of categories and editors

[kevbro]

Hi,

can anyone advise me how one can check if a particular category does have an Editor assigned to it....

and possibly what the current workload situation is within a category -

ie no outstanding submissionto be reviewed, or 3 months backlog etc.

 

I ask because I expect this would give me some idea as to where my company site stood in the review process.

 

like many folk I first submited our website in the mistaken belief that inclusion in the Directory was a must for decent search engine rankings.

 

as others have also discovered, this is not the case -

in less than 4 months of enhancing our site content and getting decent backlinks, our small site now has a google pagerank of 1 and consistantly returns in the top 4 hits on google using a relevant search string.(even above sites with a better pagerank !)

 

the moral here for all those who pester the editors because they want good rankings on google etc ...

is that whilst being included in the directory would be very desirable - it is not actually necessary.

- go away and optimise your site rather than expect the hard work and dedication of others make up for your failings.

regards,

Kevin

[motsa]

can anyone advise me how one can check if a particular category does have an Editor assigned to it....

You can see if a particular category has a listed editor by looking at the bottom of the category -- it will show an editor name if there is one. Unfortunately, that doesn't tell you anything at all beyond the fact that that editor is one of many who can edit in that category -- it tells you nothing about how active they are, when they next plan to edit there, etc.

 

and possibly what the current workload situation is within a category -

ie no outstanding submission to be reviewed, or 3 months backlog etc. I ask because I expect this would give me some idea as to where my company site stood in the review process.

No, we can't and, even if we could, any information we gave would be useless. Even if we told you how many suggested sites were awaiting review, we can't know when someone might have the urge to review any of those suggested sites so the information is ultimately of no help in telling you when someone might get around to reviewing and listing (if it's listable) your site.

[crowbar]

Hi,

can anyone advise me how one can check if a particular category does have an Editor assigned to it....

 

If there is a resident named editor for a category, it will be at the bottom of the page. However, if there isn't, you would check in every category above it, because every editor can also edit in any category beneath him.

 

and possibly what the current workload situation is within a category -

ie no outstanding submissionto be reviewed, or 3 months backlog etc.

 

No, that would be confidential. Though we have that info, we could be removed as an editor for disclosing it, and it really wouldn't mean much because we have new site suggestions coming in daily, and if there were 300 in a category, which one of those would get reviewed next is very random.

 

I edit every category within the US, which means hundreds of thousands, so no category is without an editor. An editor named in a locality(city) is usually limited to just that category and it's subcategories. A US level editor edits in all localities. A state level editor would edit everything within that state.

 

Added - and meta editor motsa edits every single category in the whole Directory.

[kevbro]

thanks a lot motsa,

at first glance your reply would not seem to be too helpful -

 

but actually it has been just the reverse !

 

neither of the 2 catagories I submitted our site to have an editor name at the bottom - they are

Business: Food and Related Products: Snack Foods

Regional: Europe: United Kingdom: England: Lancashire

 

so it is very obvious that whatever merits our site may have,

then it will be some time until we get a review done due to the volunteer way in which the directory is run.

 

I don't have any problem with this ...

 

but could I may a suggestion, that in future,

when pestered by impatient webmasters, or by folk like me, that you have a 'stock' reply you could point to that could include the good advice you gave me, and any other relevant pointers.

(something along the lines of a notice with title 'Not listed in DMOZ yet ? - click here')

 

this could hopefully result in fewer postings

 

thanks again,

regards,

Kevin

[kevbro]

oops ......

just spotted that I went too 'deep' into the categories, and that there are

many editors further up the 'tree'

kevin

[crowbar]

so it is very obvious that whatever merits our site may have,

then it will be some time until we get a review done due to the volunteer way in which the directory is run.

 

Not neccessarily, I've reviewed site suggestions that had just been submitted the day before. What always catches my eye is a proper title and description and I get curious, whereas a key word stuffed title/description, or one that is full of sales hype turns me off and is usually left for last.

 

but could I may a suggestion, that in future,

when pestered by impatient webmasters, or by folk like me, that you have a 'stock' reply you could point to that could include the good advice you gave me, and any other relevant pointers.

(something along the lines of a notice with title 'Not listed in DMOZ yet ? - click here')

 

Great suggestion, but it wouldn't do any good, or you would have spotted the one we have in our FAQ, .

[motsa]

so it is very obvious that whatever merits our site may have,

then it will be some time until we get a review done due to the volunteer way in which the directory is run.

Actually, you don't know that. 200+ editors have the ability to edit in any given category. One of those editors may decide to edit the category you're interested in today or may not go near it for months or years. The point is that you just don't know.

[kevbro]

thanks to both of you for the info ...

seems to me that nothing is new, except my naivety - :o

[crowbar]

motsa has forgotten more than I'll ever learn as an editor. If you want to know what it's like to be an editor, or how the ODP works, this is the place to ask. (within reason, of course), .