Is there actually someone editing every cat?

Good morning,

This is my first post as member so be gentle

I've been developing search engines and directories since 95'. One of my first sites was NetShoppers and has been listed in the DMOZ shopping directories section for about as long as the category has been there.

My concern is that many categories and this one in particular is down to just a few listings of which many are dead. It seems to me that in such a competetive niche there should be a more comprehensive list of sites. I've tried to get several of my other SE's and Directories listed and ignored like clockwork. Don't get me wrong, but isn't a directory supposed to grow? And I know that sites "can only be suggested", but there is someone who ultimately approves submissions isn't there?

I've heard from many webmasters that no matter how good a site may be it simply doesn't seem to be good enough unless you're a part of the DMOZ good'ol boys network. While I've never subscribed to this theory I can see how issues such as the one above would make people scratch their head and maybe even stop trying to list their sites altogether.

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers all

Boiler plate alert

ODP is a volunteer organisation and editors edit where they wish, when they wish and as much as they wish within the constraints of their permissions. We have no system to force people to do work that they don't volunteer to do. ODP is not a free listing service for website owners and it does not attempt to process their listing suggestions within the time scales desired by them.

Some volunteer will volunteer to process your listing suggestion in time but we can't predict who or when that might be. Elapsed times can range from a few days to a few years. Please be patient.

> Is there actually someone editing every cat?
No. Atleast not if you answer the question as it is written.
There is not someone who is editing every cat.
But there are many editors who are editing and sometime in the future every category will be edited by one (or more) of the editors. The problem is, we can not predict when and who this will be.

stevenh said:

I've been developing search engines and directories since 95'. One of my first sites was NetShoppers and has been listed in the DMOZ shopping directories section for about as long as the category has been there. ...... I've tried to get several of my other SE's and Directories listed and ignored like clockwork.

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First of all you don't know if they are ignored.
Second. Did you read our guidelines.
"Multiple submissions of the same or related sites may result in the exclusion and/or deletion of those and all affiliated sites."
Several SE's and Directories owned and developed by the same person are certainly related sites.

My concern is that many categories and this one in particular is down to just a few listings of which many are dead.

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If you know about sites that are down please report them in the thread called "Report Hijacks, Dead Links, Inappropriate ODP Content, and other issues here ONLY"

isn't a directory supposed to grow?

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Yes, and DMOZ still growing. It is even the fastets grwoing directory on the net.

but there is someone who ultimately approves submissions isn't there?

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Yes, there is someone who ulitimately reviews the suggestion. It can be approved or rejected.

I've heard from many webmasters that no matter how good a site may be it simply doesn't seem to be good enough unless you're a part of the DMOZ good'ol boys network.

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DMOZ does not review on terms like "good". What is good? It is to subjective.
What is good to you might be bad to me.

I can see how issues such as the one above would make people scratch their head and maybe even stop trying to list their sites altogether.

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Hmm, people can not list their sites. So I don't see how they could be trying to do so. Maybe you mean that people would stop suggesting their sites. That is no problem for DMOZ. We use the pool of suggested sites just as one of many sources to find sites.

I've heard from many webmasters that no matter how good a site may be it simply doesn't seem to be good enough unless you're a part of the DMOZ good'ol boys network.

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In a twisted sort of way, this is probably the best advice you can get off the 'bad-boy serp perp' networks.

You don't have to be in the network, but you have to do something someone in SOME kind of good-people network would care about. Doesn't have to be boys, we started letting gurls in a long time ago. (To be perfectly honest, gurls probably INVENTED do-gooder networks.) Doesn't have to be DMOZ, there's lots more to human culture than just building the index, and editors are likely to delight in more forms of culture than you ever heard of. But you DO have to have something more in mind than pimping someone else's product.

So drop the serp perps and make some friends who do something useful--anything useful. And take the opportunities. You'll have someone in the mirror worth looking at--even if no ODP editor ever sees your mirror. It won't matter how well you pimp a product--nobody else cares about that anyway. But you may find there's something you can do well, that's worth doing at all.