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You know you have my vote, francesco. I think all of the submissions which were added automatically (on Nov 24, I believe?) should be dropped. The reason is simple -- these submitters have no idea that they are required to review 10 other sites in order to be approved. Therefore it is very unlikely that they will return to the forum to meet that criteria.
First, I would like to correct the misunderstanding that all 195 (more or less) pages are spam: they are not. Most of them are just plain old submissions from the days when it was mandatory to FIRST review 10 sites before you could submit one. That didn't work at all and hopefully we'll never make that mistake again unless we get tons of reviewers, then we can become arrogant (that would also be the right time to even talk about Dmoz ). So the majority of those sites are perfectly legit submissions.
The problem as WF explained: all these submitters are UNAWARE of the fact they have to review 10 sites to get a chance of inclusion. So if there's no way to inform the submitters about the fact they have to start reviewing, I vote for removing the whole lot. They're just using space and sit there in the Dark Hedir Cave.
I submitted my site for review before Nov. 24, and because I took the time to read the rules I was aware that I first needed to review 10 sites. People are accustomed to hit and run Directory submission, so it's understandable how it happened, and too bad to lose all of those submissions. But if the only effort was to quickly submit and leave, I won't feel so bad if they are deleted.
I think it could be a huge relief, and perhaps a fresh start, if that huge backlog were erased and the task of reviewing submissions started to look like it was achievable.
I still do think, however, that more needs to be said, and more strongly, to new submitters about the obligation to review sites.
Why not just drop an email on all the registered users and inform them of the rules of 10 reviews? Whoever comes back, just ping their OWN submission up the queue FIRST and then performs 10 reviews.
Give it a time frame of like one month? So after one month, sites that are not pinged (ie not having new post in the last one month) gets removed.
I think that is a compromise between deleting all (too high handed) and allowing all (too SCARY). Everyone feel free to comment on the idea. _________________ Cheers!
.::redhex::.
Singapore Wine Company Free Classifieds
I have to revise my above statement about the majority of the submissions being OK/legit.
I've been going through the queue-list the last couple of hours and I have to say the majority of the sites are complete spam/scraper/affiliate etc. I see numerous users who have submitted lots of interlinked spammy/scraper/affiliated/not-for-HEDIR sites. There are also A LOT of duplicate submissions. One submitter even submitted all pages of a single domain!
DELETE THEM ALL and start over.
Last edited by baggeroli on Sat Jan 07, 2006 6:52 pm
I like redhex's idea, but this should be a permanent solution not a one time solution. Some thing should check the database regularly, identify those that have not met the requirements in a reasonable amount of time.
Post a warning on their thread. (notification should be turned on by default) the warning should point to the proper area in the rules. Write it into the trigger or script to turn on notification if it is turned off and a warning is delivered. Posting in the thread will remind any new reviewers of the rules also.
If the thread has not been responded to and requirements met in a second reasonable time period. Get out the axe.
Yes we will lose good sites, but if they are never going to meet the requirements, Do not leave them in the list.
If we use 2 weeks as the time period for each waiting periods then in 1 month we will have a clean set of sites to review and the list will remain clean automatically.
I'm not so sure that these should be deleted outright.. But it leans toward another issue.. Personally I have been digging clear to the bottom of the list to pull up reasonable sites when I find them..
What I think should be considered is a pre-filtering system.. Someone, or several someones, should take a first look at each submission.. Scraper, spam, and generally undesirable sites and just delete them outright.. They are easy to spot after all.. Then the remaining sites go into the revue cue for an up or down vote..
Also, I really think that asking for 10 yes or no votes is excessive.. You should consider reducing the required number to 6 or 5..
The current system is actually working fairly well. New submissions are all checked for obvious spam/affiliate etc. and are rejected accordingly (sure, some will slip through).
The point is, before 24 November, it was mandatory for a submitter to review at least 10 sites before his/her submission was listed in the forum. So there was a build-up of submitted sites in the database which were never checked or even looked at by a editor/reviewer/moderator. The mandatory system didn't work due to the lack of submitted sites to review. It was decided to let anyone submit his/her website directly to the forum for review.
And then, on November the 24th, Admins decided to throw all +/- 10,000 sites from the database, which were submitted during the mandatory system, into the review forum. All these sites have never been checked/moderated/filtered/looked at. And that was a BIG mistake. Now there are 1,000's of duplicates, sub-domains, spam, affiliated sites in the queue and that's the whole issue.
Concluding: I don't favor a pre-moderated review forum. I like the transparancy and clearness of HEDIR as it is. It might be necessary when moderators can't cope with the amount of newly submitted sites. This is not the case (yet).
1) Delete any submissions before Dec. 15 (or other arbitrary date) where the user never bothered to review sites. As this site grows, they'll resubmit like lemmings anyway.
2) At the top of the submission form:
<div style="margin-left: 5%; width: 90%; border: 1px solid #000000; color: #F0F0F0">
<div style="padding: 1em;">
<p>IMPORTANT! YOU MUST REVIEW 10 WEBSITES BEFORE YOUR SUBMISSION IS CONSIDERED!</p>
<p>In order to ensure that the HEDir concept can grow and become the premier web directory, we ask that all submitters review at least 10 websites belonging to others before considering their submissions for the HEDir directory.</p>
<p>For more information, please see our Submission and Review Guidelines.</p>
</div>
</div>
Obviously, you'd have to create a page specifically outlining the submission and review guidelines, but at least this way people are made blatantly aware of it and the potential for confusion and lack of participation is greatly diminished. _________________ HEDir's Prince of Cool
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). So the majority of those sites are perfectly legit submissions.
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