Is It Possible to Have a Template Site Listed In DMOZ?

My website was rejected by DMOZ because it is a template site (a Mortgage XSite to be exact) by A La Mode Inc. However, if someone were to significantly change the content on all their pages so that there is no duplicate content, shouldn't it be a candidate then? Or will it always be excluded simply because it's a template site? Any help is much appreciated. Thanks.

 

DMOZ is about original content - if you don't have that then you are unlikely to be listed. You do have some original content in terms of staff profiles but it seems dominated by information repeated word for word on many other sites. So in DMOZ terms it is discounted and of no value when deciding when to list or not. Rewording won't make any difference if it is still basically the same content. It would need a high level of personalization and obvious original content that stands out. On the other hand, interfering with the content may hit you with other users so it is a risk. If the site works for you then I wouldn't change it just for a DMOZ listing. If it doesn't then experiment. You could put up a separate site, maybe using free webspace, containing all your own business information, nothing from the template site content, and submit that as an alternative. But that might be wasting your time as listings are never guaranteed, let along in a particular timespan. You are a local service so you should have enough material on your local aspects to produce a site suitable for your local Regional locality category. As a local business a site suitable for that category should be appreciated as it adds to the value of the locality directory.

 

If a template site is a reason now for rejection by DMOZ, than all Advanced Access sites should be removed, as well as several other template real estate sites.

 

You can have 1 page site with 10 affiliate link and get listed in DMOZ in 100 different categories. DMOZ listing doesn't depend on if it is template site or not, it depends on if you are an editor, are friend with an editor or are ready to pay an editor.

 

Once again I have to warn that trying to pay an editor could get your site permanently banned from the Open Directory.

If anyone feels that certain sites are listed which do not fit the current ODP guidelines, then they might like to report them over at Resource Zone.

 

Thanks for the advice. I appreciate it!

 

This is what my site was judge by
and i failed...

If the products are not your own, does the owner sell them on the net also? (That's what we mean by "non-unique content")

If you offer free removal tools, are they also offered elsewhere on the net?

Is there anything unique that YOU offer?

Is it clear to a surfer what's unique on the site?

If you're just hoping that of, say, a hundred products the editor will happen on the one that's unique before giving up in disgust (which happens after several items offered turn out NOT to be unique), then you're just gunning to be considered derivative/agglomerated spam.

There's nothing inherently wrong with an agglomerated-content site. But ... just accumulating content that's already available elsewhere has no value for us. A successful AC site must have a core of unique content -- and then it will attract contributions to make it more comprehensive. Without that core, surfers are better off if you pull the plug on that site, and instead focus on contributing to some other site that already has such a core.

 

thanks for the red - whos the coward and didnt leave his name.
"DMOZ editors are idiots"

sorry for trying to help .. by giving someone a answer to the question they asked.
did i upset you and your petty dislike of the dmoz
like im a fan of the dmoz, my site got booted
but i got over it...

sorry for the rant.

 

Not all though. You are correct about Advance Access templates. Most sites based on this template do not have enough unique and quality content to be listed. I have also come across quite a few that are based on the same template but have added enough quality content of their own to make the site standout. I will be glad to list these sites since they add value to the category and provide unique and useful information to DMOZ users.

 

I am also curious to know how bpolly45 and bloodwrath assumed that their sites were rejected just because they were based on templates. When I am reviewing a site that is based on a template, I mentally block out the generic content that is common for this particular template and review the rest. Prevalent use of templates in certain industries is not considered a handicap by editors. They are instructed to ignore the common and look for the unique.

 

I never get any resposne from DMOZ....yea or neah! or however you spell those. I don't know what their deal is.

 

If it is about original content, than I can think of a few sites that should have been listed. One would be my own site, which dwarfs all others listed in that category for unique content. I am not trying to self promote my own site, but if this is the philosophy of DMOZ, why hasnt this site been listed. When you compare it to the other sites in that category, we have thousands of pages more of good content than anyone of them. This can be verified through Googles index.

So explain to me then how so many real estate sites get listed. There is only so many ways you can tell someone about a community that has homes for sale or describing the features of a community. This would also related to information about anything related to that cities real estate market or sevices.

Once again I refer to my site and if needed I can point to one other that is not my site that stands out above all the others presently listed in this category. When you have thousands and thousands of pages of orginal content over all those listed, where is the logic behind not listing these type sites. As for personalization, show me one other realtor in this category that has 1. an instant CMA tool ( allows you to find the value of your home instantly ), an actual custom live MLS system ( Not a 3rd party framed system, which is very rarely purged of old data ), a live help chat center to just name a few. How is that for personalized, orginal and unique. Show me anyone else in the category that has all this or any of it.

Wouldnt this be a mirror site. This is a quote from ODP guidelines. So you are giving him advice to violate DMOZ policies?

Here is another quote from guidelines if you wouldnt mind explaining.

So why are several of these sites listed in the category I am refering to? They all have about the same amount of pages, content and no other real unique benefit other than the agents name.

Yet you have DMOZ editors coming on DP bragging about how fast they got their site listed. HERE

I agree with you 100%. If a site adds value it should be listed. Once again going back to my own personal site and one other I could show, both of these sites add tremendous value and are very unique, yet these sites are not listed in DMOZ...I wonder why?

 

In response to Riz's question, here's the email I received from an editor explaining why my site couldn't be included:

Hello Brian,

As you know, the ODP guidelines are very strict. One of the criteria that we use is whether or not the site is a template website. Template websites offer little or no unique content. Companies plug in their personal information, make a change here and there and they are ready to go. There are many, many companies using template websites. We cannot list them. The site you are submitting by a la mode is a template website.

Although your site does contain a lot of information, it is not unique.
There are many sites using the same format, design and information that your site has. For this reason your site cannot be listed.

I hope this information helps

 

Hey I would have to pat that editor on the back, at least he or she responded to you. That is more than 99% of them do. The information you got didnt help you get your site listed but you got some info.

I will state again if template sites with the same type information is not acceptable than why do they list so many Advanced Access sites or any of the real estate sites listed in many real estate categories.

 

I don't believe this information is any where near correct. This may be a new editor who is misunderstanding guidelines or it could be somethinig more. Hopefully someone has already looked into this, if not I would really like someone to look into it.

 

The way that you are posting, admitting to mistakes, admitting that there is some corruption and not all webmasters are spammers, makes me believe that you will not last very long in DMOZ.
I am not kidding, there were couple of other editors here that decided to be decent and honest and not only repeat DMOZ party line and needless to say they are not editors any more.

 

Thanks for looking out for me
I don't know the situations involving the editors (or who they are for what its worth) but I don't fear that anything I say in these forums (on the few rare occasions that I do post) will have a negative effect on my being an editor so long as I follow the rules of privacy and not disclose anything I shouldn't. If I didn't think I could be honest and still be an editor I wouldn't be an editor.

 

That is the same dream land that other editors lived in until they discovered that you can NOT be honest and be an editor.

 

Surely you don't think you're talking to a brand new editor - or do you

Just because Shadow is new to DP - doesn't mean he's new to the ODP

 

The others who quit DMOZ were not new either.

A lot people live in a protected dream land and then they will find themselves in a situation that they have to face the truth and it will be a rude awaking.