2 Years and Counting Still Not Listed

I have submitted my site for over 2 years and have met all guidelines and submission rules but it still has not been listed. Could it be the editor for my category is my competitor and is deliberately ignoring my site submissions ? And why dosent the abuse email address work ?

It's certainly a possibility that a person who can edit in the category you've submitted to is one of your competitors. But remember that even if this was the case, if would be against our editorial guidelines on conflicts of interest for such an edtior to give favourable treatment to his own site(s) by ignoring submissions from others. We are quite good at spotting abuse and dealing with it as appropriate. Also remember that no editor has control over any category -- as well as any editors named in the category itself, anyone named in a higher category can edit there, as can 200-ish so-called 'editall+' editors who are able to edit in any category they wish.

All in all, there is not much chance that this is the reason your site has not been listed. If, as you say, it meets our inclusion criteria, by far the most likely reason is that by pure randomness no-one's got around to reviewing the site yet. There are many suggestions from the public waiting to be reviewed, and public suggestions isn't the only way of finding new sites to add. On top of that adding new sites isn't the only editing task that needs to be done, and all editors are volenteers, editing in their free time.

As for reporting abuse, you'll need some firm evidence of an editor abusing their position, rather than just a "my site hasn't been listed yet" to get anywhere. I'm not sure that there is an "email address" for abuse reports, but there is a link to an online form on all the public pages. However, we're having some server problems at the moment, so it's likely that the reporting system won't be working for a few days.

BTW: What you've written suggests that you may have suggested your site more than once. If this is the case, did you might like to read the submission instructions more carefully before suggesting your site again...

There's a very simple test for the relevance of the "editor is competitor theory."

Look at the sites in the category. If they compete with each other, then the EICT is neither necessary nor adequate to account for the obvious facts.

Not, that wouldn't mean the EICT is not TRUE -- it merely means you won't be able to predict anything or learn from believing in it. And it means there's nothing in the facts that would lead a rational person to believe it.

Chaos has addressed the question of the theory's likelihood, in terms of alternate theories based on actual experience that would actually account for the observed facts.

But there's a much better way to think about the ODP and competition. We editors love to find sites for which there is NO competition. Sites for which their owners worry about too much competition, or being completely supplanted by competition, are of extremely low (possibly negative!) value for surfers, and so the editors quite rightly tend to give very low priority to sites that might fit that description. If you feel a tendancy to worry about competition, then you almost certainly should expect not to ever be listed (or at best, not to be listed for a long time). And that is true, even though the chances of competing with an editor are extremely low.

Sounds like Bill Clinton's "depends on what is is" I am not at all afraid of competition like others . My site is a business directory and I have all of my competitors listed in it which proves I am not afraid of advertising them so that's not the problem. All of them are also listed in dmoz. I have submitted multiple times over the past 2 years. I have read all of the guidelines and very carefully submitted it to meet those guidelines. There is something much deeper going on here. I have no problems getting listed on all of the major search engines and other directories. It only seems to be dmoz. I have emailed and asked questions over the past 2 years but still nothing. Oh well a private club is just that and I guess I am not on the "in croud".

jonscomputers said:

I have submitted multiple times over the past 2 years. I have read all of the guidelines and very carefully submitted it to meet those guidelines.

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Are you sure? The guidelines clearly state to submit once, not multiple times.

If you're in a niche in which all but one of the competitors are listed, someone has been doing an EXTREMELY good job!

There are a few categories that I have tried to make absolutely comprehensive, and I know how much work it takes, even in a subject where stability is an absolute sine qua non, and new entrants are constrained by real-world geography and economics.

I can't imagine trying to do that with something like business directories, since there are so many worthless ones out there (some solo spammers proudly announce starting multiple new directories on the same day!)

Rather than criticizing an editor for missing just one site, you should be standing awe of a (literally) incredible feat.

There is something much deeper going on here.

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There are some categories that could be considered Wall Flowers - they just don't catch an editor's attention. If an editor isn't interested in editing the category where your site should be listed, then your site won't get listed. It's really that simple.

