How do we know ?

hutchens05 · Jun 8, 2005

How do we know when and where our site submission is progressing ?

We have been trying for over 24 months to submit sites, but it would appear as though nothing is happening.

We re-submitted 6-7 months ago, and then were told to wait 6 months before trying again. And now we cant get any updates.

There is some fundamental problem with this setup.

(a) Doing what editors tell us appears not to work.
(b) Some of our competitors have become editors and have been able to list all of their sites in one foul swoop.
(c) No notification of success or otherwise is available.

We just dont understand the process, because we cant see it.

The lack of transparency in this process of site registration causes doubt and suspicion from your customers.

Do DMOZ editors want a relationship with web publishers ?

Are the DMOZ editors corruptable ? We have heard too many stories of preferential treatment for it not to be true.

arubin · Jun 8, 2005

hutchens05 said:
How do we know when and where our site submission is progressing ?

We have been trying for over 24 months to submit sites, but it would appear as though nothing is happening.

We re-submitted 6-7 months ago, and then were told to wait 6 months before trying again. And now we cant get any updates.

Who told you to resubmit? You could have gotten a reply in one month if you hadn't resubmitted....

There is some fundamental problem with this setup.

(a) Doing what editors tell us appears not to work.

The key word is appears. Since I don't know which site or category is yours, I don't know whether your site has since been properly rejected, or is waiting for the appropriate editor to process it. (I assume that, if it had been accepted somewhere, you would have noticed it.)

(b) Some of our competitors have become editors and have been able to list all of their sites in one foul swoop.

Unlikely. If you can name a specific editor who has done that, we will investigate.[/quote]

(c) No notification of success or otherwise is available.

True. I don't know that you are a spammer, but would you notifiy a spammer when each of their efforts are rejected, to help them tune their spam algorithm.

We just dont understand the process, because we cant see it.

The guidelines are published. How they apply to specific sites is not.

The lack of transparency in this process of site registration causes doubt and suspicion from your customers.

As is often the case, you misjudge who our customers are. They are the web searchers, and the other search engines and directories that use our data. Submitters and web site owners are not our customers.

Do DMOZ editors want a relationship with web publishers ?

I don't know. Probably not.

Are the DMOZ editors corruptable ?

Probably some are, and are removed.

hutchens05 · Jun 8, 2005

How do we know.

Thats all great.

But we have been waiting for two sites for an eternity

We re-submitted both last November and was given clear instructions to record the details.

9th November 2004

http://www.hutchens.com.au

http://dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/Web_Design_and_Development/Designers/Full_Service/H/

11th November 2004

http://www.meditek.net

http://dmoz.org/Business/Healthcare.../Disability/Home-Workplace_Adaptations/Lifts/

If I have to record the identity of the people who gave us the advice, I would have to go back through the forums to these days and look around. I am sure they are still there.

hutcheson · Jun 8, 2005

How do we know when and where our site submission is progressing?

You don't. There's not really anything corresponding to "progress" -- a site is either reviewed or not. There's no way for ANYONE to tell the difference between "an editor's finger is moving toward clicking the review button even as we speak" and "purely by happenstance, no editor will pass this way in the next year".

>We have been trying for over 24 months to submit sites,...

>We just dont understand the process, because we cant see it.

>The lack of transparency in this process of site registration causes doubt and suspicion from your customers.

Fortunately, this isn't true. We've NEVER heard of any case of a customer doubting or suspecting. Really. Surfers give us fairly uniformly high praise. It's only our would-be suppliers who complain -- that is, web publishers.

>Do DMOZ editors want a relationship with web publishers?

No. There's MUCH too much conflict of interest, not to mention "encentives for corruption."

>Are the DMOZ editors corruptable ? We have heard too many stories of preferential treatment for it not to be true.

Well, there's a difference between preferential treatment (which happens every time I choose one site to review and not any of the other 20 million sites on the web) and "corruption", which happens when an editor (1) favors his own site or (2) receives something to favor another site, or (3) takes requests to favor a site (whether or not something is received. "Corrupt" practices occur; there are several methods of reporting them if you see activity that seems to fit the pattern. And allegations of "corruption" occur every time some editor somewhere reviews some site not owned by the alligator. (Some people think this is the way to influence editors to review their sites more quickly. I don't. Abusers tend to forget that editors are human.)

There are many lies that are popular, because they serve some social or psychological need. So you cannot realistically "count" evidence -- you have to weigh it. Look at the websites of the people that are claiming "corruption." See whether they are honest personal or business websites, or deceptive doorway spam. That alone will tell you a lot about the ethics of the person -- and whether you would be advised to take their word about the direction of the rising sun if their own financial interest was involved.

gimmster · Jun 8, 2005

How do we know when and where our site submission is progressing ?

Due to abuse of this forum, this information is no longer provided.

We have been trying for over 24 months to submit sites, but it would appear as though nothing is happening.

'Appear' being the operative word. Provided you received the confirmation screen when you suggested the site, it should have entered the system. An editor acting on that may take years, and you will not be advised if the site is declined, you will only see it in the directory if it is listed.

We re-submitted 6-7 months ago, and then were told to wait 6 months before trying again. And now we cant get any updates.

You may have been told to ask again in this forum 6 months after recieving confirmation of the site being received. That's the only place 6 months has ever been used. It was not a guarantee the site would be reviewed within that time. If it was received, it should still be waiting, listed, or declined. There is no other state for it to be in.

There is some fundamental problem with this setup.

We don't think it's as fundamental as you do.

We just dont understand the process, because we cant see it.

Well, no, you can't see the details, but you can understand the process - it's explained within http://dmoz.org/guidelines/ .

The lack of transparency in this process of site registration causes doubt and suspicion from your customers.

Web masters / designers / site suggesters are not our customers. If you want to use the commercial analogy, they are our goods suppliers. Surfers and downstream data users are the closest to 'customers' in the sense you used.

Do DMOZ editors want a relationship with web publishers ?

In all honesty, it depends. Some publishers use the 'dump all sites we create into the same category, and let the editors sort them out' approach - them we could do without. Those that (at least try) to suggest the sites to the correct category, with a vaguely compliant Title/Description, yes, we like the 'relationship' they have with us. If by 'relationship' you actually mean 'continual dialogue', the answer for me would be "Why?" I've written designers asking for them to suggest sites to proper categories. Once they know what we desire, why do we need a continued dialogue?

Are the DMOZ editors corruptable ? We have heard too many stories of preferential treatment for it not to be true.

Are you corruptable? Being (presumably) human, the answer is yes, to some greater or lesser extent. However corrupt ditors are removed. One of the current stories doing the rounds concerns 'buying' listings. If a listing occurs because of such a transaction, not only can the editor be removed, but any sites associated with the payer may be permanently banned.

:tree:

motsa · Jun 8, 2005

hutchens05 said:
...We re-submitted both last November and was given clear instructions to record the details...If I have to record the identity of the people who gave us the advice, I would have to go back through the forums to these days and look around. I am sure they are still there.

Your old thread is not hard to find in the archives, though I see you decided you sign up for a brand new ID instead of using the one you used back then. In any case, you were told to submit one of your sites to an additional category, not resubmit it to one where it was already awaiting review. So, if you resubmitted to that category where it was already waiting, that was your own doing.

In any case, we are no longer giving status checks, period, so this thread has outlived its purpose.

How do we know ?

hutchens05

Member

arubin

Editall/Catmv

hutchens05

Member

hutcheson

gimmster

motsa