Question: How long to get listed in dmoz

Minstrel, I think a lot of the disagreements in this forum are based on misunderstandings rather than fact. Of course you are right, but so is nebuchadrezzar when he says "Neither commonsense nor the ODP guidelines say that a site like this must be listed in a locality."

The way the category structure of Regional works a locality is a city, not a larger area. Neb was only saying that this particular site doesn't have to be listed at the city level. It belongs in a broader Metro category.

 

Then why didn't he say that? I think you're giving him far more credit then he merits.

 

Annie and neb are right too. It depends on the business/entity concerned. The proper location for the site is generally its geographical relevance. So a mobile plumber located in Smallville who only operates (according to his website) in Littletown should be listed in Littletown. A listing in Smallville is useless to Smallville and to Littletown residents. Same with bus lines and taxi services - service area. A business such as a retailer or industrial concern with a physical presence is generally listed in the locality though. There are specific and enforced guidelines on real estate agents and this only allows for a listing other than in the locality where the office is when agent deals exclusively with a different geographical location (rarely happens). Editors can go into my old personal Test categories, under the State sub-cats, in the description you will find a comprehensive itemisation of listing levels by type of site which I drew up to help new editors to Regional. All drawn from numerous asked and answered questions in threads over the years. Might be out of date if anything has changed in the last 6 months.

For this reason I would want to see evidence of a connection to the locality/area the webmaster claims to serve on the site - some editors will delve into whois etc. to get hold of an address to prove that. But that is going outside the site review and it isn't the editor's job to go that deep. I would take a traceable local area phone number as evidence - you are looking for credibility. You also need to consider the following (new) guidelines:

Can you see which person or entity is responsible for it? Does it give enough information about the source for a user to judge its reliability? While we cannot assess the accuracy of every site we list, we can select sites which give verifiable information.

For example, the site of a trustworthy business or organization typically displays its official name and address, or includes industry-appropriate information about itself verifiable through a recognized third party. A trustworthy informational site typically gives its authorship and/or sources, as appropriate, and makes clear any commercial sponsorship. The information necessary to verify a site's trustworthiness will vary depending upon the topic and the category.

Speaking personally I used to look first to see if the site breached do not list guidelines, i.e. reasons to exclude. Then for good rich content, i.e. reasons to include.