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August 17, 2005
Kicked out of ODP
A while back I successfully applied to become an Open Directory Project editor, for their wiki category. I don't have time to go there all that often, but it does happen. When it happened, I was very pleased, because in the past there was some weird business with the category. I was happy that finally, the category could become useful, and that I'd be the one to do it.
Today I tried to log in and got this message.
Your login was deactivated for one or more of the following reasons:
- Repeated failure to comply with the Open Directory community's editorial guidelines and policies.
- Continuous poor and/or abusive editing.
- Self-promotion and biased editing, including, but not limited to, cooling your own site, title or description manipulation, unfairly editing your own sites or those with which you are affiliated.
- Unfairly tampering with competitors' listings and submissions.
- Inability to function well within the Open Directory community.
- Uncivil and intentionally disruptive behavor.[sic]
- Violation of Open Directory forum and email privacy.
- Spamming the directory.
We do not disclose the specific details of login removals. However, the decision to deactivate your login was made by consensus of the meta community, and thoroughly reviewed by DMOZ staff to ensure that our decision was appropriate and warranted. Our decision to remove your login is final. Removed logins will not be reinstated, and you will not be granted a new login. We wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.
Needless to say, I'm very upset about it. I would be merely pissed off, but it's the insulting final paragraph that really did it for me. I didn't do ''any'' of the things in that list of bad behavior. Go look at the directory category. See all those subclassifications? The careful organization? That was all me. All of it. Before I became editor the category was a shambles.
And what did I do to deserve this? God knows, because they "do not disclose the specific details of login removals". I know that once I was unable to edit the site for a while, and my login was temporarily suspended; however, after an email to them some anonymous ODP drone was happy to reinstate me.
They didn't even have the common courtesy to send me an email about this. I only found when I tried to log in. I have no idea when this happened, and they won't tell me. But they're only too happy to tell me that their "decision was appropriate and warranted".
So, since the "Open" Directory Project has decided to treat me this way, then forget the "Open" Directory Project. I will never use it again, nor any site that derives data from it. Their loss.
I guess it doesn't really matter, anyway, because in the end the wiki model is going to hammer them into the ground. For fun, have a look at this thread on their BB. Can you say, "in denial"? Browse around that site a little more and you'll get an illustrative glimpse of the incredibly arrogant way the members of the ODP hierarchy treat non-members.
In fact, here's an interesting snippet:
Only in very special situations where the integrity of ODP is in great danger editors will be removed without warning.
What does that make me then, Genghis Fucking Khan? I demand an explanation.
Well, I just got a snotty response (duh, it's the ODP forum). I emailed exactly the same message to staff@dmoz.org, as suggested. Of course, nothing happened.