banned??? how to know?

Hello, after reading some comments I'm beginning to think that there is a big big chance that if someone wants to give you a bad time, specially if is a company that do the same business as you do they can be not ethical and do whatever it needs to get you completely out of this list. How can I be sure of it? We have send our site only 2 times. The first was in February and the second time a few weeks a go.

How can I'll be sure?

Thanks you all

You can't, but you need more evidence than "My site hasn't been listed yet" to file an abuse report or even presume that someone is trying to keep you out. A several month wait is not unreasonable or unexpected. Review time can range from days to years.

It is also almost a given that if you are banned, you know it because you deserved it.

It is virtually impossible for a competitor to get you banned.

Any application of extreme defenses against abusive site suggesters has to be done by volunteers with "editall+" permissions. These people have obtained the trust of the community by tens of thousands of good edits, all across the directory.

The attitude required to do that much good work, without hope of immediate gain from each action, is so far different from the attitude of "betray community trust to stab one pizzley competitor in the back" that it's almost inconceivable both attitudes could live in the same brain. And there are only a few hundred editalls: it's highly unlikely any one would compete with any particular individual's business anyway.

Someone who edits only a single category, even a large one, simply cannot invoke the last ditch defenses. All he can do is ask an editall to investigate the webmaster's history of nefarious actions directed towards the directory or other volunteers. It's the editall who must do whatever it takes to protect the directory from abuse related to that site.

just looking for help, not for a absolutism

spectregunner said:

It is also almost a given that if you are banned, you know it because you deserved it.

It is virtually impossible for a competitor to get you banned.

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with all the respect you deserve, but how can you tell that we deserved it if you don't know for sure if what you say is true?... Please be objective, that is what we need in the forum and that is what my question (and everyone's else) is looking for.
My question is because I want to know if the dmoz system (or editors) could avoid that someone could bann you as an unloyalty and dishonest action to damage you, if there is no confirmation that you are really the exact person who is suggesting the site in a correct way ¿? I could imagine that some of you could think that it can carry on a little more work for the editor, but I'm very sure it could be the opposite way, it could give them less work because the petitions already comes from a confirming contact and there will be no doubt that it comes from anyone else, just the site administrator (checking domain site vs domain mail)....that could be just a suggestion.

thanks again to the rest of you for your answer

spectregunner is right. "The dmoz system" does not "ban" any ordinary person suggesting a site. Anyone is free to suggest any site (not only sites they own themselves).

I would think that there are some kind of defense system against automated submissions (aka spam), but I think it´s quite hard for the ordinary site-suggester to be confused with those kinds of abuse.

>My question is because I want to know if the dmoz system (or editors) could avoid that someone could bann you as an unloyalty and dishonest action to damage you

First, the system doesn't ever keep any editor from reviewing any website.

Second, the system doesn't ever keep any editor from starting a discussion about whether any particular site should be listed.

These are absolutely objective statements.

That doesn't mean every site will be listed -- the submittal policies say no site is guaranteed a listing.

But this much is true: whatever processes are used, no single person can keep a site from being listed. And no single person can keep a site listed.

...the policies say that everyone could send it...

:blue_arro

informator said:

spectregunner is right. "The dmoz system" does not "ban" any ordinary person suggesting a site. Anyone is free to suggest any site (not only sites they own themselves).
I would think that there are some kind of defense system against automated submissions (aka spam), but I think it´s quite hard for the ordinary site-suggester to be confused with those kinds of abuse.

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In the policies on "How to suggest a site to the Open Directory", we can find "Please only submit a URL to the Open Directory once. Again, multiple submissions of the same or related sites may result in the exclusion and/or deletion of those and all affiliated sites. Disguising your submission and submitting the same URL more than once is not permitted." So, my question is based on this part of the policies. If may say that if the submission could have sent many times, it could end in an exclusion or deletion of the site... And adding all of some others comments that I've read in this forum, I could think in the posibility of being banned in a dishonestly way if someone wants to do it.

I know that some others has been waitin a lot more that me (9 months to be exactly)... but I think is a good point of "discussion" in this forum so every of us could be more informated and also, maybe for some of us, to be more pacient and keep waiting for more time.

Thanks again to all for your answers!!!

Ban someone else by suggesting their websites?

You're welcome to try it. It's been tried before. It hasn't been tried often.

Why not? Well, it's a very stupid thing to try to do, because the ODP process is implemented by humans who might see through simpleminded strategies. Well, that probably doesn't stop a lot of spammers.

And it's a very risky thing to do, because there's no predicting how humans would react to irritation (some scratch the itch, some ignore it, some start looking for a cure for mosquitoes). Well, that probably doesn't stop all that many spammers either.

But there's a psychological barrier. To be a spammer you have to believe doing an irritating thing over and over again is the key to success. But if you have that attitude, it's hard not to think that suggesting a site over and over again isn't simply the way to getting it listed. And ... you might be right. A site MIGHT get listed before the volunteers are goaded into investigating the submittal abuse! For all you know, a site might get listed WHILE the volunteers were investigating the submittal abuse.

Focusing on what happens to a site suggestion is always a mistake. A site suggestion is a throwaway note about where one might find a relevant website--nothing more. What matters is the website.

What gets a site listed is the website, not a particular procedure suggesting it.

What usually keeps a site from being listed is the site itself, not a failure to use the right suggestion method.

Because editors are not site suggestion processors. We're website reviewers. And that's a completely different thing.

the most logical answer...

hutcheson said:

What gets a site listed is the website, not a particular procedure suggesting it.
What usually keeps a site from being listed is the site itself, not a failure to use the right suggestion method.
Because editors are not site suggestion processors. We're website reviewers. And that's a completely different thing.

