Why anybody asks "when" and nobody asks "if"?

Many webmasters ask "when can I expect this site to be added to the directory?".

This question puzzles me, because I don't understand why nobody asks IF a web site will be added!

Why webmasters always assume that their sites will be accepted and included in the ODP? And why they think that ODP is a service that lists URLs submitted by webmasters?

Is there something more that ODP could do to prevent the diffusion of wrong informations about the project?

Do you think something like this might help?

We care a great deal about the quality of the ODP. We aren't a search engine and pride ourselves on being highly selective. We don't accept all sites, so please don't take it personally should your site not be accepted. Our goal is to make the directory as useful as possible for our users, not to have the directory include all (or even most) of the sites that could possibly be listed or serve as a promotional tool for the entities listed.

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It's actually paragraph two from our submission guidelines which every submitter acknowledges they've read and agreed as part of the the submission process .

For those that happily skipped right on by at the time, here is the entire document.

Do you think something like this might help?

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I know that paragraph, but observing the high percentage of webmasters that ask "when do you think...", I would assume that the paragraph is overlooked.

Of course this is entirely webmasters's fault, but maybe a more strict "answering protocol" here at Resource Zone and a bit of psychology could help ODP to correctly inform users how ODP works:

Webmaster: When do you think the site will be added?

Editor: We can't predict if your web site will be accepted nor when an editor will review it. Please read our FAQ for details.

Would it be a bad idea?

Some people do ask "if". It is, unfortunately, usually the wrong people (just like the people who are worrying if they spammed -- never did: it's only the people who don't give a flying fig that spam us.)

Everybody ask “when” because the first thing they see about DMOZ is:

“ Become an editor Help build the largest human-edited directory of the web”.

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Guess what they assume about DMOZ.
I don’t blame them. Maybe they don’t have the time to fully understand what ODP is. Maybe they don’t look at the guidelines and assume what they want. Maybe...
Those problems can't be solved because the average submmiter is just "passing through".