Ideas for Helping People Get Listed and Get Status of Submissions

I strongly feel the DMOZ OPEN DIRECTORY project is a great addition to the Internet. I however, have not had any luck in getting listed. I have read many forums (here and externally) and all the DMOZ site instructions and still have not shown up in the listings.

I would gladly pay a fee for this service and would like to learn why this type of service has not yet been offered. It would seem to me that a donation of $50 should entitle someone to a 2 minute review and specific help as to why their listing is not being accepted.

A third party vendor could certainly setup a system based on this revenue model that would allow the directory to truly be OPEN. Let us see where our listing is "in line", and show when the last time an editor was able to review sumbissions for that category.

Most people feel that you must be an editor to get your listing posted - I'm sure this is not true but how many DMOZ editors are waiting 6 - 18 months without ever knowing the status of their own interest in a listing. And, if someone is going to be an editor would'nt they edit a category they know something about and thus it's probably an area similar to their own listings? I'm not worried about eliminating any chance of a conflict of interest but and 30 second email reply stating why a listing was rejected would help someone out in this area.

I think the whole concept of being "OPEN" is that you don't have to fear being banned for taking a reasonable attempt to re-submit after not hearing anything or seeing the new listing after several weeks not to mention after 3 months. The success of the Wikipedia seems to truly be based on this OPEN factor and seeing exactely who and what is occuring in terms of edits.

I think DMOZ has the highest level of credibility for listings and would love to provide the support either from a time volunteer or financial donation that allowed the organization that pay a leadership team to run it like an efficient non-profit organization.

I'm certainly not familar with all the politics and work that are ongoing with this massive project, but just trying to give some feedback based on my experience and observations from the perspective of trying to have my own site listed. I think Yahoo is charging $200 for a listing request in their directory just to have someone take a look at the listing request - it's no guarantee you'll even be listed. I'd certainly pay $25 - $50 for the same consideration to the dmoz open directory. I'd even be happy to pay for the status cheks that were discontinued not so long ago. Perhaps $25 fee to check the status of your listing?

One more thing, the terminology when placing a listing should include an example. This probably adds to many listings entered incorrectly. Site "Title" could mean many different things to peope - is this the company name, is it your home page meta title, is it just a title consistent with other category entries that show up as the hyperlink? Same for description - give 2 or 3 examples and I'm sure the URL submissions will come if formatted in a much easier way to handle.

Best wishes for getting the support you all need to keep the directory growing and thriving!

I strongly feel the DMOZ OPEN DIRECTORY project is a great addition to the Internet. I however, have not had any luck in getting listed. I have read many forums (here and externally) and all the DMOZ site instructions and still have not shown up in the listings.

I would gladly pay a fee for this service and would like to learn why this type of service has not yet been offered. It would seem to me that a donation of $50 should entitle someone to a 2 minute review and specific help as to why their listing is not being accepted.

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There are many reasons why a fee won't happen. To list a few of them:

* It's against our social contract.
* Introducing a fee would mean that a large majority of all existing editors would immediately leave the project.
* Allowing webmasters to pay for a review would, as you say, mean that the directory would get a responsibility towards said webmasters, which would instantly and fundamentally change what the ODP is.

A third party vendor could certainly setup a system based on this revenue model that would allow the directory to truly be OPEN. Let us see where our listing is "in line", and show when the last time an editor was able to review sumbissions for that category.

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There is no "line" so that is not information that is possible to get. The information about when a category was last edited is available at the bottom of each category, though that doesn't mean that any suggested sites were reviewed at that time.

Most people feel that you must be an editor to get your listing posted - I'm sure this is not true but how many DMOZ editors are waiting 6 - 18 months without ever knowing the status of their own interest in a listing.

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It's true that an ODP editor can check to see if a particular site has been denied or not. That information is however usually rather useless.

And, if someone is going to be an editor would'nt they edit a category they know something about and thus it's probably an area similar to their own listings? I'm not worried about eliminating any chance of a conflict of interest but and 30 second email reply stating why a listing was rejected would help someone out in this area.

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Two different statements here. Yes, editors tend to start out in areas they are familiar with. Some editors start out in areas where they have a listed site. (Of course many editors have no sites listed in the ODP at all). There is a potential conflict of interest here, but we do have systems in place to prevent that.

Automatic email notification is another thing that won't happen. When a site is denied inclusion, usually the site couldn't be made listable without changing fundamentally. In those cases where there are only minor things, editors tend to sit on the sites for a while to see if they change to become listable. Editors are strongly discouraged from making contact with people who suggest sites, and if they do, to use anonymous email addresses. This is something we do in our free time and it's not reasonable to expect people to expose themselves to threats or harrassment, which is all too often the result of email contact with people who have suggested a site. Besides, we don't know (or care) if it is the webmaster or site owner, or somebody completely unconnected with the site, who suggests it.

I think the whole concept of being "OPEN" is that you don't have to fear being banned for taking a reasonable attempt to re-submit after not hearing anything or seeing the new listing after several weeks not to mention after 3 months.

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Sure. Just follow the guidelines which allow you to suggest your site again, once, after a reasonable amount of time. The only reason to do this is in case a bug ate the first suggestion - this is extremely unlikely but technically possible. Once a site suggestion is received it won't go away until it's reviewed and either included or denied.

I think DMOZ has the highest level of credibility for listings and would love to provide the support either from a time volunteer or financial donation that allowed the organization that pay a leadership team to run it like an efficient non-profit organization.

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Well, as I said, you can't pay or donate. You are welcome to apply to become an editor - please read the FAQ in the "Become an Editor" forum and follow the advice you get there.

I think Yahoo is charging $200 for a listing request in their directory just to have someone take a look at the listing request - it's no guarantee you'll even be listed. I'd certainly pay $25 - $50 for the same consideration to the dmoz open directory.

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Yahoo do things their way, and we do things our way. We think that diversity and doing things in different ways can only be a good thing.

I'd even be happy to pay for the status cheks that were discontinued not so long ago. Perhaps $25 fee to check the status of your listing?

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No, that won't happen either I'm afraid. The status checks were discontinued for good reason, and won't be resurrected.

One more thing, the terminology when placing a listing should include an example. This probably adds to many listings entered incorrectly. Site "Title" could mean many different things to peope - is this the company name, is it your home page meta title, is it just a title consistent with other category entries that show up as the hyperlink? Same for description - give 2 or 3 examples and I'm sure the URL submissions will come if formatted in a much easier way to handle.

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That is a good idea. I think I've seen it discussed internally, but not recently - it's worth taking up again. Thank you for that suggestion!

All your suggestions are good for a directory delivering services to webmasters but DMOZ is not such a directory.

You have a big misunderstanding of what the OPEN in ODP means.
It only means that our data is available for everybody to use.
The directory is a service to people using our data, either directly on the DMOZ site or through one of the sites using our datadump.

The directory is not open for all sites to be listed.
The directory is not a service to webmasters.
Based on the fact that we don't deliver services to webmasters we will not implement a payed listing/review service nor will we inform webmasters if their site is reviewed/rejected. All these "services" are not of interest for the directory or for the editors.

Thanks for the feedback

Thanks for the feedback - makes sense. I'd still like to see something where you could enter a URL and see if it had been looked at, denied (and for what reason), or is pending.

See the FAQ for our reasons not to provide a service like that.

Thanks

I really appreciate this information that the editors have shared.
It gives me the understanding that there might be changes that need to be made to my site, plus a little patience.
At least it give me a starting point.
Thanks Again
Nancy