Contacting Category Editors

[psp]

When is it appropriate to contact a category editor about a submission?

 

Thanks

[giz]

Umm, the question might be better asked the other way round (simply because there are a few times where it might be a good idea, and many times that it will not be (but a useful caveat is that you are never promised a reply); I haven't got time to list them all, and I have no idea what is on your mind); explain what problem you have and then maybe we can see whether it can be answered here instead.....

 

Why limit yourself to a one-way converastion with an editor who might not even be active, when by posting in the forum there are dozens of people that can possibly help out, and in real time too?

[hutcheson]

The "contact the editor" goes back to the beginning of the ODP, long before any ODP forum. The web social environment is very different now; as a class, ODP submitters are very different from the "independent contributors" who helped the ODP become the dominant web directoryl spam-type abuses are close to killing off any open communication setups on the web. I'm not sure that, in the current environment, in the current form, the "contact an editor" has any possible use for a submitter.

 

For an editor or for someone interested in a particular topic, it may be a way of making contact with people who are interested in the same subjects (like contact information on any other noncommercial website): I've had a few e-mails from that motive.

[flicker]

I've had a couple of emails pointing out errors and one making a suggestion about a subcategory (it was a good suggestion and wound up being adopted). Those were worthwhile emails to have sent, though it would have been safer and just as worthwhile to post them in here.

 

Anyway, I'd say that the best kind of email to send an ODP editor is one where you don't need a response, since most of us don't reply to those. If you want an answer, you'll definitely have better luck asking at the forum.

 

[kokopeli]

Anyway, I'd say that the best kind of email to send an ODP editor is one where you don't need a response, since most of us don't reply to those. If you want an answer, you'll definitely have better luck asking at the forum.

 

That's good advice IMO. I never answer email from submittors except to give a link here to RZ if appropriate. While I do not answer email, I do always read what comes to me but there is no way to know if the editor is receiving your email if they do not reply. Why do people not answer? It may seem harsh to ignore a submittor's email. There is no requirement to answer or not answer--however, for me the reason is that someone threatened to sue me for a rediculous reason and I decided that was the end. Life is too short

 

If you want an answer, this is the place to go