05 June 2003

ODP to Monitor Editors

ODP is testing a new system to allow users to report editors they believe are acting in their own interests.

The Open Directory Project (ODP) is arguably the most widely distributed directory, even though its home page, dmoz.org is not widely known outside of the webmaster community. However, you've likely encountered listings from the ODP through the Google Directory, AOL Search, the Metacrawler Directory, and more than 365 others.

All of the editors operate on a voluntary basis and webmasters are becoming increasingly frustrated with the length of time it can take to see their site's listing in ODP.

There are more than 50,000 volunteer editors at ODP and the system relies heavily on the integrity of editors. Unfortunately, there have been numerous reports over the years of editors promoting their own sites, or demoting or deleting competitor sites.

The senior editors have made efforts to monitor and constrain this subversive behavior, but complaints have persisted. In response, the ODP has launched a new Public Abuse Report System that allows any ODP user to report suspicions of abusive editors/conduct to DMOZ meta editors and staff.

ODP Editors have had the capability to report suspected misconduct directly from the "dashboard" they use to compile directory listings. The new system makes it easy for anyone, whether they have a site listed in the ODP or not, to directly contact senior ODP staff.

According to the ODP Public Abuse Report System FAQ, "all reports will be investigated expeditiously and in complete confidence. If abuse is found we will rectify it. Users will be able to submit reports anonymously should they choose, whereas we encourage them to supply an e-mail address, which will be used in case further information will be needed in order to successfully complete the abuse investigation."

ODP's FAQ indicates strongly what is considered abuse. ODP's definition of spam for instance differs from most search engines.

The Abuse Report System is currently available in English, German, French, Spanish, Japanese, and Italian and more interfaces are planned.


Original release: Searchenginewatch.com

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