Is my site now acceptable?

Hello,

I am hoping that a meta editor can let me know if my site is now acceptable. I have studied ODP submission guidelines very closely--over and over again for the last 2 years--and have done my best to bring my site into complete compliance. However, to this day, I still have no idea as to exactly why my site was originally deemed unacceptable. I would truly appreciate some feedback concerning my updated site.

Thank you,
Sarah
www.essaytown.com

We are not going to do that in this forum.

If you believe that you have made sufficient chages to your site so as to make it listable (which would be pretty amazing since you claim to not know why it is unlistable) then resubmit and use the space for the description to detail the changes you have made. Then, one month later, come back to your original thread and ask for a status check.

spectregunner said:

We are not going to do that in this forum.

If you believe that you have made sufficient chages to your site so as to make it listable (which would be pretty amazing since you claim to not know why it is unlistable) then resubmit and use the space for the description to detail the changes you have made. Then, one month later, come back to your original thread and ask for a status check.

Click to expand...

Please, allow me to clarify. I have also spent a seemingly endless amount of time over the last 2 years visting Webmaster forums. During that time, I have asked dozens of experienced Webmasters for advice about what could be a possible reason for my site being deemed unacceptable by ODP, since I was never given a specific reason. (You are correct in that it is very difficult for one to correct a problem when one has no idea of the nature of the particular problem that must be corrected.) I have received dozens of recommendations and opinions, which I carefully integrated when re-writing/re-designing my entire site to hopefully make it ODP-compliant. I am just hoping that after 2 years of effort and study--and completely re-writing my entire site--I could receive some sort of guidance.

I have never understood this kind of behaviour. I always thought it was important for a webmaster to create a site for his customers/visitors. And time over time I see webmasters doing anything they can to get listed in directories/serach engines or to get a high ranking. When will they realise that if a site is interesting for their visitors it is also interesting for us and other directories. And not the other way around.

pvgool said:

I have never understood this kind of behaviour. I always thought it was important for a webmaster to create a site for his customers/visitors. And time over time I see webmasters doing anything they can to get listed in directories/serach engines or to get a high ranking. When will they realise that if a site is interesting for their visitors it is also interesting for us and other directories. And not the other way around.

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Are you saying that my site is not interesting, as far as its relavance to the category and students' research/reference needs? I am just trying to understand why my site is discluded, while many inferior sites are listed. Please, I simply ask that you compare my site to the sites currently listed in the category, and I'm sure you will see that my site is written in a far more concise, sound manner than all other sites in the category. I also offer far more information (1,000+ pages), insight, and diverse services than all other sites currently in the category. Can you can honestly tell me that I am wrong about these assertions? Please, help me to understand your reasoning.

Category:
http://dmoz.org/Reference/Education/Products_and_Services/Academic_Papers/Fee_Based/

It's already listed one level up in

Reference/Education/Products_and_Services/Academic_Papers/

though I think you have listed the category, if any, in which it properly belongs.

bobrat]Nobody said your site was not interesting said:

unique[/B'] about it.

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Thank you for your response. However, listed below are each of the one-of-a-kind, completely unique aspects of my site:

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1. After years of development, my groundbreaking editing and writing software is now available. It is fully compatible with Microsoft Windows and easily integrates with Microsoft Word:
http://www.essaytown.com/editorsoftware/

2. My tremendously valuable and truthful "Industry Warning" that helps inform and protect unsuspecting consumers from fraudulent and/or deceptive sites:
http://www.essaytown.com/warning.html

3. FREE download of my 24-page, PDF guide entitled, "How to Quickly Improve Your Writing":
http://www.essaytown.com/EssayTown_writing_guide.pdf

4. In-depth explanations and descriptions of all college writing features:
http://www.essaytown.com/features.html

5. Comprehensive editing service:
http://www.essaytown.com/editing.html

6. A currency converter for international customers:
http://www.essaytown.com/currency_converter.html

7. Convenient, PayPal payment option

8. Other companies offer customers only two (2) services, at most. EssayTown.com is the ONLY company that offers THREE (3) completely separate services for model papers:

a) "$26.99" (flat rate) service, through which I personally choose the best match available in the $26.99 collection, and personally email to each customer;

b) "search engine" service, through which customers may search through 30,000+ model papers (that we have written since 1998) with individual prices, read detailed descriptions prior to purchase, choose for themselves, and instantly download model papers at their leisure;

c) "custom research" service, through which a professional writer will research and write a completely new model paper that is based on the exact, personalized specifications provided by the customer.

