Interview
with an Editor: RPFuller
by
dpen2000
The focus of this editor interview is Richard Fuller, aka rpfuller.
Richard has earned both editall
and meta privileges, and (at the time of this writing) has amassed a staggering
92654 edits. His commitment to ODP was recognized during the Spring 2001 editor
awards.
What is your job outside dmoz?
I'm a full time student at
Cambridge,
so I don't have a job, as such.
What are you studying? What are your future career aspirations?
I'm studying
Computer
Science (second year). Career aspirations... difficult one... I think so
long as I end up working in the computing field somewhere, I'll be happy.
When did you join ODP?
2nd October, 1999
Who accepted your application?
jensd
Do you still have your application acceptance email?
Indeed, complete with spelling mistakes, and broken "From" line.
I archive every e-mail I receive.
What was your first category?
Do you still edit in it from time to time?
I do. I maintain it with regards to the occasional submission (it's
had two, ever) and sites that die. Then every so often I'll go in, search out,
and add a bunch of new sites. It's not like there are many other people that
would look for sites for that particular topic.
What area do you devote most of your editing time to? Why?
I don't really anymore. I just edit wherever help is required,
I feel like, or my meta role takes me. Often I'll see something doesn't have
a category, and just make it. Especially true in
Arts/Music/Bands_and_Artists.
Of course I still have the categories on my dashboard that I'll
keep an eye on.
Have you ever spent time searching for a mozzie for a specific
category?
Can't say that I have.
What is your favorite mozzie?
"Mozilla snowman"
and "Mozilla 8"
What tool do you use the most? Why?
What part of editing do you enjoy best? Why?
Again, difficult to say. I'm a
programmer
at heart, so probably writing new tools, if that counts as a part of editing.
If not, then building new categories/going out and searching for
sites for a small category. I do that a lot.
Which of your own tools did you enjoy writing the most?
Possibly radio sort. It was built from
newwave's
mock-up, and for the period of time we didn't have official radio sort (which
looks pretty much just like the one I did) it was used, and apparently useful.
The
worldlinkerator
was fun too. It was one of the few tools I've made that I came up with myself,
and wrote originally because I thought I'd find it useful. (And did/do.)
Which editor do you most admire? Why?
I admire the work of a lot of editors and metas. It would be unfair
to pick people out.
Okay, well without naming specific editors, which qualities do
you most admire?
There are so many different angles to this. Dedication and commitment,
a good wide view of the directory, and meta-wise, the people that put so much
time into tracking down abuse, and helping to keep the directory a useful resource.
Along with lots of things I've inevitably forgotten to mention.
Which new editors or semi-new editors are most impressing you at
the moment? Why?
Again, I'm not going to name names, as that wouldn't be fair, but
there are a few.
Getting "a clue" quickly, putting forward good arguments for/against
things in the forums (even if I don't agree), seeing the big picture, and a
101 other things I haven't got space to (well OK, I have, but I'm not going
to) list here.
Did you always aspire to be a meta/editall editor or did this come
later?
I never really thought about it at first. If you go back and look
at the
regional
re-org threads from early 2000 you'll see where I was starting to wish I
had editall.
You have recently volunteered to compile the
ODP
newsletter. What changes (new articles, new format, publishing frequency,
etc.) would you like to implement? Why?
Overall, the format has been fine. The main problem has been the
lack of frequency. Hopefully people will submit material, and we'll be able
to get back to a regular publishing schedule, but we can only do this with
everybody's
help.
You volunteer your time as a Regional editing
mentor.
What have you learned from this experience?
It's a great way of interacting with new editors, finding out what
problems they have, and hopefully helping to improve matters for new editors,
as part of being a meta.
What advice would you give to
new
editors aspiring to become ODP seasoned veterans?
If you could make one change to ODP (major reorg, powerful new
feature, change to the editing process, etc.), what would it be? Why?
If you take a look at the editing side of MusicMoz
(you're not an editor yet? http://musicmoz.org/
... ) you'll probably
see some of the things I'd like to change about dmoz. Mostly little things,
but they do make a difference. I really like the simplicity of the interface,
and I wouldn't want to mess with that at all.
- dpen2000
