http://www.molon.de/galleries/Egypt_Jan01/page_.ht

http://www.molon.de/galleries/Egypt_Jan01/page_.htm

Initially applied about 4 months ago in
Top: Regional: Africa: Egypt: Travel and Tourism
(note: this category contains a photo gallery site about Egypt)

Wasn't listed, applied again, then applied to
Top: Regional: Africa: Egypt: Maps and Views

Even tried writing to the editor one or two levels higher.

I might add that I have other country specific photo galleries which are listed in DMOZ (all with 150 - 600 photos).

I would like to know why site doesn't get listed.

I see your domain with the non-working homepage currently has six listings in the directory. From my point of view you should have a working homepage with navigation to these “galleries”. This way your main site could have “one” listing and the deeplinks would be abolished.

I do not edit in any of the categories you are listed or submitted to. It is only my “opinion”. I don’t like to see sites with multiple deeplinks when one “good” listing with a decent description could handle the entire site. Seems like the homepage could be intentionally left undone for this reason alone.

Re: http://www.molon.de/galleries/Egypt_Jan01/page

Us editors get naturally suspicious when we see someone submitting a deep-link of a site. It's the sort of thing that unscrupulous businesses do in order to get more listings. Having an empty front page with just a single link to the galleries ensures that we won't list the front of the site, just the deep-link so they get their advertising in more categories.

However, I don't feel that this is the case for this particular site. The deep-links all contain beautifully shot, well composed, high quality photographs of a specific area. I feel that this is one of the rare instances where deep-linked content actually enhances a category, and removing them and just listing the front page would be hiding a useful resource from our users.

Re: http://www.molon.de/galleries/Egypt_Jan01/page

Us editors get naturally suspicious when we see someone submitting a deep-link of a site.

Click to expand...

I agree with that statement. But this is what causes confusion to other submitters. Seems like an awful lot of time is spent preparing/submitting deeplinks but yet the main site is under construction - yes it does make me suspicious.

[Edited: Hmmm......Makes me wonder if the main site will ever be finished to allow for a listing.]

Re: http://www.molon.de/galleries/Egypt_Jan01/page

Well, there is no main site and frankly I don't know yet what to put in www.molon.de. It is a collection of seven country specific photo galleries, each with between 140 and 600 high resolution images.

I might of course put the sites under separate domain names, but that might break my budget. Currently I'm using 350 MB of the 500 MB allocated to my by my provider and bandwidth consumption and traffic are going up. I'm adding soon another 260 images to the Thailand gallery and will be creating Indonesia and Myanmar photo galleries over the next months.

By the way, the sites are non-commercial - they do not even contain advertising banners. I do not make any money out of this.

Re: http://www.molon.de/galleries/Egypt_Jan01/page

Scooter24,

I am not speaking “against” you or your site – but generally (you have some very nice photographs). My own personal “opinion” is that dmoz/ODP should not provide site navigation for a webmaster through deeplinking. There are many photography sites listed that could have literally “hundreds” of deeplinks if you started taking each set of photographs and their location into account. I believe it is the webmasters responsibility to get the pages found through navigation.

Like I said this is my personal “opinion” and maybe you just should call me a grouch <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" />

Dave

Re: http://www.molon.de/galleries/Egypt_Jan01/page

Actually I have a number of separate sites under my domain molon.de. Or do you mean that a site is not a site if it doesn't have a separate domain ?

Re: http://www.molon.de/galleries/Egypt_Jan01/page

It is really up to the editor of the category you submit to. Deeplinks are the exception rather than the rule, and deeplinks to sites that do not have an index page is a grey area issue. Whenever you hit these grey areas it usually lands on the judgement of the resident editor. Here lies the inconsistency. The problem here is setting a precedent. We already have so many sites waiting it makes it tough when webmasters submit multiple deeplinks to a site - we have to review every one of those submissions. The fact that you do not want to make an index page makes quite a bit more work for the editors. If we say it is OK here then we are probably signing ourselves up for a lot more work.

I have no advice for you here - I just wanted to give you my point of view. Please understand that this is just my 2 cents - do you need some change <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" />

Re: http://www.molon.de/galleries/Egypt_Jan01/page

If I were to list it, I would probably use this URL instead:
http://www.molon.de/Galleries.htm
as that page has all the requisite navigation, feedback info, and cohesiveness I look for in determining what a site is.

Re: http://www.molon.de/galleries/Egypt_Jan01/page

Actually I have a number of separate sites under my domain molon.de. Or do you mean that a site is not a site if it doesn't have a separate domain ?

Click to expand...

No, I am not saying to get several domains – in fact I would discourage this. My point and questions was/are:

1) Let’s say you are selling these photographs or are offering to sell them – wouldn’t this be a business? Yes, you have very nice photos that many can see for free – but if you offering to sell these photographs it’s still a business and should be treated as such in the directory.

2) Reference/Information/Hobby categories/sites are not what I edit in so I can be way off-base here. What my question was/is that a site can/should be deeplinked in several regional categories based upon the location of the photographs (in your case). And since a site does not have a homepage/index complete with navigation to list in a more topical category – should a site keep getting listings based upon this.

I should actually be asking this question to the senior editors in the proper forums but I do not want to leave your post to me unanswered.

Like I stated do not take my questions personal – it is obviously my lack of knowledge on this matter that is causing confusion.

I am waiting for a private reply from a senior editor on this matter – so hopefully it will be straightened out in my mind <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" />

Dave

Re: http://www.molon.de/galleries/Egypt_Jan01/page

Replying to your questions:

1. Nowhere on my site there is an indication that the pictures are for sale and in fact I haven't sold any. But I have had many expenses.

