How to Be Accepted to Edit a Second Category
by icxcnika

Gaining permission to edit a second category can seem like a big hurdle for volunteers who have found that they enjoy editing and would like to broaden their scope. Some editors feel discouraged, thinking that they can never meet the meta editors' expectations. Others have no such self-doubt. They readily volunteer to take on another category, and are upset if their offer is rebuffed. This essay is intended as informal advice to newish editors who want to get permission to edit in another category.

A three-stage approach to requesting a second category can be helpful:

1. Attention to the category you currently edit
2. Preparation for the category you want to edit
3. The request itself

The Category You Currently Edit

The first thing to know is that you almost certainly will not be given a second category until you have made at least 20 or so total edits. But don't panic. Even if you edit a tiny category that will never get much bigger, you should not make meaningless "edits" just to get to a magic number. You can get the editing experience by following this three-step method.

I am assuming that your editing conforms to the ODP guidelines, and to any special guidelines or established practices for the category. If you are a Business editor, for example, you are using the name of the business as the title. So what's next?

There are some good tips in Advice for New Permissions and, especially for newer editors, in the first post of the older forum thread Category Application Standards.

Here are some things that are sometimes overlooked:

• Does the category you edit have a category description? If not, please write one.
• If the category you edit has a custom submission notice, does it avoid scolding submitters?
• Have you done your best to add sites? Depending on the category, webrings or directories may be good places to look for new links. I have sometimes had good results with Google. And good pages you have found will often link to other good pages.
• Granted, your editing is perfect, but what about the titles and descriptions of the sites that were already listed before you started editing? Please don't be afraid to bring existing listings up to standards, no matter who added them.
• Have you accidentally ended up with mirror sites, deep links, or sites listed in parent-and-child categories? Sometimes it happens that an old URL is already listed, and another editor comes along and adds an alternate URL for the same thing, without noticing the duplication. This is another reason to verify sites that were already listed before you began editing the category.

The Category You Want to Edit

When you are deciding what category you want to edit next:

• Think small. 9 edits in Society: Religion and Spirituality: Christianity: Denominations: Lutheran: Congregations: Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: S does not automatically qualify you to edit Science. As a general rule of thumb, if you have less than 50 edits total, do not ask for a category where the number of sites already listed is higher than your total number of edits. If you have more than 50 edits, a category with one-and-a-half times as many sites as you have edits may be within reach.
• Consider requesting a category similar to the one you already edit. If you are in Shopping, for example, is there a Business or Arts category for those who create the product?
• If you would be bored editing the same general topic, what are your personal interests? Does your hometown have an editor? What about your favorite musician? If you are a university student or graduate, you might think about adopting the category for your alma mater. And so on. If your interests are all covered, or the categories are too big, well, what about your father's hobby or your sister's favorite basketball team?
• If you can read and write more than one language, please consider asking for permission to edit a small category in your second language. The World section of the ODP is always on the lookout for good editors. Conversely, the Regional part of the directory would benefit from editors in categories for areas where English is not a widely-spoken language.

When you have decided which category you'd like to edit next, take a look at what's already listed. Are the sites correctly listed? Are they described fairly? What's missing?

Make a note of which good sites should be included in this category, sites that we have missed somehow. Since this article is intended for newer editors, I recommend creating a "dummy" category in your ODP Bookmarks. Add sites there, giving them the titles and descriptions you would in the real category. This does count towards your editing totals. It helps give metas and catmods a better idea of how well you edit. And if you are accepted as an editor of the category you want, you will have some listings all ready to go.

The Request

Log in.

Go to the category you want to request. At the bottom of the page, on the right hand side, after the date and time of last update, there is a text link which says only, "edit." Click on that link.

Because you logged in, the script "knows" that you are already an editor. And because you went to the category you want to edit, the request form already has the category name filled in.

Fill in all the blanks.

If you are applying for a category in a different language from where you have edited before, please write the application in the language of the category you are requesting. The metas can't tell how well you write in French if you have edited only in World/Deutsch before and your request is written in German.

On the "Business Affiliation" question, be honest. It does not count against you if you have some close connection to site owners. It does not count against you if you don't have any affiliations in the topic. But if you are dishonest and the metas or staff find out, you will be dismissed from the ODP.

Yes, you should give at least two examples of sites you would add. If you made a mockup category in your ODP Bookmarks, you can give the URL to that Bookmarks category, and for the description say something like, "Please see the example listings in my Bookmarks." If you did not create an ODP Bookmarks category related to this request, but kept track of good sites in some other way, it is best, in my opinion, if you provide three examples and not only two. The reason is that sometimes sites change or have problems after they are suggested as examples but before the meta gets a chance to look at the request. If you suggest two sites, and one of them suddenly has a problem, you probably won't get the category, even though it is not your fault. If you suggest three sites, and one of them has a problem, you still have a good chance that the meta will go for "best two out of three."

Make sure that the URLs you have suggested actually work.

Check your spelling.

The amount of time it takes a meta to say yes or no to requests for new permissions depends partly on the category and partly on how many other editors are waiting. Please try to be patient. The metas are volunteers too. If you don't have an answer in two weeks, though, ask a meta if your request is in the queue, just to make sure that it didn't get lost.

Good luck. Volunteering at the ODP should be enjoyable. And it is more fun when your good work is recognized and you can spread your wings.

- icxcnika