Well I applied for a listing in Dec 2004. Yeah Dec 2004. And it was not approved. I thought that submitting it again and again will not help so I just asked one of the editors there. (I don't even remember the name) And he replied me that he is in WORLD - Russia, So he cannot help me. Well after that I thought I might apply for the category and I will have to handle this myself. So I applied for the category. And was rejected. Reason one of the following from predefined 10 reasons that they usually send to me. So I made an application and worked on it for 3 days. Made sure there is no spelling mistakes and all. This time no response from ODP for 3 months. So I applied for same category with same thing and they said that the application is good enough but category is rather big. So please choose a smaller one. Again I applied for the smaller one category with 11 to 12 listings in it. Now this time no replies. So I went to resource-zone and the editor over there said to me that its been rejected. (Thought I didn't got any rejection emails) I created another application and applied for it again. And this time also no replies. It feels a bit awkward but I have exact count of the times I have applied and been said to go for a small category. Then no replies. Then they think it is a big category, again they say Oh! this is already being well managed we are not looking for any editors in there. (But there is still a Volunteer for Editing link.) Don't know why. But now it goes in my head that minstrel was saying right. ODP has some serious problems in there.
just forget them they will find your site themselves. the same was with me untill the entered my sites on their own. I never did submit them after getting 10-20 rejections from them
There is no way of telling why you were rejected and those making the decisions generally don't get into discussions about it anyway. All you get is the standard list and maybe a hint in the right direction. So there is no way anyone here can say whether the rejection was fair or not. If you are applying to a World language then the number of meta editors available to review the application may be very restricted. Therefore the time taken to review the application can be very lengthy indeed. Same with a number of English language areas where specialist skills might be needed. Applications to Regional branch are often quickest as virtually any meta can approve applications there. It might possibly be one factor in why Regional is the only growing English language branch where the number of listings is increasing. The matter of a category being too large is common. There are good reasons for not allowing new editors loose in categories where they could do a lot of damage through inexperience so this will get the application rejected. As the directory has grown the number of suitably sized categories that new editors might be interested in has declined, leaving them with niche subjects that no-one has been interested enough in to develop further. Naturally people want to edit areas they are interested in and the system increasingly works against that as the interesting categories mature. With declining productivity and editor numbers you are right to suggest there is a problem. It is one that is quite easily fixed, mostly without major upheaval in processes as some might advocate. 1. The meta could appoint a new editor to a smaller category than the one applied to if the application is otherwise OK and shows potential. 2. The meta could appoint a new editor to "greenbust" a larger category. This means every edit has to be approved before it is published, thereby allowing an inexperienced editor to have access to larger categories without the danger of doing damage. 3. New editors could be put through mandatory training modules to develop and test their skills before being given rights to edit categories for real, meaning it is not necessary for a new editor to already display editorial skills before they join. 4. They could appoint more metas to review applications or devolve existing editor applications for extra categories to experienced editalls in order to speed up application processing. I am sure that if editors were brainstormed they could come up with plenty of other suggestions. Whether DMOZ management will solve the problem before it is too late to turn the tide remains to be seen.
I think the tally would be more then the links that are in the ODP right now. More dis-satisfied people out there, then the actual links in the ODP project itself.
The easiest way to become an editor is to pretend that you are a fool with no knowledge except the least basic information about Internet.