As editor my first point of interest is to correct you grammatically; infinitesimal ps.s - i trust nothing other than: life, death and taxes
Chance of existing editor getting hands on dead categories with only few listings aren't much better either.
Well making it better is apparently against DMOZ interests. I wish I did, then I wouldn't have problem with my removal instead I've added something like 500 "competitor" websites when my time would have been better spent if I abused my power and kept my head down - nobody would notice me and I would still be editor maybe even advanced very high in DMOZ hierarchy one day. Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyways!
An0n, the advice you are getting is sound. A category with 500 entries would not be given to a new editor. The potential for corruption is one factor for someone unknown - you could do a hell of a lot of damage to 500 entries. More importantly your first hundred or two edits are used to judge your editor skills as opposed to your subject knowledge and a meta editor will be monitoring you to begin with. A small, non-commercial or Regional category is easier for them to carry out the monitoring and assess your potential should you want bigger and more complex categories. Commercial categories that are not spam magnets might also be suitable. If you are keen to be a genuine volunteer then it should not take too long to progress - I can't recall the exact progression but I think it was only a matter of weeks after I started before I had categories under my wing with thousands of entries. Beneath http://dmoz.org/Business/Publishing...g/Products/Commercial_Printing/United_States/ are State categories - pick your state and apply for that one. Then apply for the neighbouring states one by one. In each case tidy them up. When you have eight or so then apply for the whole lot - by that time you will have proven your editing skills and trustworthyness. Or you could start with something like http://dmoz.org/Business/Publishing.../Books_and_Publications/Publication_Printers/ But you are truly wasting your time going for a 500 entry category - it simply will not happen and doesn't do you or DMOZ any good for you to try.
I'm actually way ahead of you brizzie. I chose a state already and figured how things could progress from there. Thanks for your input though. I am just uncertain as to whether to apply or not. Also, i'm really not looking to apply to a whole lot. I'd just would like to review the process of editing and see how to go about things.
Anon, I'd love to see you apply but you should wait until DMOZ is fixed. I don't think editor apps are going through yet.
Sorry, but this is just not true. I applied for and was accepted to edit the category where my website is now listed. All you have to do is state your affiliations up front, and then continue to behave fairly and honestly once you're given the keys to the vault. In other words, I list my competitors' websites. Here's a quote from the DMOZ's "Become an Editor" FAQ: "Finally, be truthful about your affiliations with any Web sites. Webmasters, site owners, and friends and relatives of webmasters and site owners are free to join. However, you should be up front and honest about these affiliations."
I have to dissagree on that, and I can't believe nobody else has mentioned this on this thread yet: Getting listed is not only one backlink. After being listed for a little while I noticed a lot of backlinks to the site I listed. Checking out the links, I found a lot of directories that use data from DMOZ to fill their pages. So I got a little over 100 oneway-inbound links from different websites, for my one submition to DMOZ
You are right to an extent. Yes, since other directories take DMOZ data and publish clones a listing will generate multiple directory links. But because they are clones Google discounts them for PR purposes. So it has a value of only one backlink even though there a multiple physical ones. I should have been clearer.
I got in the same way, even better my website had 9 deeplinks already in DMOZ so basically all categories I was interested in already had my website listed. Apparently not enough in my case, not only are all my affiliations listed literally all over the internet (beside DMOZ) and I hardly hide behind dozens of different nicknames so you can easily find everything there is about me using my real name. I have bent over backwards to discover anything listable, found great websites which have been buried deep in SE, listed many of them on my own website, but apparently that is all Conflict of Interests!
Fair nough'. Let me know when things have cleared up. This way I can reevaluate my current position and see whether the timing is right. Rob
I get quite a bit exposure and traffic from DMOZ, so why not? I have had no problem getting into DMOZ so it is totally worth the 2 minutes for me.