a website i have completed a while back is now up and running in Dmoz, its for sure open again

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TopHatSolutions
Web Design Wexford
Web Design Ireland

It only took a few months of waiting and multiple submissions to figure out who was the editor of my narrowly-focused category - my competitor! This site owner out of Germany has 'aced' the game: presenting herself and her site as a moral authority, as a "watchdog" (who appointed her? -she has no credentials other than owning a website offering the same service) - will not give positive ratings on this "watchdog" site to competitors, as well as only allowing her own affiliated sites on DMOZ.

This is all because of the importance of cross-linking, which unfairly favors individuals who are good at working the process, as well as those deeply entrenched, to the disadvantage of newer sites.

"Used to be"- say, ten years ago, the web was altruistic enought that you could expect non-biased editing even from your competition. Ain't that way anymore.

Yes, it IS important that DMOZ clean up their act, as long as Google x-refs with them and AOL and MSN x-ref off of Google. These bigger companies should recognize what's really going on here and downgrade their recognition of this previously-good, currently-abused resource.

It's hard enough to build a webiste, do customer service, make a profit and do so fairly without all this institutionalized crap that nobody watches. Julie Larson [Edited by Mod Webnauts. Self promotion is not allowed here at WPW]

No, that's not true. I have sites listed in alexa that I never submitted to dmoz.

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Small Business

I want to correct an earlier post of mine - true at the time, but things have changed. I have found out that DMOZ had a true, critical failure in the fall. Although they were not able to put in new sites, they were able to staticly post the public pages they did have. In my own case, I had applied to edit many months ago, and once the site was up and running again, my application was approved and I have insight into the current operations - I can tell you that there are many, many new editors, all of whom are excited to be involved and are actively entering valid sites. The guidelines provide that they include sites that enhance the websurfer's experience through content and credibility, and I can tell you they (we!) are doing that actively now. girlfriday@[Edited by Mod Webnauts. Self promotion is not allowed here at WPW]

Can anyone tell me if there is a way to overcome the listing issues with DMOZ. I tried to list my websites for www.moneymatchmaker.com and www.endowment-compensation-moneymatchmaker.co.uk some months ago, as I was advised to do this before they were complete as it would take some time, but they are yet to appear.

What do you think any directory (DMOZ or other) should do with sites that deliberatly flout the submission guidelines that submitters agree to when they submit a site?

Do you remember what you agreed to:
"Please take a moment to review some of our submission policies and instructions. It is important that you understand these policies. Failure to understand and follow these policies generally will result in the rejection of a submission. "
"Do not submit sites "under construction."
"Multiple submissions of the same or related sites may result in the exclusion and/or deletion of those and all affiliated sites. "

You submitted a site under construction and you submitted two related sites .... not a good idea if you want to be listed.

Both would also probably be considered "lead generator" sites, so probably would not be listable anyway.

Patience may pay in this regard but is it worth the wait? Hard to say anymore.

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I actually tried to become an editor for DMOZ in the field that I’m most experienced in - phpBB and bulletin boards.
But was rejected... for unknown reasons. :-/

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The reasons would have been in the email you were sent.

Yes, I got the email, but it was something like "due to the number of requests we get, we are not able to provide a reason for your editor request being denied, below are a number of factors that may contribute to the decision".
And they list 6 reasons the application could have been denied.

-- I lost the email (deleted it most likely) or I would paste it here. But I didn’t see any need to pursue it... they obviously didn’t want an editor in those categories.

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- Highway of Life
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Then it would have been one or more of those 6 reasons as to why your application was rejected.

The most common reason is that the example sites and example site descriptions were not guideline compliant. Imagine the harm done to any directory if an editor can not follow the guidelines, regardless of how much expertise they have in the subject of the category. Imagine how much work would be created for other editors to go around and undo the mistakes.

Thanks for your thoughts. In reply, the site was constructed without any areas being under construction. Although the sites were fairly slim, they were intact and it is only additional content pages that have been added since.

