Does it realy take 2 years to register?

[malhyp]

Hi there, we registered with DMOZ 2 years ago and nothing was inserted into the directory.

 

On August 19, 2008 we registered again and still nothing has been entered. Does it realy take this long to insert a listing into this project?

 

This is where we are trying to register to: Top: Computers: Internet: Web Design and Development: Designers: Full Service: D

[firestorm]

Yes, sometimes it really does take this long.

 

The directory consists of volunteers who edit in their free time. Now think about all of the people who are submitting sites just like you free of charge thinking this project is a great idea. There is a lot of people suggesting sites. Now think about 40% of the people submitting their sites to the wrong categories. Now think about 70% of the submissions having bad titles or descriptions. Now think about all of the work these volunteer editors need to do.

 

Your main job as a submitter is to suggest sites to us. Then we add the ones we feel are of good quality and would benefit the visitors. That is all that you are doing really. Just making a suggestion that we add a site. If your site gets listed, great. If it doesn't then please don't be to unhappy.

[spectregunner]

Sometimes it take longer. It all depends upon where a volunteer editor chooses to work on a given day.

 

Given that the editors build the directory for their own enjoyment -- it's not like AOL pays them -- the waits in some categories are a lot longer than in others.

 

Think of it as a giant lottery, and by suggesting your site, you just bought a ticket. Tomorrow you may be the happiest person on the planet, or the saddest.

[hutcheson]

It can take anything from a few minutes to an hour to make a good site suggestion.

 

It can take anything from a few minutes to an hour to review a site.

 

But what happens between ANY two volunteer actions is ... completely indeterminate. There is no connection at all between them, even if they are in the same category, or by the same volunteer, or about the same site.

 

When you suggest a site, that doesn't start anything, or stop anything, or rearrange priorities for anyone. It's just a suggestion. It stands on its own, totally unrelated to the millions of other suggestions, or the tens of millions of other sites never suggested, or the millions of edits needed on sites that have already been listed.

 

In fact, there are never any set priorities, or deadlines, or assignments, or ordered queues. There is only a community of volunteers, each working in his own way, at his own rate, on his own.

 

Which has created something completely different (and often better) than any system of assignments or deadlines or priorities or queues, or any other trappings of micromanagement, could ever conceive, let alone accomplish.

[malhyp]

Thanks for your replies. I think that there may be more to it than that. I clearly remember going through all the categories that related a year ago and looking at it today, I cant see much difference in the amount of listings. The editor must be averaging 1 listing per month. Maybe I should be registering as an editor to help out.

[firestorm]

Maybe I should be registering as an editor to help out.

 

You are more than welcome to do so.

[rossmpbio]

I have to say that I am having similar issues. I understand that this is a volunteer project and I have done everything to assist my listing. Pestering is not allowed on the site - for good reasons - but it leaves those who have chosed to submit to DMOZ completely in the dark. If our site has been rejected we do not know. Would it not be better to bounce problems back to the submitter rather than say nothing or ignore a siggested site. I do not want to be an editor as I could not commit to it, they do fantastic work, but can't we, those submitting sites for free, help too?

[pvgool]

> If our site has been rejected we do not know.

May I ask you a question.

What would you do if you knew the site was rejected?

 

Remember that sites will only be rejected for a number of reasons. Which can be found on http://www.dmoz.org/guidelines/include.html

 

A second question

What would you do if you knew the site is still waiting review?

[hutcheson]

Would it not be better to bounce problems back to the submitter

 

There are no problems in a site suggestion that we can't fix. (After all, we can figure out how to list a site with no help at all, so surely a flawed hint couldn't PREVENT us from listing it!)

 

So why bounce site suggestions back for some unskilled person to try again, when we could just fix them?

 

And there are essentially no problems with a SITE that CAN be fixed. If someone isn't interested in contributing to "the sum of human knowledge" (i.e. what the ODP is there to index), then there's no PROBLEM as such: there's simply a complete lack of common interest.

 

And "when there's no common interest" is the ultimate answer to the question "when, of all times, is communication LEAST likely to be useful?"

[shadow575]

Thanks for your replies. I think that there may be more to it than that. I clearly remember going through all the categories that related a year ago and looking at it today, I cant see much difference in the amount of listings. The editor must be averaging 1 listing per month. Maybe I should be registering as an editor to help out.

As all editors are volunteers, the editors who might be interested in these categories have perhaps been more interested in other categories lately. Its also entirely possible to perform editing tasks in a category that do not correlate to a plus/minus of listings. 1 listing per month would be more than sufficient to maintain an active editor account, given the minimum requirement of 1 edit in 4 months. However, as I said earlier many editors have many interests and therefore not making an edit in 1 category could very well mean another category is receiving dozens of edits.

 

If helping is what interests you, please do apply. Remember when applying:

1. Start small, find a small sub-category in an area you are interested in.
   
2. Take some time to read the guidelines and any category descriptions available. Apply what you read to your suggested URL's and their titles and descriptions.
   
3. Be honest. Tell us about your interests and any sites that you are associated with. Affiliated sites can be those you own, have written, coded, designed, or contributed significant content too.
   

[malhyp]

Hi there, we have been trying to add 5-6 listings to DMOZ for almost 3 years now. Does it really take that long? I'm now starting to wonder what the point is. Or are editors not putting our listing through for their own gain...

[makrhod]

It seems you might not have read the answers given to your previous question, but thank you for re-using the same thread.

The guidelines and purpose of the ODP have not changed since then, and neither have the answers.

 

are editors not putting our listing through for their own gain

Vague accusations are neither helpful nor appreciated, but if you have any real evidence of editorial abuse, please report it (giving all the details of course) via the Public Abuse system.