------------------------

I sincerely hope that you will appreciate the lengths to which I have gone to ensure and maintain the unique nature of my company. Please also understand that my ideas/text are continually stolen by competitors, which makes my goal of uniqueness an extremely difficult, never-ending process. I am quite confident, however, that many of my new products (such as my software) are simply impossible for competitors to steal and implement. I also know for a fact that competitors are very upset with me for revealing all of their dishonest tricks and schemes on my "Industry Warning" page. I liken myself to the masked magician who reveals the secrets behind all of the "mysterious" tricks. All other magicians hate him, right? I receive several NASTY, threatening emails per week from disgruntled competitors whose deceptive practices are now out-in-the-open. I, however, have no problem with revealing the many dishonest practices employed in the college writing/research industry, because I pride myself on providing one of the very few legitimate services, and I have absolutely nothing to hide from prospective clients.

Please, I sincerely hope that you will consider adding www.essaytown.com to the following category:

http://dmoz.org/Reference/Education/Products_and_Services/Academic_Papers/Fee_Based/

completely unique aspects of my site

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Then you should check out some other sites that are using your unique content without permission

For example http://www.essaytown.com/warning.html

That same warning displays on http://www.a-plus-essays.com/

And the page style you use in http://www.essaytown.com/editorsoftware/

has been copied into https://www.snrinfo.com/essaytown/ - and they even used your site name.

And all kinds of places seem to be selling your groundbreaking editing software e.g. http://www.editorsoftware.com/ and http://www.write101.com/editorsoftware/affiliate_index.html - they even used the same graphics images as yours.

In fact every site that sells it gets tech support for the product from editorsoftware.com a UK based company.

bobrat said:

Then you should check out some other sites that are using your unique content without permission

For example http://www.essaytown.com/warning.html

That same warning displays on http://www.a-plus-essays.com/

And the page style you use in http://www.essaytown.com/editorsoftware/

has been copied into https://www.snrinfo.com/essaytown/ - and they even used your site name.

Click to expand...

Hello,

The URL http://www.a-plus-essays.com is my old, original site that I am currently in the process of phasing out. That site is not listed in ODP, so I'm not sure how that is relevant.

The URL https://www.snrinfo.com/essaytown/ is our "Custom Research" page, through which our "Custom Research" orders are processed by a third party company that pays me a commission for each order that I secure. You will see that that page is linked at the top of my home page.

bobrat]And all kinds of places seem to be selling your groundbreaking editing software e.g. [url]http://www.editorsoftware.com/[/url said:

- they even used the same graphics images as yours.

Click to expand...

Yes--that is our partner company with permission to advertise our name and product. Trust me, I do not knowingly allow unauthorized use of my site name or products. And, you will clearly see that no other site in the category has ANY of the features that I listed.

But Sarah, www.snrinfo.com is the company you worked for last year, at least thats what's on your resume.

bobrat]But Sarah said:

is the company you worked for last year, at least thats what's on your resume.

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I'm not sure what you mean. SNRinfo has provided my "Custom Research" services for years. Can you please clarify?

Sorry, must have confused you with someone else.

Look, this has gone far enough. There really is no secret here! You don't have to join a webmaster coven or sign dark oaths in baby's blood to get to the heart of the problem.

ODP editors (and STAFF, note well!) really have better things to do than (1) try to puzzle out where the real home for this content is, and (2) let on exactly how much of the maze we've already puzzled out (which is a bit more than you know, and we want to keep it that way for the next round.) That's why we have the submittal policy, which has some words about "submitting related sites" that you need to read very very carefully.

See what it says not to do, and consider what it says will happen when you do what it says not to do.

Then, if you want help cleaning up the mess, you can tell us what you did that you should not have done, and you can tell us all the places that you shouldn't have done it, and based on what you tell us, we can begin to repair the damage.

If that matches what we know. We're not going to play O.J. Simpson with you, with you making up a new story to match every tidbit of fact that we've ferreted out. Full disclosure, all related sites and the relationships, first time. You got yourself into this with the ODP, and you'll have to show some good faith with the ODP to get out of it.

Spend as much time as you need on the submittal policy beforehand.

I should mention that uniqueness is not in the aggregate, but in the specific content. We really don't mind listing a half-dozen unrelated sites, if they contain unique content. And we really DO mind listing one site, if all it contains is material already available at other sites. So by our definitions, you haven't found anything that is unique. Some of it, granted, is in the maze of twisty-little-doorways so that we had enough difficulty figuring out the real source that we gave up -- and so this PARTICULAR site of yours might be the real home for it. But ... we aren't going to ask editors to waste their time trying to track down attributions that are deliberately obscured (both on the webpages and in your posts so far here.)

Firstly, hutcheson, I want you to know that I truly appreciate the clues that you gave me, and I have read the submission guidelines once again. (I hope that this page will not be indexed by Google, because I really do not want to give my competitors access to such personal information about me or my company.)