The site www.moneymatchmaker.com offers a vast array of useful information across the full spectrum of financial services in the UK and is not merely a lead generator, but does offer true and proper help and advice as well as execution only services, so I fail to see how it is not beneficial to the consumer.

Mark
www.moneymatchmaker.com

I m still waiting for my websites listings at Dmoz, Its like it's dead now...

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its dead because your sites are not listed? Several 1000 sites were listed last month. That far from being dead. That makes DMOZ the fastest growing directory.

Are you talking about the sites in your signature? Did you read the guidelines about submitting related sites that you agreed to when submitting a site?? How do you think any directory should treat sbmissions from someone who deliberatly flounts the guidelines?

i have understand your matter you said excellent

thanks

Love Song And
Gospel Music

Does anyone know if DMOZ weight still makes a difference (SEO)? And are the editors still as swamped or are listings moving more quickly now (since the crash last year)?

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*Currently Under Maintenance, No Submissions Just Yet

Its just a link like any other link. It will help your SEO like any other link.
Depends if you think DMOZ is a link listing service for webmasters or not. Editors do not see their jobs as processing submissions. Submissions are just one way (the most ineffiicent way) for an editor to do their jobs. Some editors choose to totally ignore the submitted sites and use other sources (eg via Google search) to find sites to list. So, as such, the editors are never really "swamped". DMOZ is listing more than several 1000 sites a months now (of which only about half were ever submitted in the first place), so yes listings are moving making DMOZ still the fastest growing directory.

I tried DMOZ for the last month nothing yet

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Google Website Positioning (searches through 1000 positions)

If you are talking about the site in your signature, then you might want to fix it before an editor reviews it. I just did two searchs and both timed out. If an editor did that, there is a good chance it would be deleted (at worst) or left for another review another day (at best).

WHen you say "tried", how many times have you tried?

I applied for inclusion some months ago in DMOZ, I will see if they have included any of my sites, I have certainly heard nothing from them directly.

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www.worldnetsources.Info/Paypal-Is-Dead.html

1. You do not apply! You make a suggestion that the editor may or may not choose to use when they work on a category.
2. You never get a reply if listed or not.
3. If you are talking about the two sites in your signature, then I will be very surprised if they get listed. They do not appear to have sufficent unique content to warrant a listing.

who said dmoz is open, I am trying to submit my website to them over 3 months already but no answer yet , guess I willq quit

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Google Website Positioning (searches through 1000 positions)

Did you read what i asked you above?

My competitor who is the DMOZ editior for my "ecards" category. He hasnt added my ECARDS website link for last 5 years! My site being popular and getting 1 lakh visitors a month, still i dont have a DOMZ listing. It's true. DMOZ is not for all.

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Please provide evidence that the editor is your compeititor, If they have not added your site for your alleged reason then they will be removed.

I submitted my site to the Weight Loss category about four years ago and that category hasn't changed since that time. I stopped checking to see if I'd been added after a couple years went by

I'd expect that category would have thousands of submissions so it's curious that the site count hasn't changed in all that time--there is an editor in that category too.

It's not worth tearing your hair out. Follow their guidelines to the letter and submit to DMOZ, then move on to other SEO business.

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OneMoreBite-Weightloss.com

But you are listed:
Open Directory - Regional: North America: United States: Washington: Localities: V: Vancouver: Health

The general weight loss categories are spam magnets, so editors just don't like going there. From a quick look at your site, I would be surprised if it listable in the topical weight loss category as the content of the site is not unique and would not add value beyond what is already in the category, hence you were listed in the regional category.

I used to be a DMOZ editor of a very very minor subcategory a long time ago.

Even, I, to this day, can't figure exactly what the process is for submission...

I've had real quality sites denied...What a mystery....

It simple: Submitting a Site to The Open Directory Project
What where the URL's?

I feel that the whole DMOZ foundation is the problem. They don't charge for submission and review and instead let unqualified members of the public determine who is to be included or not. This means that the actual fundamentals are already wrong from the first day.

I think DMOZ will die a slow death from the lack of funds to upgrade their service and from the corruption in the editors that has propagated.