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I stand up and take off my hat.... that's an objective and logical answer that gives relief and could make some of us to believe again in this directory.

So there will be no doubt on getting a site to be in the dmoz directory if the site is well done, of course, with out paying attention to the time that it takes.

Thank you!

lex_delphinus said:

So there will be no doubt on getting a site to be in the dmoz directory if the site is well done,

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It depends on what you mean with "well done".
We don't care about the looks of a site, nor if it meets any standards.
Content is all we care about.
The best looking site without unique content will never be listed.
The most ugly looking site with unique content will be listed.

>there will be no doubt on getting a site to be in the dmoz directory if the site is well done

I wouldn't say that. As pvgool mentions, a site is designed to do what its owner wants--which might not be anything the ODP could notice, or would want to notice.

And there's no guarantee of any set time. Will a site be reviewed within 2 years of its creation? Maybe. Within 3 years? maybe. Within 100 years? maybe. Within 1000 years? .... still maybe. But if not within 1000 years, then when? does it matter?

This much I CAN guarantee: perfection will not be attained in my lifetime. But there are a lot of people who, I believe and trust, are pushing the ODP in the direction of that mythical perfect directory.

unique content... is all that matters?... it should be

pvgool said:

It depends on what you mean with "well done".
We don't care about the looks of a site, nor if it meets any standards.
Content is all we care about.
The best looking site without unique content will never be listed.
The most ugly looking site with unique content will be listed.

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I'm agree. If you are a truth web designer and/or developer and really want to have a well done site, that actually is one think you SHOULD know: original content is the most important.

Any way, I found specially one site that today does not have relevant content and is on dmoz (maybe not for me, but perhaps for any editor was good content), in fact they received a penalty from google on the ranking because of misleading practices. I guess that penalty happened after they were indexed on dmoz, because I remember that some years a go was a very nice site.

Kind Regards!

If you find any site listed in the directory which no longer meets the requirements for inclusion, we would be very grateful if you would report it using the forum thread for that exact purpose: Report Hijacks, Dead Links, Inappropriate ODP Content ...

We have many quality control tools, but "Humans Do It Better".

Thank you for helping!

After two years that I had this chat with all of you guys (thank you by the way, was very helpful!), I can tell you that I’m still waiting to get my sites list on Dmoz. It has been now almost 3 yeas and a half since the first time I suggested the links and nothing yet….

We have helpful content, we have a great optimization on scripts and content design, we increase traffic, we are in first places on search engines… but … the editors still not getting us listed. And as you say, it’s all a human process, and I’m beginning to think that the category editor is having issues with his mail, or dmoz panel or… I don’t know… but it is incredible that in more than 3 years they can not get my links listed.
I have suggested them at least 3 times each year… and nothing…..

Is there something that I’m missing out?

Thanks in advance for you help…..again!!!

I have suggested them at least 3 times each year…

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You could be missing out on the once part of "suggest once" - although as mentionned above it's unlikely to get you banned, it is counter-productive as they overwrite, so it is more likely to increase the time before an editor reviews the suggestions than reduce it.

>>We have helpful content, we have a great optimization on scripts and content design, we increase traffic, we are in first places on search engines

See, that's the difference between humans and automated procedures. The things you do to pervert the search engines' algorithms ("optimization") don't matter to humans, and don't work on humans.

In fact, nothing you mention about your site is any attraction at all to humans. (Even "helpful" is a sufficiently ambiguous word that the truth-in-advertising laws don't consider it to have any controvertible meaning at all.)

When you use the Open Directory to find sites, you can be sure that those sites didn't get there by artificial manipulation of search engines--or even by being non-demonstrably-uniquely "helpful" to humans. And that's a REALLY good thing.

Of course, the Open Directory has a different set of weaknesses. Humans make mistakes, and humans work more slowly than massively parallel computers.

That's why it's a REALLY REALLY good thing that we have multiple views: each has its own strengths, and each cancels out some of the other views' weaknesses.

Elper said:

You could be missing out on the once part of "suggest once" -

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First of all thanks for answering.

Well, I can tell you now that it is all a great confusion then , because I have read post from admins and moderators of this forum and they have different opinions about suggesting one or more times, precisly because of maybe a problem with request sendings (mails issues... wherever).

And about

hutcheson said:

.... The things you do to pervert the search engines' algorithms ("optimization") don't matter to humans, and don't work on humans.

In fact, nothing you mention about your site is any attraction at all to humans.

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My logical side agrees with you if I attach to the guidelines, but of course, unknowing the procedure that has an editor to enlist a site, and how they judge it or considered it to approve it or not is what make me jump with this doubts. But either way, I tried to do my best on any aspect (technical, visual, content) for my site... so I still don't guess what can it be the reason.

So... let’s wait, hope for not another 3 years.

Thanks again for your comments B)

unknowing the procedure that has an editor to enlist a site, and how they judge it

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Try http://www.dmoz.org/guidelines/include.html

No, don't wait. Get to work, doing whatever it is that you do. And if you have done something to attract surfers (aside from all you mention you've done to attract search engine robots) then surfers will be attracted. (And some of those surfers may be link-collecting volunteers.)

But surfers are humans, not robots. There's no magic formula for ensnaring a human at this precise moment. Don't waste your time looking for them.

Instead, make sure that when humans come to your site, they can immediately answer the questions: what is this site about? what information does this site have that no other site in the world has?