I am trying to be as open, honest, and detailed as possible, so please forgive the length of this response. Despite what you may think, I am NOT attempting to "deliberately obscure" anything. I hope you don't believe that I would take two years slowly trying to get everything as correct and legitimate as my knowledge would allow, just to come here and attempt to fool people who I know perfectly well are experts in detecting every dishonest manipulation that I could possibly employ with EssayTown. I am fully aware that EssayTown is on some sort of "bad" list. We both know that if I were trying to "purposely obscure" my connection to a particular site simply to get listed, I could hire some random company to create, write, and submit to ODP a completely new site from top to bottom, which would display none of my familiar writing style, design, images, payment processors, order forms, URLs, etc. However, that is NOT what I am trying to accomplish. I would like to finally resolve the situation in a perfectly honest manner.

I have not always been "hands on" concerning all of the day-to-day operations of my company. About 18 months ago, I quit my full-time job and released 2 of my 3 employees so that I could take a more active role in advertising, expansion, and daily operations because I was no longer happy with certain things, for instance, EssayTown being removed from ODP. I now have only 1 employee, who helps me with customer service. I do know that the person formerly in charge of advertising was successful in getting EssayTown listed in ODP roughly 3-4 years ago. Sometime later, he applied and was accepted as a volunteer editor of the category in which EssayTown was listed. Apparently, he broke one or more of your editing guidelines, but all he told me was that he got kicked out (and EssayTown removed) because he unfairly edited and/or removed competitors' sites. That person is no longer associated with EssayTown. If he did anything else wrong, he did not tell me, so please forgive me if I am not admitting something else of which you ARE aware, but I am not. Oh! He may have also posted www.a-plus-essays.com, which is my old domain that I really don't pay much attention to anymore, but I am not certain if he did so. The same holds true for www.research-essays.com (another old site to which I now pay very little attention), but again, I am not certain if he did so.

As for any "mirror" sites, I am telling you, on the life on my daughter, that I do not have any other sites listed in ODP. The only thing that I can imagine that you may consider a mirror is my "Custom Research" page (https://www.snrinfo.com/essaytown/). If that is the case, please understand that SNRinfo is an unrelated, independently-owned company to which I outsource my custom research projects. I have done so for approximately 4 years now. I do NOT own that company, and they do not own EssayTown. They are in New Jersey, and I am in California. I do not work for SNRinfo, and they do not work for me. If you conduct a search with Google, you will discover that SNRinfo provides custom research services for many different companies. I have no control over their interactions with other entities. My relationship with SNRinfo is similar to the relationship that ODP has with Google. ODP provides content for Google, but ODP also provides content for countless other search engines. Now, does that mean Google is not a unique, standalone company simply because they have a working relationship with ODP, which, in turn, has a working relationship with many other search engines? Of course not. The same holds true for EssayTown. About 4 years ago, SNRinfo provided me with a certain order form, certain text, and a certain URL--I don't control those things. They host those page(s) on their own servers. SNRinfo uses similar order forms for all of the companies for which they provide custom research services. I have asbolutely NO connection to ANY other sites (if any) listed in ODP with which SNRinfo previously or currently does business. I have no access to edit the Web pages that they provided for my site. However, I can request that they make any changes that you deem necessary.

Upon reading the guidelines again, one other thing that may have caused a problem with ODP is that I have had a subscription to www.worldwidepromoter.com for several years. (This didn't even occur to me before, but a lightbulb came on when I saw the red text on the guidelines page.) That service automatically submits EssayTown to search engines and directories every couple of months or so. I now understand that such a service may be considered "auto-submission software." If that is the case, I can permanently remove ODP from its submission schedule immediately. Please let me know.

Well, I'm racking my brain, but I can't really think of anything else. I hope that I've provided the information that you require. If not, I will continue thinking until my head explodes. If absolutely necessary, I will attempt to contact my former employees to see if they have additional information. Please note that these matters transpired a couple of years ago, so my second-hand knowledge of exactly what happened is not only limited, but also faint. Unlike you, I do not have any notes available, so please forgive me if I am not 100% accurate in every minor detail.

