beebware

The category: http://dmoz.org/Society/Politics/Alternative_Political_Systems/ has a total of 40 sites (as it has a subcategory 'Distributism' which has 9 sites), but only 2 of sites in the main S/P/APS category are 404'd (well, they were - I've now deleted them. Thanks for the pointer). If you are interested in editing this category (and I see no reason why you can't - but I'm not a "meta editor" who accepts applications), then just go to the category and hit the "become an editor" link at the top of the page. Read the pages CAREFULLY (it _is_ worth reading the editing guidelines which are linked from the application pages), complete the form (it's worth actually filling it in in something like Word/Notepad before hand so you can re-read it before you press the powerful 'Submit' button). If you have any questions about the application process, please feel free to ask here.

>> Type in shockwave.com and shockrave.com in ODP and click on the links - they both take you to the same website, why is this allowed? << It isn't allowed. Shockrave.com can be classed as a mirror/duplicate/vanity URL (call it what you will). I have changed the listing to point correctly to shockwave.com and added appropriate notes to ensure future editors are notified of this fact. While the category page should have already been auto-regenerated, it may be a few days before the ODP search is updated to reflect this change. >> Uproar.com and Iwin.com are very similar, in fact they both are owned by flipside and they BOTH are on ODP. << Uproar has changed a lot since the last time I visted it (over a year or two ago). It could have been the case that originally they were two seperate distinct entities, but since that time (when they were probably listed in ODP) they have been both been 'acquired' by Flipside. (I don't know if this is the case, I'm just guessing!). There still seems to be a degree of unique content between the two sites - but I'm not willing to say one way or another at this point (if you notice - I didn't say the same about yours, I just commented that some editors may see the similarity and think there are the same site: I just asked if you could explain if they were meant to be the same or totally different sites.) >> If you search for clevermedia.com on ODP there are 5 listings, why isn't there only one? << While it is unusual for a site to have more than 2 listings, it is permissible for a site to be 'deeplinked' many many times: BUT only if it offers specific content to the category in question. For example, if I owned a television production company and a software company - but had one website for both of them, then I *may* (and that is a qualifier) be entitled to three listings: One under my locality in Regional/ , one under Computers/ and one under Arts/ . >> I think I have a hypothesis - shockwave.com is a multimedia giant, 4arcade.com is not - giant corperations in this case are allowed to crush the little guy. << Nope. That's complete b---x. Remember that although ODP is owned by a "multimedia giant", it is edited and maintained by thousands of "little guys" who don't really give an owl's hoot whether or not the site in question is MegaBigCorp.com or tiny.little/guys/site.html .Please don't bandy around accusations that we favour large sites/organisations over another - it's just not true!

>> I don't understand why the editors of ODP are giving me the run around. << Personally, I don't understand why you've got two sites so identical to each other - perhaps that's what my fellow editors are having trouble figuring out. If you try explaining clearly why you do, then perhaps they will be willing to change the URL for you. >> the new site geocities will shut it down, there are rules against that << While you are correct that this is forbidden under the Geocities T+Cs ( http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/geoterms.html - section 5, subsection 'o'), I doubt they'll actually shut down a site which read "This site has now moved to: ..... Please use the new URL from now on". To me, that's not a "signpost" - more "correcting the user in an informative manner". /images/icons/smile.gif

If you read the following post in 'Announcements': http://www.resource-zone.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=announce&Number=5585&view=collapsed it details how to have your 'status' here changed from 'Member' to 'Editor'. Once you are set as 'Editor' you will then be able to access the 'Editor Hangout'. In there we detail any problems that may affect editors only. For example, this weekend ODP had a few 'hiccups' regarding editor authentication (i.e. no editors could login at all for hours on end!) - but this did not affect the 'public side' of ODP. Therefore the matter was discussed in the 'Editor Hangout' where loads of concerned editors gathered and ODP staff member autumn assured us that she was working on the problem and she even let us know an ETA for a fix and when it was fixed.

Whatever makes you think that totalxsive? /images/icons/smile.gif But whayhay - I like it (especially the little bit Pearl+Dean music at the end), so why not? LOL. We do really need a "ODP editor logins suffering authentication problems" warning somewhere - ideally on dmoz.org, but we could have a 'banner' here I suppose...

There are currently authentication problems with ODP editor accounts. This will be resolved shortly (otherwise some of us will start getting withdrawal symptoms!). No one seems able to log in to either the forums or the editor dashboard at the moment (see the 'Editors Hangout' here). In the meantime, here is some music...pa pa papapa..pa pa pa pa pa....

There are currently authentication problems with ODP editor accounts. This will be resolved shortly (otherwise some of us will start getting withdrawal symptoms!). No one seems able to log in to either the forums or the editor dashboard at the moment (see the 'Editors Hangout' here). In the meantime, here is some music...pa pa papapa..pa pa pa pa pa.... /images/icons/smile.gif (please also see "Can't log in" in this forum)

There are currently authentication problems with ODP editor accounts. This will be resolved shortly (otherwise some of us will start getting withdrawal symptoms!). No one seems able to log in to either the forums or the editor dashboard at the moment (see the 'Editors Hangout' here). In the meantime, here is some music...pa pa papapa..pa pa pa pa pa.... /images/icons/smile.gif

To be honest with you, I've got no idea myself. As I said, I try and avoid editing in the Shopping/ branch so (even as editall) I'm not 'too' up with the specific guidelines there. [added: actually, I've had an idea of something to check - but it'll have to wait until later today as the ODP is currently unavailable to editors for technical reasons]

It is now sitting in unreviewed.

It's easier for us to check the status of the "unreviewed" queues if you include a 'clickable URL' such as: http://dmoz.org/Business/Industries/Publishing/Services/Proofreading/ There are currently around 200 sites awaiting review for that category and, yes, yours is one of them. I'm going to do a little bit of tidying up to clear down the queue (i.e. delete/move spam etc etc), but it may be some time before an editor gets round to reviewing your site. Sorry! /images/icons/frown.gif

It's still sitting there in unreviewed along with around 30 other sites.

The site was deleted from unreviewed on 03/Jul/2002 - no further information available (plus I try and stay away from the Shopping/ branch myself as I just don't like it).

An 'unwritten rule' is that some sites are allowed to be listed in their topical tree (Arts/Recreation/Reference etc) and also under their Regional tree - if it's appropriate. Shopping/retail sites (especially if you have a 'physical shopfront') are normally listed in topical+regional. Editors discreation etc etc apply.

Re: Luxury Hotels submission problem. >> Recreation/Travel/Lodging/Hotels/ - is the other cat, but its not got an AddURL. << 'AddURL' is turned off on a number of categories. This is normally because either the category is under reorganisation, being disbanded, attracts a large amount of inappropriate spam, or the editors involved feel that the category has appropriate subcategories for submission. >> Recreation/Travel/Lodging/Directories/ - is the best, << Comparing the two, this does seem the most likely category, but I try and avoid travel sites myself so I can't really comment... Another category to consider _may_ be Recreation/Travel/Publication/Reviews , but whether or not the content is a 'true review', I can't say... Hopefully someone which enjoys editing in Recreation/ will be able to help you a bit more than I can, but I hope it's answered your query about the AddURL feature.

Thinking about it, that happened when I became an editor... That's back in the Newhoo days as well! I am aware it has 'broken' from time to time though, but that's the ODP hamsters for you. Good luck on your app!

True, and don't forget that because the ODP content is replicated around the web, a listing in ODP gets a site around 300+ other sites listing it. Google comes across those and then increases the PageRank appropriately. ODP listings do help your Google PageRank (and any other ranking system based on 'backward links') loads!