Wow! A DMOZ Referral In My Logs

I often see this comment posted by site owners on external forums, sometimes even at Resource-Zone.  They usually interpret seeing a hit from dmoz.org in their logs, as that of an editor reviewing their site.  They also usually interpret that to mean that either their site was rejected since they can’t find it listed, or accepted but not yet visible on the public side of the directory.

The reality is that this log entry means absolutely nothing, least of all that any review took place.   There are any number of reasons a log entry might appear on a website showing a dmoz.org link.  Most of these are not even human visits.  In most cases its an automated tool that is being administered to the category.  Sometimes its an editor manually checking the unreviewed links to make sure they work but not actually reviewing anything.  Other times it is someone bulk moving miss-suggested links to the more appropriate category or deleting duplicates waiting review.  None of these examples a results from anyone actually reviewing any sites.

There are probably a dozen more ways that a hit could register in your logs and not be due to a site review, so pay no attention to the little dmoz.org link behind the curtain.

A Trip Down Nostalgia Road

It’s hard to believe that my journey through the ODP has been as long as it is. I made my very first edit over 3 years ago. That is almost 24,000 edits ago. Yes its just a drop in the pond considering some editors have nearly a decade of editing under their belts, but still its hard for me to believe its been over 3 years.

Don’t ask what started me down this memory road, it was just pure dumb luck I suppose. I just took the opportunity to look back at my first few weeks as an editor. I am proud to say that my first ever addition to the directory remains listed today. I also checked the next two and they as well were still working and listed. Its good to know the listings added then are still functional and listed.

I also took a short trip down the more recent road of editors that I have joined to the project since becoming a Catmod last spring. While I haven’t joined a great many new editors (I mainly focus on reinstatements, new permission requests, and abuse investigations) I am glad to say that about 70% of my joins are still showing as editors at the current time with only a few showing as in-active (timed out). There was at least one join that never logged in and timed out without ever even editing. That is a big disappointment, given the amount of time and energy one uses to put an application together and submit it.

Anyway, enough reminissing and back to work.

Regards.

DMOZ: Can’t find your authentication ticket’

‘Your Open Directory editor application could not be confirmed. The error received was: Can’t find your authentication ticket’

So you have just gotten an auto-reply from DMOZ regarding the application to edit in the directory. The reply asks you to validate your application by replying to the message, without modifying the subject, to confirm the application into the system. You followed the instructions but the error message above is all you get back. What does it mean and what do you need to do now?

The simple answer to that question is that the usual (most likely) reason for you to see this message is because the system things you already replied to the confirmation email. This normally means that you accidentally replied twice to the email, there is nothing really to worry about. I often wonder if it is an auto-responder (like I sometimes use for when I am on vacation) that kicks back a reply first, but then again I have no technical knowledge on how that works so who knows. The bottom line is the system thinks you replied more than once.

The completely untechnical explanation is that the system does not pass along your application to the Meta Editor’s until you have replied to that confirmation email. If you fail to reply, the system gremlins eventually eat your application and human eyes never lay sight on it. The flip side is that if you somehow reply twice, you get the bounce back error that the system could not find your ‘ticket’. What that means is that when the system got its first response back from you, its gremlins ate your ticket. When it received what it perceived to be your second reply, there was no ticket to validate. No the system cannot regurgitate these tickets.

So the second question, what do you do now? Well the best advice I can give if you have gotten this specific message, is that in most cases your application has made it through to the awaiting review pile. What you can do to make sure is wait 14 days from the day you applied, and then if you haven’t heard back that the application was processed, visit http://resource-zone.com/forum and choose the thread for Becoming An Editor. Follow the directions and provide the required information and request that a Meta check on the application to make sure its still pending review. Someone (who knows, maybe me ) will be able to take a look and see if its pending, been rejected, or was accepted.

When requesting help at RZ there is certain information that is required in order from someone to check on your application. The information is outlined in the Posting Guidelines, but in order to check the status we would need you to include the following in the body of your forum post:

• A clickable link to the category in which you applied. This includes the http://www.dmoz.org/ portion, and the easiest way to provide it is to cut/paste it from your browser’s address.
• The exact editor name you used on your application.
• The date you last applied to become an editor. Again be sure that its been at least 14 days, that is a firm rule that the RZ administers insist upon and attempting to get information sooner than 14 days is unlikely to be productive.

Also never post your requested password or the email you used. That is for your own protection.

Once your application is verified to be in the system awaiting review, don’t ask again before 14 more days have passed. The majority of applications are processed with a few weeks, but in some cases and at some periods of time, they can go beyond a month waiting. If that happens, then feel free to bump your original thread at RZ after another 14 days unless you are instructed there differently.

This seems to be one of the most common issues with regards to submitting applications to become an editor. Hopefully this will help to alleviate some of the confusion that occurs when you receive this error.

Regards.