Also, I'm not sure if you read the following features of my site that are absolutely NOT available through ANY of the other sites currently listed in the category:

1. Editing and writing software, fully compatible with Microsoft Windows and easily integrates with Microsoft Word:
http://www.essaytown.com/editorsoftware/

2. Premium search engine containing 30,000+ papers not available through any site listed in the category (other sites may have a "search engine," but my papers are completely different)

3. "Industry Warning" that helps inform and protect unsuspecting consumers from fraudulent and/or deceptive sites:
http://www.essaytown.com/warning.html

4. FREE download of my 24-page, PDF guide entitled, "How to Quickly Improve Your Writing":
http://www.essaytown.com/EssayTown_writing_guide.pdf

5. In-depth explanations and descriptions of all college writing features:
http://www.essaytown.com/features.html

6. A currency converter for international customers:
http://www.essaytown.com/currency_converter.html

7. Convenient, PayPal payment option

8. Other companies offer customers only two (2) services, at most. EssayTown.com is the ONLY company that offers THREE (3) completely separate services for model papers (which is absolutely unique in my entire industry, not just the ODP category):

---------------
Service A
"$26.99" (flat rate) service, through which I personally choose the best match available in the $26.99 collection (regardless of page-length), and personally email to each customer;

Service B
"search engine" service, through which customers may browse 30,000+ model papers (that we have written since 1998) with individual prices, read detailed descriptions prior to purchase, choose for themselves, and instantly download model papers at their leisure;

Service C
"custom research" service, through which a professional writer will research and write a completely new model paper that is based on the exact, personalized specifications provided by the customer.
---------------

Please note that other companies may offer a "search engine" and/or "custom research," but NO other company offers a "middle ground" service, such as my $26.99 service. In addition to my premium search engine service and my custom research service, my $26.99 (flat rate) service enables both fast delivery AND the same, low price ($26.99 in total)--regardless of the length of the paper! The papers in my $26.99 collection are completely separate from and unrelated to the 30,000+ individually-priced papers in my search engine.

I only looked at your first so called unique content item.

1. Editing and writing software, fully compatible with Microsoft Windows and easily integrates with Microsoft Word:

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Why is it that I can easely find dozens of other sites selling exactly the same software, and some of them using exactly the same text to describe it as on your site.

For the record, google indexes this forum agressively. I wouldn't say anything here that I didn't want the whole world to know.

No-one here is saying that your site isn't good. We're just saying that in the opinion of the reviewing editor, (and others who have looked at it) it doesn't qualify for a listing because it lacks unique content. If we really have to dig that deep for uniqueness, we aren't going to go to all that effort because there are hundreds of thousands of websites with great unique content that smacks you in the face with its value as soon as you visit the page that have not yet been included in the directory. As editors, we need to spend our time working on getting those sites included, not arguing about whether marginal sites are good enough or not.

I'm sorry if that seems unfair to you, but we need to make a decision and then move on. We can't possibly spend the time and effort to argue about every site we decide not to include. Multiple editors have independently looked at the site and come to the same conclusion. "Not listable according to our guidelines."

pvgool said:

I only looked at your first so called unique content item.

Why is it that I can easely find dozens of other sites selling exactly the same software, and some of them using exactly the same text to describe it as on your site.

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I am not trying to be arumentative at all, but why is it that you do not read my entire posts before commenting so negatively? I think my 2 years of effort warrants your 2 minutes of reading and understanding of the situation. Why do you keep focusing on the editing software and using terms such as "so-called"? You are suggesting that I am a liar, and that is simply wrong of you. Have you ever heard of an affiliate program? Nearly every company online that offers a product also offers an affiliate program to almost anyone with a Web site. Again, there are NO other sites listed in the ODP, to my knowledge, that are offering my software. So, how is that relevant to the ODP? My software is a unique service to the CATEGORY and to ODP. And, once again, the sites indexed in Google that DO offer the software have permission to do so via the affiliate program.

Clearly, you have not reviewd my list of unique features. I don't understand why you choose to ignore the other seven completely unique services on my site, which are clearly visible on my home page? I also have no idea why you are claiming that you have to "dig deep" to find unique content. That is simply not true. Every unique feature that I have mentioned is clickable from my home page. With all due respect, you are not fully apprised of the 2-year-long situation, so please just allow hutcheson to follow through on what he arranged with me in earlier postings.

"I'm sorry if that seems unfair to you, but we need to make a decision and then move on. We can't possibly spend the time and effort to argue about every site we decide not to include. Multiple editors have independently looked at the site and come to the same conclusion. "Not listable according to our guidelines."
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What you are not taking into account at all is the fact that I have completely re-written and re-designed my entire site! I have also spent TWO YEARS developing new, completely unique products/services/information that other sites in the category/ODP absolutely do NOT offer. I'm sure that you are referencing OLD reviews of my site, which completely defeats the purpose of my edits/changes over the last two years! Long ago, I was told to make changes and then return here when complete. I have taken great care in doing so and following instructions. I was also asked to be as honest as possible by Hutcheson, and I have done so in a previous, lengthy post.

Hutcheson, please help.