I DO NOT like editing in areas where there is a lot of competition. As far as I'm concerned, if I can find one or two potential suppliers of a product I need in the directory - than I have no desire to go out and find (or dip into the pool and list) any more sites in that category. Other editors might - I don't. Not so competitive sites - hand 'em over, I'll find a home for them right away (or at least as soon as I have time).

I edit in the categories where I do because I want to - period. My choice of where I edit could be because of a site I found in an advertisement, or on a message board, or due to an update, or because the letter R appealed to me that day, or because that category was cleaned out and now needs more sites, or ........ And most editors edit just like I do.

I understand the submit once thing but you would think once every 6 months should not be a problem. Even the major engines allow for that. And as for the nich when your directory is highly targeted to only 1 city it is not such a broad spectrum that it should get lost in the sea of endless submissions.

The problem is that you keep compairing us to a search engine. This is a human edited directory meaning each submission must be manually reviewed by a human and not a spider. Therefor, every time you submit your site, it is added to the list of sites to review. Submitting your site again would either overwrite the origional submission with a newer date putting you further down in the review list or cause the editor to accidently delete both submissions while trying to delete submissions that were submitted multiple times to the category. Not to mention the editor who edits that category may have other obligations to take care of as well. Some editors here edit more than just 1 category. So even though there may not be a lot of sites in the queue for that category, the editor may be paying more attention towards another category he edits in.

You would be surprised. Picture all of the spammy "national" (or worse, "international") directories that are out there and picture your site buried in there with them, waiting for someone to pick through the junk to find the gems. Directories categories are rarely fun to work in.

So if your site was deleted and since I do not know if it was deleted or not exactly how many years should I wait before I can be fairly sure it was missed or deleted so I can feel safe to resubmit it ? would you say 5 to 10 years ? or just wait till I am in a rocking chair with a beard down to my feet.

If a site is deleted from the review list, it would normally be because your site does not meet the guidelines of the directory. There isn't much you can do here except to submit your site and not worry about it for a while so the editors here can do what they are here for. There are no gaurantees that your site will be reviewed within a certain time frame therefor we cannot tell you exactly when your site will be reviewed. If it is accepted then you will know about it.

Resubmitting your site every six months is really not a problem. Few editors review sites strictly by the date the sites were suggested so even the fact that the new suggestion overwrites the old one with a newer date isn't really going to make much different.

Oh well I guess that's just the way the mop flops. I originally applied to be an editor 2 years ago and was turned down which was kind of strange unless they just did not need anymore editors so I bult my own directory. Anyway I guess it will never get listed. I guess that's the way it works with all volunteers.

motsa said:

Resubmitting your site every six months is really not a problem. Few editors review sites strictly by the date the sites were suggested so even the fact that the new suggestion overwrites the old one with a newer date isn't really going to make much different.

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This is true. All editors have different methods to reviewing sites in the queue. I would gernally review the older sites in the review list first as well as sites that follow the guidelines. People who write really good descriptions for the sites they submit makes my life easier, therefor I tend to add their sites first. Then I would go back to the oldest to newest again revising descriptions that need to be changed or worded differently, etc.

Having an editor application turned down (once or a couple of times) has happened to some of our better editors.

It's really been a blast chatting with you guys but I have my own directory to run so I had better get back to work. Good Luck !

jonscomputers said:

Oh well I guess that's just the way the mop flops. I originally applied to be an editor 2 years ago and was turned down which was kind of strange unless they just did not need anymore editors so I bult my own directory. Anyway I guess it will never get listed. I guess that's the way it works with all volunteers.

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Sometimes you need to apply to become editor more than once. I wasn't accepted as a new editor on the first try. I applied about 3 times if I can remember correctly. Sometimes there are categorys that need an editor to develope them more than others, etc. If you really want to be an editor here then I encourage you to apply again. That way you can help make a difference as well.

I thought it would be nice give back to the community but I just could not bring myself to beg to be a volunteer. Got to go now ! and Thanks

Applying to become an editor here is not a begging process sir. It is a matter of applying for a category that needs to be developed as well as showing that your editing style matches the guidelines and you have the determination to make the directory a better place for people to find what they are looking for.