Changes Coming To Shadow575’s Website

These changes will not effect this blog.  However, my ISP here locally was acquired by Comcast last fall and the transition has begun to convert everyone away from Insight and onto Comcast.  As I said, it won’t effect this blog.  It will only impact http://shadow_odp.home.insightbb.com which is my “homepage” website.  I haven’t decided what I want to do with that yet.

For now the mirror is up at http://shadow_odp.home.comcast.net but the site is just a mirror of the home page and the links still all point back to old site.   I have three options:

1. I can overhaul the existing site and update all the internal links to their new homes.  This is rather simple to do but will be time consuming.
2. I can scrap the existing site and come up with something new and fresh for the new host.  This is time consuming and difficult (given that I am obviously not a very good amateur site designer ) but at least is something I enjoy doing.
3. I can scrap the home site all together and refocus on just maintaining this blog/site.  This is probably the easiest option, as the blog is getting good traffic, good comments, and is easily maintained and updated.

For now I am leaning towards option #2.  I think I may just design a basic site (similar to what already exists) and point everything over here.  That way I can have the basic site up and only worry about keeping this site updated.   Once I figure it all out, I will certainly post about it.

In the meantime, thanks to everyone who has visited either site. And special thanks to those that have sent nice comments (or comments at all for that matter) about what I have posted.  It is my hope that this site is and remains useful to everyone, the general public and editors alike.

Regards!

How To Request A Listing Update On DMOZ

As a result of a blog comment made on another of my posts regarding quality control issues, I felt a post about updating a listing on DMOZ would be useful and appropriate.

First, let me say that most editors (all of the ones that I know) take matters of quality control as one of our higher priorities. Some of us spend a large amount of our editing time focusing solely on battling link rot, redirects, hijacks, spam, and human generated quality control issues. Its a constant battle, but IMO a very worthy cause to fight for.

The question “How do I update my listing on DMOZ?” comes up often. There are a couple of options that are available to request an update. The first and the preferred method is via the “Update Listing” link on the category page where a site is listed. This is the most effective and preferred method of reporting quality control issues to the editors. Here is how it works:

Upon clicking the link, you will be asked to confirm the listed URL and then a series of informational sections outlining the problem, suggested changes, and a reason. Once the update request is completed and submitted the request (not the listing) is deposited in the categories unreviewed pile, but flagged so its more visible to any editor working in the area. This is then visible to any named category editors, any editor named in a higher category and also for any of the 200+ editors with directory wide permissions. It is by far the quickest and most effective way to bring attention to quality issues and is the official way to do so.

Another way that usually is effective but sometimes slower and/or less efficient is to visit the forums at http://resource-zone.com where there is a Quality Control Thread where these issues can be reported. One reason that this isn’t as efficient a way to report problems, is that only a small number of volunteer editors offer extra time on the unofficial public forums at RZ. An even smaller number of those editors will have broad enough permissions to make the needed corrections. Therefore it can take longer to have the problems corrected. It is a good way to notify editors of a lot of different problems all in one place though.

A couple of things I would strongly recommend against are:

1. Attempting to send feedback to individual editors to try and effect changes to your site or its listing.
   • Most editors, such as myself do not respond to feedback regarding specific URL’s and listings. It is usually not productive and often times just leads to more frustration on both sides. Very rarely is this productive or positive.
2. Using the “Legal Threat” card with the editors.
   • You see this all the time, not just in the online world but also in the real world. If you don’t do what I want, I will need to contact my lawyer….blah…blah…blah. Here is a little secret (not really but it seems to be), the editors have no control over legal matters. Any legal issues must be deferred to the AOL legal department. The editors are the ones that can fix issues, but if you play the “lawyer” card, editors are no longer going to be able to respond, comment or assist as legal matters are out of their hands.

If the problem that needs update is something that you feel is a result of editorial abuse, you should file an Abuse Report. The category should also have a “Report Abuse” link at the top. Reports of abuse are taken very seriously and are visible to and investigated by Meta Editors. If abuse is found, the appropriate measures will be taken to correct the abuse and the offending editor(s) will be dealt with accordingly. However, DO NOT file abuse reports just to update a listing. It is 1) not effective and 2) a waste of time for you and the abuse investigator. If its not abuse the case will be closed and the update may or may not be forwarded on for a real review.

On a personal note, I apologize for being so slow with legitimate posts that had any real content. I have been rather preoccupied with real life issues and haven’t been available often enough, to sit down and deal with any real issues. Hopefully this post is of use.

Regards.

A New Day

Ok. So having put the events of the past couple of weeks as far behind me as I could, I have moved along with getting back up to speed and back into the swing of things.

I managed to join a couple of new editors this week, although I am still waiting on them to login for the first time. It is sometimes amazing how many applications I see accepte, where the applicant never bothers to login after taking the time to complete the application. Its always been puzzling, why someone would take the time to write an application well enough that it was accepted but not ever login after being accepted? Strange. In any regards, I hope the new editors I accepted check their email accounts and login. I always hate to see good potential editors timeout before they have ever logged in once. Remember:

• Editor accounts time out after four consecutive months without an edit (logging in doesn’t count).
• New editor accounts are different, in that they have to login and make at least one edit within the first month or their account will time out.

Some useless numbers for me currently:

• Over 25,280 total edits (over 7000 unique additions, around 15,000 quality control edits)
• Over 200 applications processed (new accounts and new permission requests)
• Around 50 editor accounts reinstated
• Over 40 abuse reports investigated and resolved

Those are just some unimportant numbers that I came up with and felt appropriate to share. Numbers are relatively pointless to me, as its quite possible to collect a lot of edits, without really doing anything. In 2007 my goal was to go over 25,000 edits, in 2008 its going for 10,000 unique additions. Currently I am sitting at just over 7,000 so there is a lot of work that needs to be done, and considering my propensity for working quality control and mentoring new editors its gonna be even tougher to squeeze in 3000 more adds. I will work really hard on it though.

Currently I am working on educating some new and not-so new editors and helping them better understand the Editing Guidelines and category structure. Also trying to increase the number of new editors, by struggling through the new application submissions and going through the reinstatement requests. I hope to help get some fresh blood infused in the ODP, as much as I can. We desperately need new editors, who are interested and willing to read and adhere to the Editing Guidelines.

For anyone who might be interested in becoming an editor, I recommend reading, ecome An Editor and Becoming an ODP Editor as they may both be helpful.

Until next time, take care and be safe.

Regards.