Editor not reviewing site or responding to emails

We have been trying to get into Open Directory since February 10th. I have written several emails to the editor and have not received an email in return about the status or if anyone is even reviewing our website. Our website is
www . traveltranz . com and we are a Consolidator for Transportation in Shuttles, Limousines, Sedans, Buses, etc.

The directory we are trying to get into under category for:
http://www.dmoz.org/Recreation/Travel/Consolidators/
Top: Recreation: Travel: Consolidators (26)

We have been patient since February 10th and wonder if this is just something we need to end up paying for to the editor to get him to review our website since our category has many large players. If this is the case then let us know where to send the check so we can proceed with our business.

Re: Editor not reviewing site or responding to ema

Your submission is in the queue for that category, dated 29th May 2003.

It's no surprise that the editor in question chose not to answer your mail. I wouldn't either if a submitter started asking questions that quickly.

Offering bribes to get your site listed is a good way to make sure that no editor talks to you. Ever.

No I submitted every month since February 10th. I kept record of it. Also previously worked for a Hotel Consolidator managing their Web Development and Internet Marketing for 1.5 years in 4 countries and they are still not in ODP. Can you explain that?

Re: Editor not reviewing site or responding to ema

>> No I submitted every month since February 10th <<

Well there's your problem. Each new submission you make overwrites any previous ones you had in the queue. If the local editor sorts the queue by date (which is the default) you bump yourself down to the bottom of the queue.


I can't explain why your other site isn't in the ODP since you haven't given a URL, but if you keep submitting it once a month, I might be able to make a guess at why it's not listed yet..

I asked your editors about this before and this is what I was told to do since many categories do not have editors plus there is never a response from an editor whether a website is denied or if it just sits there for months with no editor. I give up on ODP and its system, it makes no logical sense. Lets look at the facts. In the category that I am submitting to there are over a hundred travel consolidators in the United States not listed in ODP. Are you telling me that NONE of them ever submitted to ODP in the past year?

Re: Editor not reviewing site or responding to ema

>>We have been patient since February 10th and wonder if this is just something we need to end up paying for to the editor to get him to review our website since our category has many large players. If this is the case then let us know where to send the check so we can proceed with our business. <<

Uhh, the above statement almost certainly is the kiss of death for your site ever getting listed.

Re: Editor not reviewing site or responding to ema

>Are you telling me that NONE of them ever submitted to ODP in the past year?

No, not that I can see.

Re: Editor not reviewing site or responding to ema

Exactly. None. How do I reach Corporate ODP and who monitors this editor for this category. Maybe I will get better results showing them the emails I have sent ODP over the past year requesting not just for my website but the Hotel Consolidator I worked for previously to be added to ODP which is being ignored including the emails.

Re: Editor not reviewing site or responding to ema

Easy to argue with forums like this: http://info.alexa.com/data/details/reviews?type=3&url=dmoz.org:80

Does ODP only adds large companies in my category and does not allow the smaller companies in? How can one argue that hundreds of Consolidators cannot get in ODP but all of the big name Consolidators don't seem to have any trouble getting into ODP. Conicidence or just plain ironic?

Re: Editor not reviewing site or responding to ema

There are two ways a site can get listed.
1) the owner submit his site to the category he thinks is most suitable
2) the editor adds sites he knows or can find himself in another way

Why are the 'big' compnies listed: most possible reason, the editor knows they exist. He doesn't know about the small companies so hasn't listed them. If such a 'small' companie will submit their site he will review that site, and possibly list it (you are not guaranteed to be listed).

About the editor not answering your mail. Probably he/she won't answer mails like most editors. I never answer personal mails myself.

Re: Editor not reviewing site or responding to ema

How do I reach Corporate ODP and who monitors this editor for this category. Maybe I will get better results showing them the emails I have sent ODP over the past year requesting not just for my website but the Hotel Consolidator I worked for previously to be added to ODP which is being ignored including the emails.

Click to expand...

Two points in response to this. First, as you are no doubt aware, editors are not employed by the ODP, they are volunteers. Editors are monitored insofar as if they violate the guidelines for editing, they may lose their editing privileges; however, not reviewing submitted web sites is not a violation of the guidelines. In fact, an editor is not required to review submitted websites at all (although almost all of us do, of course.)
Second, the way to submit sites to the ODP is by using the Add URL form. Sending email messages doesn't, and shouldn't, speed your inclusion.

You have been told that you are waiting among the unreviewed web sites of that category. This means that at some point, your site will be reviewed by an editor, who may or may not decide to list it. There is no telling when this will be; it could be today or in a year's time. I constantly find submissions from early 2002 when I edit. But that, as has been pointed out many times in this forum, isn't a problem from the ODP's point of view.

Hope this sheds a little more light on the issue.

Re: Editor not reviewing site or responding to ema

And to answer your specific question, because we don't want to be seen to be not answering your questions:

How do I reach Corporate ODP?

You send an email to staff@dmoz.org - this is the official channel to the actual paid employees and the editor-in-chief.

Thanks.

PS If you give us the URL of the consolidator you are referring to we can look and see its submission history.

Re: Editor not reviewing site or responding to ema

I dont understand why people argue about their site not being listed. The editors are humans, and they need to view each and every page of the submitted website. And they have to take care that the site is being submitted in the correct category, and that the site is not being submitted already in another category. And morever they are not getting paid for their work, and they too have their personal life, and they may be working somewhere else. so on an average i think an editor gets about 4 hrs to check the sites submitted.