You can not fight a mob on your own. DMOZ editors are not individuals but act as a group and a mob. Many of them are not here to discuss anything but only to disrupt and try to destroy any discussion or forum that is critical of DMOZ. They are very much aware of the corruption so open discussion is of no interest to them, sabotaging any open discussion to protect the corruption is. These are the same people that are not only active in this forum but many other forums and even moderators on other forums with the same goal and tactics every where, to censor and stop any posting about DMOZ corruption. The reputation is not important for me but it is important for those who post in buy / sell section. Are we going to let these people to force anyone with interest to do business on DP to silence because they will gang up and red rep that person if he speaks his mind about corruption? I agree with you that in normal situation reps should be used to show appreciation or dissatisfaction with certain post as it was designed for and that is the way any normal person use it but we are not dealing with honest forum participant but a gang of corrupt individuals that have no regard for democratic discussions. We can either be passive and let them censor these discussions and ultimately at least destroy this category in DP or actively teach them that they can not act as bullies and they are only welcome if they leave their gang mentality at the door.
almost thought about wellcoming all those active users showing up in this thread, somehow it seems to be of great interest
LOL. There are alot of lurkers on this one. I guess they are all waiting for the "fight" to break out. Don't stand on the sidelines guys. Go ahead and post here. We don't bite...we just rep!
Damn right - I'm SURE that red repping them will make them change their ways... Afterall, it's about the important things in life huh.
I thought the purpose of this forum was to obtain information, experiences, and offer advice on dmoz/ODP issues and I believe that you are offering some information based on your experiences. There is a lot of confusion and mis-information floating around regarding dmoz and at least some of us (not all I am sure-but I don't mind-read anyones intentions) are trying to offer factual information and provide as much help as we can, when we can. If my presence is not wanted at DP then that is ok by me, if first hand experience is unwanted then so be it.-No worries. On the problems: There are plenty of problem listings, categories, descriptions, broken links and yes corrupt listings (although not as many as one might think) that need worked on. There are many good editors who are dilegently working to clean problem areas up. I spent the entire weekend (Late Friday evening, most of Satuday, and into the early hours of Sunday) cleaning up a mess in one little Oregon locality that was so bad, that it might have been better to unreview everything and start from scratch. At first glance, it looked corrupt but in the end I would say it was just a long history of really bad local editing, not mal-intent just complete disregard for the guidelines that went unnoticed because of the category size and age. On hiring more editors: No one is hired, so hiring more is out of the realm of possibility. Finding good editors who can understand and follow guidelines is difficult enough, keeping them logging in is even tougher but those willing to put in the effort of completing an application and start out small and work up are always needed. I don't know that more editors would fix the problem of queues though, since as is widely professed most good editors rarely use the suggested pool for listing new sites. In Regional for instance, the suggested sites are sometimes a very good resource and I will spend a lot of time working through unreviewed sites when working in a specific locality. In Business and Shopping on the other hand, I spend more time removing garbage and duplicates from the unreviewed sites rather than reviewing good ones. It is much more productive to seek sites out on my own in those branches so I only look at the unreviewed sites when I am on a cleaning mission. On seeking out corruption and fixing/preventing it: There are procedures in-place to detect, remove, prevent and repair the effects of corruption. Sometimes they are quick measures, sometimes it is a longer process, and often it pans out like the scenario I had this weekend-just poor editing with no abuse. Then we are on the same side, I want to eliminate all those things that give good editors a bad name too. I don't for one second believe that everyone here that doesn't like dmoz is fighting that same battle though, nor do I believe that everyone here singing praises are trying to help the directory. For the record, it is a hobby not a job but the rest of what you say I am in agreement with (except listing a site today of course ). If an editor is doing a poor job, first I want to correct the mistakes and then educate them on what they are doing wrong. If they are being unethical or corrupt, then I first want to personally see them removed so it doesn't continue, and then correct their mistakes. Bottom line is: That there are things that could always be done better, no question. Some will eventually be changed I am sure, and others for whatever reason may never be changed. Not all editors are angels, following guidelines and staying honest but by the same token not all (or even a majority) of us are corrupt, scum bags deserving the generic stereo typing we often get. and No not all site owners/suggesters are evil spammers who should be ignored but yes some are. Just my two cents
On the positive side, you at least admit that there is a problem and also not all webmasters are spammers but you missed the point of this thread. This thread is not about if DMOZ is good or bad, it is about unacceptable behavior of DMOZ editors. The question is if we should fight back and stop the DMOZ gang or let them stop the discussions by giving red rep to those who disagree with DMOZ and censor this forum? Do we want a democratic forum and open and honest discussions or do we want a forum category controlled and silenced by DMOZ mob?
