A few weeks ago I received some ODP Feedback which said the ODP was trying to put a newsletter together. The mail asked if I would be interested in participating. One of the types of articles they were soliciting was an editor profile. “Gee, that sounds like a great idea,” I thought. I knew immediately just who I'd like to write about - editor Sadhu. 

You may or may not have had the pleasure of encountering Sadhu. But rest assured, all of the encounters I've had with him have been a pleasure. We “met” on November 4, 1999, when he sent me a feedback mentioning that he'd noticed several of the sites listed in a particular category resolved to the same domain. He thought I might want to take a look. 

“Same inventory, same discount with virtually no additional content,” he wrote. He then went on to say, “I know this because I work for telegenisys.com which owns cheapesthotels.com and I was checking around to see who's there.” 

Then, in what I've come to know as his all too humble way, he told me he was a "green" editor, but that if the category needed an extra hand he'd be glad to apply since he knew the business. 

So who is Sadhu in the “real world?” Manohar (Mark) Merani, is a bit more in the machine of Telegenisys, than that first feedback would lead one to believe. When he responded to my plea to let me write this profile of him, he sent me a bio from his company. 

"Since 1988 Mark has developed several enterprises from the ground up. He was the president of HIMC, a hotel management company, and founding member of Lodging Data Center, president of Telegenisys, Inc. among other companies. Mark brings a high level of positive excitement and leadership to the team. He specializes in creating strategic relationships with companies towards the mutual benefit of Telegenisys companies and their business partners," reads his biography.

If you've seen him in action in any of the fora, you know they are right when they describe his "...high level of positive excitement and leadership to the team.” 

Sadhu joined the Open Directory Project on October 30, 1999. On November 4, 1999, when he sent me that feedback, he was indeed "green." His first category was Society/Religion_and_Spirituality/Faiths_and_Beliefs/Hinduism/Shopping. 

Over the last several months he's certainly spread his wings in ODP, and now has a most interesting collection of categories. Check out his profile if you'd like to see the range. 

All of us have unique reasons for joining the ODP. I asked Sadhu what brought him to ODP. "In ancient Greece, the primary idea exchange was a local cafe," he explained." People helped each other, learned from each other, even challenged each other's ideologies in this forum." 

He went on to say, " I find ODP to be somewhat like that for me and an immense resource for the public. So, I like hanging around and contributing." 

He also explained that he and his associates saw abuse by some editors and thus, joined to help in creating a level playing field for all participants. 

On a personal level, Sadhu said he joined due to his deep religious beliefs in Hinduism. He saw that Hinduism was very significantly under-represented, and he wanted to help. 

"This is my passion at DMOZ," he says. "And my personal goal is to have over a 1000 listings in this cat over the next few months." 

I also asked him what drew him out of the original Hinduism/Shopping category into other cats like Shopping/Home_Decor. I loved his answer. 

"I wanted broader exposure and everyone in the forums claimed that Shopping was a challenge due to poor submissions and spam," He said. "I am somewhat competitive and it was also a higher level cat that needed help." I think it's interesting to hear him describe himself as somewhat competitive. I guess I missed that part of his personality in our exchanges and his forum posts. 

In closing I asked Sadhu how he has time for ODP with his business responsibilities. In true Sadhu humility and with a touch of humor, he says: "Perhaps the only reason I can come up with is this is the only habit I can think or that is addictive, fulfilling, fun and gives better form to my surfing interests." 

If you want to see him at his best go to Forum Search and search for his name: Sadhu. You'll have the chance to see him show his knowledge on an incredibly wide range of topics.