Hi Kids I was wondering if anyone could give me a hand, I first listed my site (www.athema.co.uk) on Dmoz about 4 years ago and then left if for about a year and then have tried to get it listed each year since with no luck. I have read the Editorial Guidelines on the site and chosen the correct category, selected the right title/description for publishing for my site but I never get any responses to why it has never been listed. If anyone could point me in the right direction I'd really appreciate it as it's about time I kicked up a fuss as I think I have been more than patient. Thank you very much for reading and I hope you all have a great day. Athema Services Ltd http://www.athema.co.uk
You must have missed the part in the submission giuidelines where it says that We don't accept all sites and the part lower down requiring that a website be suggested just the once to the one best category. You've acknowledged that you've read and agreed them on several occasions. Your actions ignored the latter and have increased the volunteer editorial workload unnecessarily, thus contributing to slow response times for everybody. Before you do that, you might want to check out the sticky Dmoz 101: Background on the Open Directory Project thread at the top of this forum which explains our objectives and how we operate. If you're still determined to kick up a fuss, in a meaningful way as opposed to whinging in forums, you can contact AOL Legal via here. You might like to first check your contract with us with your solicitor.
Hi Jim Thanks for your reply although I would have expected a bit more of a professional answer from you other than "whinging in forums". At least I know where I stand. Thank you.
Hi Jim Just so you know, I have now moved the site into a more appropriate category as we are based in Berkshire. I would just like to thank you for your help and advise in this matter. Athema Services Ltd
It's hard to get to the DMOZ directory nowadays, but don't worry about it, lots of successful websites are working without any DMOZ submittion
Well, after four years, I would honestly hope it's safe to assume that it's been "rejected or removed" based on it being in the wrong category before... so re-submitting should be perfectly OK in this case, as the first one is likely not there.
Or the first one was already moved there by an editor and waiting for review. The resubmission would have just overwritten the one that was waiting with the new date.
Well, if there was some form of communication, it would certainly avoid a lot of confusion wouldn't it? But then, no harm done right? I mean, it's just been over-written, so what is the trouble? Though the guy will never know will he? The word is, there is no word! Communication is ZILCH between the submitter and the ODP, and it's that way why? Oh, that's right, because the ODP does not care.
The site may have been blacklisted, if so, would telling him a. Calm him down b. Help DMOZ c. De a useful way for editors to spend their time d. Help build a directory for searchers of the web who want to use categorised material? DMOZ accept suggestions from anyone, we then asses them when a volunteer volunteers to review that section, if the site is to be listed it shows in the directory. RZ for a long time did site checks....most were pending review, site owner got irritated with delay, some had been rejected, site owner got cross. RZ gave up doing site checks. Emailing site owners is much the same principle. Do stamp collectors email the government body who created the stamp and tell them that they have got the stamp in their collection? Sorry but we really are not in existence to worry about any value that listing a site might or might not give to that site or the site owner, we have no concern therefore that sites should be listed because owners want to get a site listed.
Sorry, but the ODP is NOT a collection of stamps. An automated system would likely be in order.... but no, it's not the same. RZ is NOT the ODP, it's a small handful of editors that could not bother with actually being helpful. Boy, you certainly are full of unhelp today ain't ya B, C, and D B because it would do both C & D C because it would save them from posting in forums like this day after day explaining why they don't bother being helpful. (how many submitters could you have helped in the time it took you to be unhelpful here?) D because it would likely stop him from submitting again, or at best, will make him (or her I guess) make their site compliant. What does NOT being helpful do? A. Give the ODP a bad name B. Make the editors seem like uncaring jerks C. Help promote better future submissions D. Stop people from submitting time & time & time & time & time & time again because they have not gotten word otherwise and it's been 4 years.
Communication is not required.....when people have suggested their sites they can do nothing else. If they chose to break the guidelines that they agree to when they suggest their site, thats their fault. I volunteer to edit because i like editing.....i dont volunteer to email webmasters and get into arguements. I would rather spend my time doing other editing functions.