2. You keep talking about one site and deeplinks. If I had several different domains, one for each photo gallery, you wouldn't be talking about one site and deeplinks, would you ?
I could in fact set up separate domains, for instance www.malaysiaphotogallery.com, www.egyptphotogallery.com, www.portugalphotogallery.com - and so on, each with its photo gallery.
The Malaysia Photo Gallery alone is 114 MB in size and consists of over 2000 files. Many sites listed in DMOZ are a fraction of a MB in size and consist of a few pages.

3. I also have another site listed in DMOZ. It is dedicated to the Olympus 4040 digital camera and is under www.molon.de/4040.html. This site is significant - it is ranked Nr. 1 in Google for this specific digital camera and a number of keywords. Is it a deeplink or a separate site ?

4. It makes sense to list the travel photo galleries in the travel (or map and view) sections of the specific countries, because people (the users of the DMOZ directory) will look in the travel sections of the specific countries for travel information. If you create just one huge, global photo gallery site, nobody will find it.

Re: http://www.molon.de/galleries/Egypt_Jan01/page

1. Nowhere on my site there is an indication that the pictures are for sale and in fact I haven't sold any. But I have had many expenses.

Click to expand...

I did not say you were advertising the photos for sale on your site. I have noticed elsewhere you were posting of selling your photos and asking what you should charge. If you would like I can post a link to these posts of yours.

2. You keep talking about one site and deeplinks. If I had several different domains, one for each photo gallery, you wouldn't be talking about one site and deeplinks, would you ?
I could in fact set up separate domains, for instance www.malaysiaphotogallery.com, www.egyptphotogallery.com, www.portugalphotogallery.com - and so on, each with its photo gallery.
The Malaysia Photo Gallery alone is 114 MB in size and consists of over 2000 files. Many sites listed in DMOZ are a fraction of a MB in size and consist of a few pages.

Click to expand...

This is irrelevant &lt;&lt; Many sites listed in DMOZ are a fraction of a MB in size and consist of a few pages. &gt;&gt; and size does “not” come into the decision to list a site or not – except in extreme cases such as a site consisting of “This is my page” and that’s the only content.

3. I also have another site listed in DMOZ. It is dedicated to the Olympus 4040 digital camera and is under www.molon.de/4040.html. This site is significant - it is ranked Nr. 1 in Google for this specific digital camera and a number of keywords. Is it a deeplink or a separate site ?

Click to expand...

This is also irrelevant &lt;&lt; This site is significant - it is ranked Nr. 1 in Google for this specific digital camera and a number of keywords.&gt;&gt;
And yes, it would normally be considered a deeplink.

4. It makes sense to list the travel photo galleries in the travel (or map and view) sections of the specific countries, because people (the users of the DMOZ directory) will look in the travel sections of the specific countries for travel information. If you create just one huge, global photo gallery site, nobody will find it.

Click to expand...

Let’s be honest here – how much is the directory used as a search engine and how many times do users actually drill down to a specific category. And I do not agree if you create one large content rich site - "nobody will find it".

Re: http://www.molon.de/galleries/Egypt_Jan01/page

If I had several different domains, one for each photo gallery, you wouldn't be talking about one site and deeplinks, would you ?

Click to expand...

Actually, it is conceivable that one might speak in exactly those terms. A 'site' may encompass more than one domain.

Re: http://www.molon.de/galleries/Egypt_Jan01/page

I believe this is one of those subjects that are based upon editor discretion. As I have stated repeatedly this has nothing to do with “you” personally. There is no need for me to comment further.

[Edited: I would agree with wkallander on listing the site.]

Take Care,
Dave

Re: http://www.molon.de/galleries/Egypt_Jan01/page

The current status of this submission is that the URL is waiting in "Egypt/Maps and Views", which is the proper place according to the regional template.

So long as the site has content that can be painlessly and profitably usable by people who are not interested in your commercial services, neither the fact that you HAVE commercial interests nor the fact that it is a deeplink are absolute bars to its being listed there.

Editor judgment is called for. I've listed deeplinks of sites (and from stock photography retailers, for that matter) with less content than that, after doing extensive web searches to find what else was out there. I haven't done that in Egypt, so I can't comment on this site right now.

I can say that in the Adult areas, "photo galleries" must include at least 20 pictures. If you have significantly more than that many, and you have a reasonable presentation (so people can find the ones they're interested in: thumbnails, hyperlinked maps, and text indexes are all good), and the subsite focus well matches the category focus (as it does here), AND the main page ISN'T in a category in the same neighborhood, then I'd think the chances of getting a listing are pretty good.

By the way, it sounds as if you need to develop the main page to describe your photography services or products: that would be a listable site. And you can link to all the travel galleries as to portfolios. (A conspicuous but not irritatingly-blatant link back would not be out of line either.)

[Yes, I know, people who actually generate content have an enormous advantage getting ODP listings, if they only take advantage of it.]

Re: http://www.molon.de/galleries/Egypt_Jan01/page

I'm a bit surprised by your replies. Either we have been talking past each other or I am not good at explaining things (maybe the latter).

Concerning selling the pictures indeed in the past somebody has asked whether he could buy/use my pictures. But as of now I haven't sold a single picture and the site focus is still non-commercial - which basically is what I wrote. However selling the images would help to reduce my costs - the monthly expense of running a 500 MB is size is not low.

That the site is listable and is waiting to be processed, that's basically all I wanted to know.