8 replies to this topic

[qwerty]

I just recevied an email from Zeal about their Charity Drive. The more sites you contribute to the directory, the more money they'll donate to a number of international charities.

[HorseCove]

Bob,

Excellent, a search directory with a social conscience.

I'm overdue in my Zeal submissions, so this is a nice incentive to get motivated.

Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

Christine

[Cruise Planner]

Question about Zeal: There are many listings in the catagory I would like to submit to that are unpaid listings, yet the directory won't let me submit unless I pay a submission fee and a monthly fee to stay listed. Anyone know why there might be such a discrepancy? I can't seem to find a place on the site to contact the webmasters or editors directly.

[qwerty]

It depends on the nature of the site you want to submit. Zeal is the non-profit arm of Looksmart. If you want to submit a site that's commercial in nature, you have to do so through Looksmart, and you have to pay for that.

[compar]

I just recevied an email from Zeal about their Charity Drive. The more sites you contribute to the directory, the more money they'll donate to a number of international charities.

Qwerty,

Are you a ZEALot?

It does look like a valuable directory for non commercial sites. It promises "categories you add to Zeal will be published throughout the LookSmart Network, which includes Microsoft's MSN, About.com, CNN.com, and Prodigy." These are SEs many of us ignore, but Zeal might be any easy way in for the appropriate type of sites.

I wonder how carefully they hold their definition of non commercial. For instance what would they call an eZine site with affiliate links on the page?

[qwerty]

I'm not a "Zealot"; I'm just a humble contributor. I'm not certain what that means, exactly, but I do know that I have the right to contribute sites, but they don't get into the directory until they're approved by an editor.

I've read in other forums that Zeal will accept non-commercial pages, even if they reside on commercial sites, so I'm not sure about the example you cite, but you never know until you try.

In order to become a contributor, all Zeal asks is that you study their guidelines and pass a quick multiple choice quiz. (I passed on something like the third or fourth try )

[compar]

In order to become a contributor, all Zeal asks is that you study their guidelines and pass a quick multiple choice quiz. (I passed on something like the third or fourth try  )

I thought that qualified you as a Zealot?


If not, what are the other steps necessary and then what are the privileges?

Edited by compar, 31 August 2003 - 01:44 PM.

[qwerty]

AFAIK, Zealots are full-fledged editors. Here's what it says on the "become a Zealot" page:

Zealots are members of an elite group that is at the heart of the Zeal community. They shape categories by seeking out and adding the best sites, creating subcategories, and reviewing the submissions of other members. Zealots have access to exclusive tools and privileges, and collaborate with editors and other community members to make Zeal the best directory on the Web.

Because Zealots have so much power, community members must prove their skills by:

Passing the Member Quiz
Earning 75 points through site submissions and other activities.
Maintaining a Quality Quotient of 6.0 or higher
Passing the Zealot Quiz

At this point, I've passed the member quiz, I have 41 Zeal points, and my quality quotient is 9.8, so if I submit a few more sites that are accepted and take the quiz, I guess I'd be in.

[torka]

Technically, I'm a ZEALot (79 points, 9.7 quality, passed Member and Zealot quizzes on the first try), although I haven't actually chosen a subcategory.

They assign point values to each category and subcategory. The lower down you go in the directory structure, the lower the point value. The "bottom rung" subcategories are assigned a value of 75 points, so once you've passed the Zealot test and accumulated the minimum points, you can choose one of these to "tend" if you want, and "spend" your points on that.

As you continue to contribute you keep on accumulating points so you'll eventually qualify for a higher ranking category. And you aren't obligated to come in at the lowest level -- you can simply "bank" your points until you've got enough to jump into the game at whatever level you'd like. But the point values of categories rise rather sharply as you go up the scale. IIRC, the next level up from 75 points is 200 points, with top level categories going for 20,000 or more.

My problem is, I can't find a 75 point category that I'm interested in enough to want to take it on. And lately I've been having trouble finding sites that would be appropriate for submission and that aren't already there. Guess I've been spending too much time over on the commercial side of the Web.

So, for the moment I'm just letting the points ride and continuing to submit on the rare occasions when I find something worthwhile that meets their TOS.

--Torka