I had to contact the editor many times. It took about 5 e-mails over a 1 year period to just get a response. Thankfully, he/she added my site to dmoz.
But how do you define self-promotion is someone has been editor for a while? 1. If he is listing "competitors" websites 2. If he actively seeks "competitors" websites to list 3. If he cools "competitors" websites Is it still self-promotion if he adds links with which he is openly affiliated to proper categories? Self-promotion in my book would be if he hides his affiliation and is purposely promoting them as "competitors" - since this one can be almost impossible to prove one can easily hide what he has done and/or accuse somebody else of doing it (and because of Kafkian style trials there is no way to defended yourself).
My niches were too obscured for anyone to contact me, I had to beg webmasters to get there websites up to DMOZ standards to actually have something to list.
There have been extremely active Meta Editors removed for self promotion of their web sites or sites belonging to clients. Editors that were there at the beginning and help build DMOZ into the directory in which to be listed. It's a thin line but when you cross it you are gone. It doesn't matter how many thousands of good sites that you list, you cross the line you pay the price. Some of the ex-editors had managed to turn their counters over one and more times but were still removed when they crossed the line.
I agree with this. Meta Editors have too much power. I have never liked this system from the time it came into being. The only good thing about it is that those who abuse this power eventually overstep and get removed themselves. From a corporative viewpoint you can’t beat it. The same group provides you free workers and free supervisors to do all the grunt work. So you only need a small hired staff at the top of the structure. The system is sheer genius. But I certainly believe there should be a better system in place to allow an editor to defend him/herself against charges of abuse.
Wikipedia has virtually the same system with Jimbo on top to make crucial decisions when things get stuck and removal system is fully open, as are all editing logs so any kind of abuse is not only visible to editors but anyone passing by... so hiding it is virtually impossible.
This is my first time ever to submit my site to DMOZ. Do I really need to contact the editor and wait for a year like RidinHighSpeeds? I surely hope not... Really wish I could see my site listed there
I would advise you not to contact the editor after submitting your site. Your site went in line behind all the sites submitted before it and will be reviewed when it't time comes. Put yourself in the editor's shoes. How would you like to receive a huge amount of email each day from people asking you to review their site, jumping the line over those ahead of their site?
I understand ezgoing8's opinion here..but I honestly feel that contacting them is the way to go. I am a member of many webmaster forums and I read many posts of people complaining that it's been over a year, and they are still not listed in dmoz. I would give it a month. If you are not listed, kindly send the editor an e-mail. If not listed in the next month, send him another kind e-mail. It worked for me.
From all i know , its that DMOZ never notifies someone even though they are listed.... I dont exactly remember even if i submitted my blog or not but i got listed in the personal pages and came to know about it after checking my backlinks...so thats all i can say...
Indeed DMOZ will never notify someone if they are listed, but if you kindly e-mail the editor, well that's a different story.
how are you supposed to know if you've been rejected? Sit around for 8 months and wonder if you're out, or still in the queue? What a genius system DMOZ has
Actually in many ways it is pure brilliance. They get talked about more then any other directory which keeps their PR high. I think if they approved every submission the PR of the place would drop... A healthy dose of "this site ain't getting listed" and it can often cause further discussion which in many instances is another link.
I wish they didnt service such high profile sites I'm starving for more internet presence, and it burns me to see my competition up there on DMOZ, and how I get no hits outside of google...
So what's your advice for categories with no listed editor? Your advice will fail many times more than it will work, I'm sorry to say. Too much "one size fits all" thinking in these ODP/DMOZ topics. For the most part, it is correct, you will not be notified. However there ARE some editors who send out courtesy notifications. Don't expect it, and you won't be disappointed. Secondly, you can get a reasonable idea of whether or not your site has been approved, or even looked at. I find that when my sites have been approved, I get 2-3 "DMOZ" search engine link referrals in my webstats that never showed up before. It doesn't always mean that the site is approved; it can be maintenance hit - but more often than not, it's my first real indicator. First off - there is no "que" in the ODP. No editor has to follow any sort of order when approving sites. The idea that your site submission is #312, or #2, or whatever is absolutely ludicrous. There are only "unreviewed" sites in the editor panel. Secondly, even if you ARE accepted, your site may not show up for months. I've made mention of PR relevance in the DMOZ, and I still believe this to be true. I have had low PR submissions that were accepted, and I didn't see the site in the directory for 3 months, despite being able to see the acceptance in the category logs. I think that it's a good thing, for the most part, that people are not notified, because it's one more level of BS to have to answer the question, "you said my site is approved, why isn't it showing up?" Unfortunately, your thinking is not unique, and as a result, most editors don't want to hear from you regarding your submission. Some categories would receive thousands of such requests per day, and that's as counterproductive as not having an editor in the first place, if he/she actually took time to answer these mails! DMOZ is a "damned if you do/damned if you don't" proposition. It's eithere an SEO booster, or it's a valuable directory, (which nobody will use to search, anyway) but it can't be both. There are conflicting visions, and irreconcilible differences. Sort of like trying to find Utopia. You'd have to kill a whole lot of people to actually accomplish it, which rather defeats the whole purpose.
When you're a DMOZ editor, do you just see a long list of things in your category that just need to be reviewed one by one? If so, I really don't understand what takes so long for some of those lower-profile categories. Either that, or there are a lot of editors who barely show up to do anything (?)
Not if there isn't a long list to display. It's just a list of "unreviewed" items. I have no idea if they are place in any sort of order, whether it be alphabetic, chronological, or otherwise. I've never paid attention. Many of them end up being deleted, or kept under watch, as they either don't fit guidelines, or are somewhat ambiguous. I edit about once every 3 months. So yes, many don't do much, and are under no obligation to do so. If they paid us, then there might be some reasonable expectation to edit more often. It would also generate some incentive, but that's just not the way it's set up. Anyone is free to become an editor, so there is always room for people to enact a positive change, without having their hand forced in the matter.
It should also be said that many categories have no editor, and even more than that, editors, to state the obvious, only usually edit in categories that interest them. That severely limits the capacity of many.