You are right, they don't. A lot of other directories provide that service, so why should DMOZ?.The criteria for a listing is publically available. what more can be done?.So why is it still the fastest growing directory on the www? How much do you think AOL spends on DMOZ? Where did you get the information on lack of funds?Please share your evidence.

Has this got something to do with your weight loss site not being listed?

Domz should introduce an effective 'editor grading' system in order to make itself more useful. I too had some bad experience with Domz.

Useful to who?Like what?

About 6 years ago, DMOZ, a coveted first and foremost engine to submit…
At that time, as a tutor at an art school, me and my students created a simple web site for our institute… tried about 2 years to get it listed….
That was not exactly a commercial site to have any conflict of interest for an editor… still!...
For many life goes on… without DMOZ!

What was the url?

what's up martty? righting all the wrongs for DMOZ?

I've tried submitting my site for 3 years, google seems to understand we're an worth a visitors time by giving us #1 on serps, why can't DmoZ seem to give us a listing?

What is the url?
When you said "tried submitting", what do you mean? Have you submitted more than once? Did you read the guidelines?

I have submited Search Engine Marketing Lead on 16-01-2007 but no success yet.

IMO if have any problem/s with any website then how webmaster resolve without knowing that? And webmaster resubmit same site again and again after 6 months & trying to get success with same problem.

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Given the categories for SEO sites are spam magnets, editors don't often go there to edit. Also given that the SEO categories are already well represented, only the most outstanding sites wil probably be added in the future. I would doubt your site has close to enough unique content for a listing in the SEO topical categories. As there is a 'bricks and mortar' street address it might get listed under a regional category,
There is NEVER a need to submit more than once.

Never? never is a heavy word, especially in all caps. If a site submits, doesn't get included, goes to get MORE unique content, changes design, there would be no reason to re-submit?

I seriously doubt the ability of editors to recheck EVERY inclusion request over time to make sure a site didn't get any better.

we all have to start somewhere and that's usually very low, as sites grow, they change, often a lot.

care to elaborate on why NEVER? why only submit once? Do you sincerely expect us to believe that a site submitted 2 years ago will get included for X and Y reason tomorrow?

I also fail to understand why a submission should be ignored because it's topical category attracts spam. If an editor doesn't want to bear the responsibilities assigned to him then he shouldn't be an editor in the first place.

EDIT: martty, are these links still valid?

The Resource Zone - Open Directory Project Public Forum
Open Directory Public Abuse Report System

Dmoz not accept my website. I submite 3 times. yOu have any idea.

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Articles2u.com
Kokkada.com

The only reason a site is not listed is either a editor has not yet chosen to review it (and editors are under no obligation to even look at suggested sites when working on building a ctageory) or its been rejected as not having enough unique content to add value to the category
If you are talking about the sites in your signature, then its most likely the lack of unique content. I checked a couple of the articles in one of your directory and they are plastered all over the www --- nothing unique there.

Maybe I should have said 'almost NEVER'. Almost all sites rejected are not salvagable.
Every time a site is rejected, the url is tagged with the reason. It takes an editor a very short time to see if that reason still applies. The more times its rejected, the shorter the subsequent review until it reaches the point an editor might just choose to reject it without looking. Why would an editor want to keep reviewing a site that deliberatly flouts the guidelines?
Editors are volunteers and can't be forced to work in categories that are spam magnets. Editors are under no obligation whatsoever to even look at submission - some editors totally ignore them and use other sources to build a category.
Did you click on them to see if they are still valid. Not sure what you are asking.

This would make sense if sites never grew; always stayed the same. basically, if the internet was, say... geocities! I would completely agree. but it's not now is it? Sites start small, even with good content, and then grow large. Why is that such a difficult concept to understand?

no arguments here. no one appreciates spam.