Hi there I didn't mean to cause arguments over this, I could have chosen about 4 different category's for the site as it will fit perfectly in all 4 of them. But I changed it to a local business category last night as I thought I might have more luck after waiting for 4 years to finally get my site listed. I understand that editors are doing this voluntarily and I really appreciate their efforts and think they should be rewarded somehow for their time spent on plonkers like us. Just a little help would go a long way. Thank you all Lisa x
We have given you help by saying stop suggesting you do yourself the possibility of harm to get your site listed. If itrs in the wrong area it will be moved, but if you have submitted many times and our editor notes show that we have had to delete duplicates then that will not motivate an editor to now look at you. Best advice, leave it alone. But for reasons given editors are actively discouraged from contacting people who have suggested sites, as we have said in another thread, an editor has sometimes pointed out a small flaw, like no address, which prevents a regional listing of what would be a very good site. We are discouraged because too many contacts end in confrontation and we are not in business to worry about if a site is listed or not and if that gives or detracts from its value to site owners. That is for directories who set themselves out to offer services of that nature to site owners, we do not offer that service. And if I sound somewhat curt or unhelpful, sorry, but we also battle in here with those who would seek to be as unhelpful to DMOZ as possible, usually because of the chip on their shoulders. Just re-read those comments from Q, and read any others like him. We regularly have editors, in general, maligned as being corrupt, listing their own sites only and taking money. We try and stay here despite all that to try and help site owners over general rules about suggestions and to try and explain why DMOZ is as it is, which might seem unhelpful to site owners who want to get sites listed to increase their PR or whatever. I do feel for site owners who see DMOZ as the Holy Grail, but it got that reputation because it is what it is and editors, who are often themselves site owners, still are not there to add sites for increased value, they are there because they want to offer a service to those who want to use categorised data for net searching.
Thank you for your comment. I find it valid and helpful. It has been relisted in the correct category and will not be changed. I have read the stories about editors taking money for submissions etc, but I would guess that these rumours are from people that have abused the DMOZ system somehow. Thank you all for your comments, it's been really useful. Lisa
You might want to pass your new found knowledge along to Darren so that he doesn't exacerbate the situation in ignorance.
Again, what don't you understand, it's NOT about webmasters, webmasters are NOT the only ones that submit. It's also not about breaking the guidelines. Picking the wrong category is VERY easy within a directory that has overlaping categories. A note to the submitter saying it was rejected because of that would certainly help them pick a better one rather then them having to try again in four years. Forgetting contact information (something DMOZ does not have itself!) is also another point that would be easily fixed, but is still a rejection point in some categories. Letting the submitter know could allow them to contact the webmaster to get it added so it can then be list worthy... as it stands, how many 'local' sites ya think offer something worthy to the end user but can't get listed because they are missing a phone number? If the number is any more then ONE then that number is too many! Sending a note out would also help those getting rejected due to an editor not wanting to list competing sites by forcing them to give relevant reasons for the rejection. Conforming to the guidelines? The editors do not even do that, in fact, AOL is not apposed to breaking multiple guidelines... so maybe lead by example? If I have a relevant news site that has nothing to offer buy syndicated content, and I find another site along the same lines that has nothing but duplicate content as well, I may assume that it's OK to submit... but seemingly it's NOT, even though the other site was added (note, I say added not edited, as in, it was listed breaking the rules). Yeah, yeah, this one may stir the pot, but *shrug* that's the fault of AOL not the submitter. Its about being open, honest, and caring to the end user, not about how you don't care about webmasters... if you didn't care about webmasters you should not be listing their sites at all (which means you should not be an editor). So much for being nice eh?
Sites are in the public domain, anyone can collect and list them, many directories do, so we collect them, like stamps to a stamp collector, and we do it with a view to those who want to see our stamp collection, now we owe nothing to the government who print the stamps, DMOZ owes nothing to site owners. Site owners if they wish can take their site out of the public domain and have it for private viewing, we don't list such sites. I don't collect private issue stamps just the ones in the public domain.
I read through this thread with interest. As Anonymously wrote just above my post here. ODP owns their own site and can do with it however they wish. Do you argue with every directory that turns you down for what ever reason? While it might hurt the pride a little, it is their choice. On the other hand, why are you that concerned? We are talking about one link here. I've had sites get listed in DMOZ, yes it probably helped a little but the sites that I have put real effort into that have not been listed have done much better. Google counts this as a link, perhaps a more trusted one. So what is it worth? Twice as much as a comparable link from another site, 3 times, 5 times, 10 times? If so, go out an get 10 more good links and call it even. This is just one way to get an easy link. Submit an forget, you may get it, you may not. Why stress?