Life After ODP

Until or about until Wednesday April 26, 2000, I was a volunteer editor with Netscape's Open Directory Project, and I enjoyed the coveted editall/catmv editing privileges that had been granted to me by ODP Staff Editor jiwasaki because I had "shown good editing ability." (See generally Open Directory - Profile - netesq.) However, when I tried to log on to the dmoz.org server that fateful morning, I was informed that my ODP "login [had] been inactivated." I then checked the ODP Categories where I had previously been listed as an editor in residence, and I found that my byline had been removed from each and every one of them. Basically, this is akin to coming to work one morning and finding out that your employer has changed the lock on your office door.

For the record, here is the complete text of the e-mail that I sent to ODP staff when I realized that my editing privileges had been removed:

From: David Prenatt netesq@...
To: staff@...
Cc:
Subject: ODP login has been inactivated
Sent: 4/26/2000 8:30

As I am sure you are aware, my ODP login has been inactivated. I cannot know for certain why, but it seems to come hard on the heels of two events:

1. An e-mail from Jan Iwasaki warning about my activities in the ODP Editor Forum, a situation that I assumed had been resolved; and

2. A discussion in the ODP Editor Shopping Forum about the listing of sites with affiliate tags that incidentally discussed the participation of ODP editors in outside forums.

Pursuant to the latter situation, I sent an e-mail addressed to goldm, gracel, and bruns in re my participation in the Shopping Forum thread and expressing my concerns about comments made by goldm in the Shopping Forum thread about my participation in the Search Engine Discussion forum. I am assuming that this prompted my removal by ODP staff; apparently, my participation in the Search Engine Discussion forum was inappropriate, or the e-mail or ODP Editor Forum post about the issue being discussed at the Search Engine Discussion forum was inappropriate.

I can't say that I didn't know that my participation in the Search Engine Discussion forum was inappropriate, because I did have my suspicions that staff might not approve of this activity. However, I thought it was important for ODP editors to help outsiders. Apparently I went too far.

I'm sure that there are other concerns about my activities as an ODP editor, but I honestly do not know what they might be; if I did, I would address them as well. Suffice it to say that I enjoyed working with ODP, and I would like to be given a second chance to prove myself.

I do not know the mechanics of how a removed editor might obtain appellate review of his or her removal other than to e-mail ODP staff, as I am now doing, and I am averse to discussing matters like this with other ODP editors; I have always considered this to be inappropriate. Accordingly, I would respectully request that this e-mail be forwarded by staff to interested parties such as the meta editors as staff deems appropriate.

Sincerely,

David F. Prenatt, Jr.
[former] ODP Editor netesq

And this was the entirety of my appeal. I did not e-mail any of my friends who were still "on the inside" at ODP complaining of unfair treatment (as many XODP editors do), nor did I post a complaint in any of the discussion forums on the World Wide Web that I knew to be frequented by ODP editors. Rather, in light of the conflict of interest that I felt I had encountered with my removal from ODP, I resigned as the moderator of the ODP Guidelines - Q & A Forum at Search Engine Discussion; as rumors of my departure from ODP began to spread, I replied to curious inquiries with e-mail messages that looked something like this:

Thank you for the e-mail. I am no longer with ODP, and I am not at liberty to discuss this matter at this time. Nonetheless, I would appreciate hearing from anyone at ODP who wishes to keep an open line of communication with me.

Sincerely,

David F. Prenatt, Jr.
aka XODP Editor netesq

[Normally, when an ODP Editor is "removed" from ODP, his or her category request logs reflect this fact; mine did not, so my status with ODP remained a mystery to most people with the exception of a few of the moderators at Search Engine Discussion who were ODP editors themselves. I considered these people to be interested parties, so I confirmed that my ODP login had been inactivated and that I had e-mailed ODP staff requesting reinstatement.]

And then I waited. And I waited. And waited. And then I got tired of waiting. And then it occurred to me that I could start my own Internet directory and improve upon the ODP model, or at the very least contribute my time, talent, and ideas to one of the many pretenders to the throne that is currently held by ODP. (See Open Directory - Computers: Internet: WWW: Searching the Web: Directories: User-Contributed Directories.) So, I moved on.

I truly enjoyed working with ODP, and I would probably return if I was given the opportunity to do so, but it's a whole different perspective being on the outside, looking in. After a while, you begin to see that (notwithstaning its phenomenal success) ODP is nowhere near as important as it seems to be, and you get tired of the silent treatment from ODP Staff and the Council of Metas who run ODP. So, you move on -- at least I did.

For further information about life after ODP, please e-mail me or visit the XODP eGroup. My e-mail address is netesq@... . All inquiries will be kept in the strictest of confidence, and anonymous inquiries are more than welcome.

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© Copyright 2000 by David F. Prenatt, Jr.

Permission to reproduce this document is freely given, provided that proper acknowledgment is given to the author and that the copyright holder is promptly notified of such use. If proper acknowledgment and/or prompt notice is not given to the author and/or copyright holder, permission to reproduce this document is expressly revoked.

[The original version of this document is located at http://www.egroups.com/files/xodp/Life+After+ODP.htm .]