I volunteered to work with kids for a few years - suicide prevention is part of the training we had to undergo to work with these kids. Applying your mentality would mean that i could just ignore a kid in danger because i was a volunteer and i am under no obligation.

it's exaggerated, but so is saying that a volunteer has no obligations to work a spammy category. ignoring the problem doesn't solve it. why is the category even open for submission if you won't even look at it? how deceptive do you want to be to webmasters? not giving them rejection notification e-mails, and pretending categories are open. how about i just start sending you 10 000 parked domain names with descriptions and titles? just for kicks?

isn't the point of submitting a site to a powerful, human edited, directory is to be viewed by others because search engines aren't able to recognize the quality sites from the spam ones?

Tell me, what are these other sources editors use to find new sites for their category? is it search engines? i think you had search engines in mind, because going to another directory to get quality listing would be the opposite of unique: homogeneous? tell me it isn't search engines.

i was hoping for a quick answer about this... if i report abuse through the link i gave, will it end up in the inbox of whoever takes care of that?

I wonder if editors argue between each other the efficiency of the DMOZ system and what's being done about it... or do you all actually think it works?

This is going over old ground for this thread. Your point is only valid if DMOZ was a listing service for webmasters, which its not and if an editors job was to process submission, which it not. Plenty of other directories provide listing services for webmasters.

To repeat what has been gone over several times in this thread - the role of an editor is to build a category of valuable, unique resources for the web surfer/visitor. The editor uses many sources for this (searching via search engines; following links on other sites; personal knowledge of the area; newspaper advertisments etc (I even once wrote down a url I came across on the back of a truck I was following). To assist an editor in the job, DMOZ allows anyone to suggest a site. Editors are under no obligation to use any particular source to build a category. The suggested sites are the worse source of new sites and a much more productive use of an editors time is to use Google to look for new sites - more than half the sites that get listed in DMOZ were never submitted in the first place.

When I was an editor (I not now), I pretty much ignored the submitted sites as they were such a huge waste of time. I would log in daily and check if there were any new ones suggested - scan them for a possible review if they 'jumped out' at me. If they did not jump out, I just left them in the pool with the others - perhaps one day another editor might come a long and look closer at them. I would then use the other sources to look for sites - usually found at least a couple of good ones each day (and thats a couple of more good ones than was was in the rubbish submitted).

Occasionaly a new site was suggested that 'jumped 'out' and said 'review me!'. How do you make an editor take notice? -- add a perfectly guideline compliant title and description (less work for the editor). If you had any marketing hype in the description (most do) its just puts the editor of. The guidelines are clear on what to write. How to you think any directory (DMOZ or other) should treat a site whos webmaster deliberatly flouts the guidelines?

Most of what this thread is about is that webmasters have some sort of expectation of a listing service from DMOZ and DMOZ is not in the business of providing a listing service to webmasters. Perhaps those who are unhappy should try asking for a refund.

what is that mean?

I have seen few sites which are not out standing. Not unique content or design etc.

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so does google, they don't seem to mind communicating with webmasters though.

The only expectation Webmasters have of DMOZ is to review the listings that are submitted to them. You proved to me that you do not do that and employ the "leave it for the next guy" mentality. how convenient. It just points out the hypocritical attitude dmoz editors can employ.
in any case, you aren't an editor so there is no point in arguing with you or showing you my site - which i now regret doing. the singular significance this thread provides is further understanding of dmoz editors. no change comes from it.

Where are webmasters getting this expectation from? I only have an expectation of the provision of any service when I pay for it.

It means that the SEO and web design categories attract a extraoridnary amount of crap, spam, copied content, attempts to manipulate multiple listing etc, etc. Editors just don't like having to deal with it.
Over time the bar for a listing is raised. There are sites listed that would not get past a review now - they may or may not be re-reviewed at some point.

Try and look it from an editors point of view of an editor in the SEO categories - they want to add sites to the category that add information about SEO that is not already obtained from the sites listed. Does your site offer that? From my quick look it did not appear to offer much about SEO and was more about marketing your services (hence my recommendation about suggesting to a regional category).

I am disagree with your views about what editors thinks. Sorry, I don't want argue with this any more...

Thanks for your time!!!

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