ODP Editing: The Quick & Dirty Guide

Or, the Top Ten ODP dos and don'ts

This guide is meant as an introduction to generally accepted Open Directory Project editing practices; not a how-to, more a what-to. See the Resources section below for help with subjects not covered here.

This guide was written before the official ODP Guidelines were published. I don't believe that it contradicts anything in the guidelines, but obviously the official guidelines take precedence if there's any conflict between the two.

Things not to do as an ODP editor:

1. Don't promote your own sites inappropriately.

Listing your own sites is perfectly okay. Inappropriate promotion means things like:

Listing it in categories where it clearly doesn't belong. A website promotion business is not appropriate in Sports/Soccer.
Renaming sites, or deleting competitors' sites, in order to place your site higher in the listing. Don't title your site "AAAA The Best" (unless that really is your business name).
Marking your own site "cool". Even if you feel that you can say objectively that your site is the best, it gives an appearance of impropriety when an editor's site is favored over others. In the past, it was suggested that you might ask another editor to review and possibly 'cool' your site; the guidelines no longer endorse this practice.

2. Don't list sexually explicit sites outside the Adult category.

The Adult category is set up so that "child-safe" web browsers can be configured to disallow access. It's also set up so it doesn't appear on the main Open Directory page with the other categories. This arrangement allows adult content to be included in ODP, without forcing it on those who don't want to see it.

So...if you find adult sites submitted to (or listed in) your categories, move them to Adult or an appropriate subcategory thereof. (Moving to the correct category, rather than simply deleting, is the preferred method for dealing with any site submitted in the wrong place.)

The Adult category FAQ gives more detail on the policy.

3. Don't list affiliate links.

Affiliate links are links to an commercial site that include an affiliate or referral ID. The person whose ID is in the link gets a commission from anyone who buys from the site after following that link. It's a conflict of interest for editors to profit so directly from their editing work (and the arguments over who gets the affiliate money from the CDNow listing in Shopping: Entertainment: Recordings category might get ugly).

This also applies to sites that include only affiliate content, like a "shopping guide" that offers nothing more than affiliate-tagged links to amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and so on.

A site that includes affiliate links among other content -- for instance, a Madonna fan site that had interviews, photos, and links to buy her CDs -- is acceptable.

This also applies to "virtual stores" that all offer identical products and prices, such as those based at vstore.com. By their nature, these sites include no unique content useful to surfers.

Adding affiliate links is, along with "cooling" your own site, one of the quickest ways to get your editing privileges revoked.

4. Don't include non-English sites outside the World category.

The World category is intended for all sites that are in a language other than English. Any site not listed under World should be usable by an English speaker -- multilingual sites are welcome if one of the languages is English. For more detail see About the World Category in ODP.

There are certainly gray areas; a photo gallery with graphical navigation might still be usable to an English speaker, even if all the text were in another language. Use your best judgment, or ask another editor if you're unsure.

5. Don't overuse the Date field.

At the bottom of the Review/Update URL screen is a Date: field. This is meant for media references only - that is, citations from newspapers, magazines or other timely media. It causes sites to be sorted by date and appear below all non-dated sites. It's not meant for the date the entry was edited; in fact it should be left blank for most entries.

Things you should do as an ODP editor:

1. Edit submitted titles and descriptions as necessary.

Titles should generally be the actual name of the business or site (for example, "Bob Smith, Realtor" rather than "Best Realtor in the World!"). Descriptions should actually describe the site. Don't feel obligated to use a submitted description if it's full of ad copy.

You will also get submissions with words misspelled, Words Capitalized Unnecessarily, and all sorts of grammar and punctuation mistakes. Fixing these before approving the site helps the ODP look much more professional. The same goes for removing gratuitous punctuation added to make an entry stand out; change "*** Bob Smith, Realtor!!! ***" to simply "Bob Smith, Realtor".

For more discussion of what makes for good descriptions, see the Describing Sites section of the guidelines.

2. Go hunting for sites on your own.

Many new editors are disappointed to find that their categories don't receive very many submissions. Go out and find some! The first item on your editor screen is "Add a site". The majority of the sites in ODP have probably come directly from editors, rather than from other submissions.

3. Use @links and related categories.

Before creating a new subcategory, check to see whether the category already exists elsewhere in the directory. If it does, create an @link or related-category link to it. (You can apply to edit the existing category if you wish to.) Having sites split between two identical categories makes for more editing work and makes the directory less useful for browsers.

For more details on @links and related categories, see the guidelines.

4. Cooperate with other editors.

Nobody "owns" a category in ODP; even if you are the only listed editor, there are other editors who have editing privileges in your category (those who edit parent categories, or those who have the "editall" ability). Also, if there are subcategories under yours, you have editing privileges in them; take into consideration the views of any active editors there. The listed editor might have different plans or structure. If you're not sure whether a site belongs, use the 'unreviewed' option to give that editor the chance to make sure it's a proper fit. You should certainly consult with the listed editor or editors before restructuring a category.

Remember that cooperation is the watchword of ODP. The editor who just added some weird site to your category was probably just trying to help; send a polite message via editor feedback and give them a chance to explain their reasoning. (You can send editor feedback from their profile page; for example, here is stewart's profile.) By the same token, the editor who asks "Why are you editing in my category?" is most likely well intentioned also. With a little communication some agreement that makes everyone happy can usually be reached.

5. Use the resources available.

You're reading this list; that's a good start. When you have questions that aren't addressed here, some other resources to use are:

The Unofficial FAQ has answers to many frequently asked questions; it is also accessible from the Tools for Editors link on the far right of your editor dashboard screen.
Other useful resources in the Tools for Editors section include link checkers, translation tools and a popular utility for sending editor feedback to several editors at once.
The Editor Forum has lots of discussion about both general ODP editing and specific subjects. You can also search past forum discussions for specific keywords. One forum is dedicated specifically to new editors, and you should feel free to ask beginner's questions there.
Most experienced editors will be happy to answer questions you may have about ODP; pick a fellow editor in your category or a category above it in the hierarchy and contact them.
There is a list of editall editors; these are editors who have lots of ODP experience and editing privileges over all of the directory. If you have questions and don't know who else to ask, try one of them.
If you have a serious conflict, or need to report significant abuse by another editor, contact a senior editor, editall or meta editor, ask for mediation. You can use the Editor Mediation request form, or contact a senior editor directly. You can use the editall list above or the Asking for Help section to help find someone appropriate to ask.
If nothing else solves the problem, send e-mail to ODP staff. I wouldn't recommend this for basic how-to questions; since there are editors and few paid staff, you won't necessarily get a very timely response to such questions.