On a serious note: I wonder how many people avoid stating their true opinions on DMOZ in this forum for fear of negative reps, or even worse, having a site blacklisted. Let's face it. While the rest of DP is nice and friendly, the DMOZ forum is pretty ugly.
Funny, I've been doing SEO for about 8 years now and I have no negative feelings towards DMOZ. I guess some people just like to blame things on other people.
This thread is about the way certain editors act on this forum. No ones blaming them for anything other than acting in a childish manner on DP.
When someone sends you an anonymous rep saying "Your momma smells funny" I would say that's acting childish. PS: Thanks for the message, whoever you are.
I believed that I used the word SOME editors. I am not so hell bent on dmoz editors as a whole that I place them all in the same category. Just like in any industry there are good and bad employees / volunteers. From your post count I can see you must be new to the forum, so far I have not seen you try to jump on the DMOZ standard responses bandwagon. For this I can appreciate and look forward to your responses. This could be a good start but may need to be improved and how do you detect an editor who refuses to list a site just because they dont like the webmaster or it competes with a friend or family members website? I dont see how this can be accomplished. Once again after reviewing dmoz guidelines and looking at my own site plus the other site I mentioned in my last post, I see no reason either of these sites are not listed. This can only lead me to speculate as to the reasons, some of which after what has been exposed about dmoz by ex editors and others in this forum and other forums draw me to my conclusions. People such as myself, gworld and a few others know that most dmoz editors are familar with us because of our comments about dmoz. For this reason, I can see that out of spite we wont be listed even if our sites meet guidelines. It is human nature to be vengeful, the question still remains though can any of these editors rise above their personal feelings and act like professionals when listing sites that should be included in the directory and get rid of sites dispite their personal feelings that should not be in dmoz. Oh come on prove me wrong
I don't think I have seen many say there are not problems with dmoz? I think it is agreed by most that there are somethings we all would like to see changed, but as a whole I don't see the whole project and everyone involved in it as bad. Agreed, this thread is about the behavior or accusations of behavior of some editors, I misunderstood the question and thought it was about the entire dmoz/odp forum here at dp. I would hope we could openly discuss issues and without fear of anyone's reprisals. I am not sure how I could help silence anyone, and being labled as part of a "mob" is what I am talking about. I am not sure what I have done to warrant such a sentiment, please let me know so I can attempt to clarify or rectifie if necessary. I would hope none but I am sure there are some. Just as I know there are editors who won't id themselves or are reluctant to answer questions for the same reasons. I have given many green reps-to non-editors and editors alike and can only remember 2 reds and they weren't regarding comments relevant to the thread in question but just aparent trolling trying to build post-counts, i.e "I agree" and "me too" posts that are worthless to any discussion but I don't rely to heavily on a forum rep system anyway. FWIW I have made around 30 total posts and received my first red-reps today both of them were in response to this thread and before I ever posted in it. It doesn't bother me, but I wonder as to what is productive in red repping someone not for what was said but because they are an editor. If you don't like what I have said then red rep it, but why red rep a comment just because I am willing to admit that I am an editor and proud of it?
From my previous post: This thread is not about if DMOZ is good or bad, it is about unacceptable behavior of DMOZ editors. ................................. Do we want a democratic forum and open and honest discussions or do we want a forum category controlled and silenced by DMOZ mob?
Unless of course she really does smell funny... that's the difference between reporting and editorializing...