Avoiding confusion with multiple unaffiliated sites

I am managing the domain administration for my website design company. Part of my job entails submitting completed sites to DMOZ for review. Each site we design is for a separate client. However, all our clients are similar types of businesses, so I have been submitting the sites to the same DMOZ category.

I am fully aware of your policies regarding affiliated or duplicate sites. However, these sites represent unaffiliated businesses - the only thing they have in common is the type of product they sell, and the fact that I am submitting their site to DMOZ. I would hope that an editor would not see these multiple submissions as spam or abuse of the rules for submission.

So - my question is this. Should I continue to submit these sites to the appropriate directory (some have been accepted in this particular Shopping sub-directory), or should I just submit them to the appropriate regional business categories, so each site is reviewed by a different editor?

I am happy to clarify with more specifics if an editor needs them. Thank you.

Go ahead and post the specifics here. There are way too many possibilities -- all the way from "sure, submit them all, pretty please" to "may you contract a painful debilitating disease that will prevent any further spamming activity."

But don't even think about which editor will review them -- that's something only the most devious of malicious spammers have any reason or motivation to worry about.

Ok, Hutcheson.

I work for http://www.bottlenose-wine.com/. The sites we have designed which are currently listed in http://dmoz.org/Shopping/Food/Beverages/Wine/ include http://www.67wine.com/ and http://www.garnetwine.com/. Some sites I have recently submitted to that category for review include http://www.bottleshop.com/ and http://www.merrittwines.com/.

You can see that these are similiar sites which all sell wine online. However they are not duplicate or affiliate sites, at least under the definition given by DMOZ in their submission policies. For example, the two sites I mention which are pending review are for two different businesses - one in New Jersey, one in Connecticut. Absolutely no affiliation between the two.

However I know that all these submissions coming from the same person to the same category might set off warning bells for a cautious editor. Should I be concerned that some of these sites will be banned simply because they are being submitted in such a pattern?

A quick look at a few of those sites made me think that they were very definitely different businesses (and I don't mean because of the site design), so I would list each of them, sure.

You have some good information on them that show the nature of each.

Hello, bottlenose
I will leave the answers for Shopping to the Shopping editors. I did take a very quick look at the sites you provided, and each appears to have a specific location. You are allowed one Topical suggestion and one Regional suggestion providing the sites meet the guidelines for each. I would suggest that you also submit the sites to the Business and Economy section of Regional where the stores are located. Start here and drill down for each site to the specific localities Business and Economy section.
http://www.dmoz.org/Regional/North_America/United_States/

This will neither help nor hinder your Shopping suggestions.

Thanks!

Thanks Alucard and dogbows! That is a relief - I don't want to waste anyone's time by oversubmitting. I will go ahead and make sure that all the appropriate sites have been submitted regionally as well.

What has been said looks reasonable to me also. Basically you're a niche web development shop. Existing businesses come to you to get a custom e-commerce page for their own products -- which they were already selling.

In such a case (or for a web development shop that focuses on local customers) we'll appreciate your submitting the sites as they are finished.

The local category is more valuable to surfers (and often gets updated more often), so please don't neglect it.

Our problem comes up with web developers who fill their spare time creating separate "independent e-tailing businesses" for each one of their pet guppies -- or for each size and style of shoe that a store sells -- and then submit each of those. So long as you can resist that temptation, you're a valued contributor.