Resources Directory Evolves with New Guidelines!

The Joomla! Resources Directory Team is excited to announce the addition of new guidelines for submission acceptance.  Previously, the only method of measuring active community involvement was through the Joomla! Forums.  After extensive brainstorming and discussions throughout the volunteer team, we have added in new fields in the listing application to be inclusive of the many areas that you can contribute in the project.

While a link to your profile on the Joomla! Forums is still required, it is now coupled with the ability to include your involvement in other areas like the following:

• The Joomla! Community Magazine
• Joomla! Day Attendance
• Joomla! Day Sponsorship
• Contributing Documentation
• Extension Development
• Active Beta Testing and Bug Squashing
• ...and more!

We believe that all contributions to the community are valuable and want to do our best to promote that!

How the new inclusive areas are calculated

A generic point system is now in place that is a general guideline to determine your level of involvement in official areas of the project.  If, for example, you are not actively involved in the Forums, but are actively involved in the Magazine and have developed some extensions - that would count for active community involvement.  There are no set "5 points for this or 10 points for that", instead it is a Yes or No answer for the team.  "Are they involved in this area:  Yes"

What does not qualify as active community involvement?

While being active in communities outside of the Joomla! Project is important, the team has no way to evaluate that equally for all submissions.  So, no outside involvement with 3rd parties qualifies.

What are the other main deciding factors for getting approved?

There are very few, actually.

• Your site must comply with the Trademark (Joomla! name and Logo) usage requirements.
• Your extensions and templates (if you distribute any) must be GPL Licensed.
• You must be able to provide 5 examples of sites that are Joomla-based which you have worked on, designed or developed.

Lastly, if you are submitting to the Hosting Provider category, there is additional server testing requirements that must be met and are outlined on the submission form.

Can I resubmit my listing if it was not accepted previously due to the Forum Involvement requirement?

We welcome resubmissions.  There has been a lot of confusion lately because of the amount of denials notices that have gone out.  The reason behind an automatic rejection based on the previous community involvement guidelines is simple - we chose to not allow exceptions to the guidelines in an effort to be fair and equal to all involved.  It would simply not be right to allow a few submissions to "slide through" without meeting the requirements when every other listing owner has been held to the same standards.  The JRD Team wants to be fair to everyone involved and we sincerely hope that these new changes will provide a more "level" playing field for everyone!  If you have had e-mail contact directly with a member of the team, feel free to e-mail them personally with questions specifically pertaining to your listing.

So what's next?

There are more advances and changes coming to the Resources Directory and we'd love your feedback on things that could be improved or added.  If you have an idea, please share it on our Joomla! People Portal Group!