few weeks, I then checked these forums to learn more and followed the advice that the editors gave.

Submit once. Wait a month or two. Submit again and then forget about it.

Which is exactly what I did, kinda bored at work atm so I figured I'll do a check-up on the ODP for our site not expecting it to be there after hearing so many stories of people waiting over a year.

To my surprise we are listed now. Exactly where we should be with the exact description I gave (which was devised from following the submission policies - ie a short objective description of the buisness)

Just wanted to give a big thanks out to all the editors out there who have made and continue to make the ODP a valuable resource on the internet. It seems to me that your jobs are thankless for the most part, which is a shame, just a reminder that there are people out there who are very thankful for giving form to this huge sea of information we call the internet.

Perhaps it may seem a bit trite that I am saying thank you now that our sites included, but honesty I didn't want to post such a thread until it was as I thought some would view it as a superfical method to try to gain favor for inclusion (which is obviously not possible, but none the less).

Ok well anyways, thanks again

Nick

I think many new webmasters get a little frustrated at the ODP before they learn how it all works (spammers stay pissed at 'em, but that's a whole other topic). I know I did, though I had better sense than to come here shooting my mouth off about it. I believe a lot of us first learned of the ODP as simply an ends to our SEO means, not as an actual end user resource - though many never figure out the latter, apparently.

Granted, none of my sites have ever been listed, but I no longer care that much (though I was rather disappointed with myself over how excited I got when I saw "DMOZ" in my site logs). I've learned that the ODP isn't the be all end all, and I've figured out how to promote my sites in other very effective ways - not that a link in the ODP wouldn't be nice, mind you . I've gotten most of my sites listed via standard submission in the Yahoo directory, so that does much to keep me from developing a what's-wrong-with-my-site(s)? complex.

I keep checking in here simply because the whole thing fascinates me on some level. It's interesting to watch the jilted webmasters (jilted in their minds, at any rate) come here with the same ol' diatribes. Most entertaining of all are hutcheson's passive aggressive responses.

But, yes, I think the editors deserve a lot of credit - especially the ones who regularly post here, which surely takes a mountain of patience.

SmashinYoungMan said:

I think many new webmasters get a little frustrated at the ODP before they learn how it all works (spammers stay pissed at 'em, but that's a whole other topic). I know I did, though I had better sense than to come here shooting my mouth off about it. I believe a lot of us first learned of the ODP as simply an ends to our SEO means, not as an actual end user resource - though many never figure out the latter, apparently.

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Many old webmasters get really frustrated when they cannot change the odp to meet their own needs too. The problem is that some webmasters have bad experiences with dmoz (usually do to their lack of understanding or failure to accept dmoz for what it is and follow its guidelines) and at every turn try to justify their own experiences by taking every opportunity to show the "new" webmasters exactly what dmoz is (err...isn't) and when editors try in outside forums to explain this, we are often label as being defensive of "corruption" and "deception" rather than what we are doing which is trying to clarify the false information that is abundant. My advice-believe 50% of what you see and 10% of what you read

SmashinYoungMan said:

Granted, none of my sites have ever been listed, but I no longer care that much (though I was rather disappointed with myself over how excited I got when I saw "DMOZ" in my site logs). I've learned that the ODP isn't the be all end all, and I've figured out how to promote my sites in other very effective ways - not that a link in the ODP wouldn't be nice, mind you . I've gotten most of my sites listed via standard submission in the Yahoo directory, so that does much to keep me from developing a what's-wrong-with-my-site(s)? complex.

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This sounds like a very good game plan. Remember, that no listing doesn't mean there is something wrong. It simply means either no one has reviewed it or it isn't what dmoz is looking for right now. What tells you something is wrong is when your customers complain or just stop coming around. This isn't the fault of dmoz, google, yahoo, or any one else beyond the one builiding the site. Look at your audience (who you want to use your site) and add the content that they want to see. You will be successful in biz and probably in your dmoz listing too (not a guarantee but we are listing sites that the surfers find necessary and if they are finding your site usefull often times we will too), you might be surprised

SmashinYoungMan said:

I keep checking in here simply because the whole thing fascinates me on some level. It's interesting to watch the jilted webmasters (jilted in their minds, at any rate) come here with the same ol' diatribes. Most entertaining of all are hutcheson's passive aggressive responses. But, yes, I think the editors deserve a lot of credit - especially the ones who regularly post here, which surely takes a mountain of patience.

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If this really does fasicnate/interest you, perhaps you should pick a small non-commercial (maybe your hometown or neighboring town) category and apply to become an editor You might get accepted and see things from both sides, sheds a whole new light on things. Sometimes editor comments in this forum make you laugh, cry, and yes sometimes throw objects when you don't like what you are hearing. We editors sometimes have the same reactions to both public posters and other editors but in the end we hope what we are presenting is useful to someone (may not be who we are responding too-quite probably will be someone reading the thread or future readers of the thread) and that is why we continue to do so.

SmashinYoungMan said:

But, yes, I think the editors deserve a lot of credit - especially the ones who regularly post here, which surely takes a mountain of patience.

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I agree, the editors who take time to help in these forums deserve a round of applause. I don't have nearly as much free time to help here as I used too, but am happy to do so when I can. For those who are great people in real life, great editors in dmoz and still have time to visit and try and help here everyday- They deserve a big Thank you from all of us.

I actually have an editor application in. I'd love to be part of the ODP process. I haven't heard anything about it yet, though - which is probably for the best since I'm settling into a new job and wouldn't be able to edit as much as I'd like just now. Hopefully later, though; it will give me something constructive to do with my morning coffee.