ODP/DMOZ meta-editor report card

(This summary of my activities as a volunteer meta-editor in DMOZ/ODP was originally part of the previous post about recent changes to the management of the editorial community.) Updated in 2008 and 2010.

It is too easy to comment on the work of others without providing any justification for one's point of view. Most readers can't see my own ODP history, so here's a rough tally of some of my activities over the last 3 years as a volunteer meta editor in both the main directory and in the separate Kids and Teens directory.

I was immensely proud to reach these positions of responsibility, and I took my role in the community very seriously.

However, these figures reflect what I eventually realised was an excessive amount of time to spend on a volunteer activity. In fact this is part of the reason I resigned, so I take no real pride in these figures, and post them purely to validate my earlier comments by showing that for several years I have indeed been very actively involved in many aspects of the volunteer community.

• Total edits.......almost 85,000 [correct - see below]
  
• New editor applications reviewed........many thousands [over 10,000]
  
• New editors accepted.........hundreds [over 250]
  
• Internal applications (to edit in more categories)....over 1000 reviewed [correct]
  
• Those applications accepted (or granted).......hundreds [over 450]
  
• Editor reinstatements........hundreds [over 600]
  
• Internal editor feedbacks.....over 10,000 [correct]
  

The figures are approximate because they are based on vague recollections from the last time I glanced at my own editor log several months ago.

(I have been very conservative when guessing, but if there are big errors I'm sure someone will correct me, and I'll post an amendment.)

Added in August 2008:

Having recently been reinstated, I can now add more accurate approximations, while still preserving directory confidentiality. See the [bracketted italics] in the list above.

Added in April 2010:

Sadly, my hard-won and enthusiastically-used meta/kmeta permissions have fallen victim to the prejudices of the volunteer Administrators.

As a result, many people are re-visiting this post, so to update it I'll quote from a post I made not long before the axe fell, to highlight the extent of their foolhardiness in driving me away (along with other formerly active meta-editors) for reasons which amount to little more than vanity.

"I take pride in having added almost 30,000 sites to the directory. As a meta editor, I've accepted over 340 new editors and restored the accounts of more than 1200 others who wished to return to editing after some time away."

Not a bad effort for a volunteer, and in most cases a far greater contribution than that of those who summarily reduced my permissions!