Link removed. Why?

A few weeks back I inquired as to why one of my domains had not been added. Without going into too much detail, one of the forum admins told me that it was considered an affiliate link site. Here is the link to that thread, if it is needed. http://www.resource-zone.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=status&Number=6393

I was not aware that the site was considered a link affiliate so I basically said I would try and make some changes to get that site up to spec.

Now one of my existing links from a totally different site has been removed from this category: http://dmoz.org/Computers/Software/Backup/Tape_Backup/
The heading was MediaMerge/PC

It was the second link from my primary US domain along with the home page. I also have a UK version of my site that is linked in DMOZ. This site is about 50% different from the US site, and I have all the duplicate content pages blocked in the the robots.txt. I do not consider the UK site to be a duplicate of the US site as it addresses a different market, but at the same time 1/2 of the content is the same b/c we are the same company.

Can someone please tell me why my second US link was removed? If you need more info just let me know.

Thanks

It was deleted because the main page of the site is already listed in http://dmoz.org/Computers/Data_Formats/Conversion/Companies - this was deemed a more suitable category.

I was given the impression from several people who have more than one link that you could have 2 links in DMOZ to your site? Was I misinformed?

Not precisely misinformed, but a bit unclear on the concept of "possibility."

"can have two links" doesn't mean "webmasters have blanket permission to place two links in the category of their choosing." (You will notice that the SUBMITTAL guidelines say, "Pick the ONE best category.")

It means "in some circumstances, editors are allowed the option of listing sites more than once, subject to various guidelines, accepted practices, and staff overview."

The second listing, just like the first listing, is at the editor's discretion, not automatically given upon request. Within topical categories, even editors will for most sites be trying to find the "one best category" -- so a request for a second category may very well result in the first listing being moved or deleted.

Ok I understand, but what about the case of larger companies who offer hundreds of products and services.

In the case of my second listing, it was a different product/service from the main listing with unique content. I could actually find about 20+ categories within DMOZ that address specific products/services we offer.

Does that carry any weight for getting into an extra category?

And why was I initially accepted into the second category in which I remained for several months? I assume that it was only removed b/c I posted in the earlier forum, and now I have to fear that all my listings could be removed just for seeking help/answers in this forum.

Your link won't be deleted for just posting, most of us don't work like that. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" />

Most likely your second lsiting went through because the editor didn't notice your site was already listed.

Your second listing probably was removed because an editor notice it was listed twice without reason.

And as far as I know sites don't get in 20+ times, even big companies, but I might be wrong.

hope that helps. <img src="/images/icons/cool.gif" alt="" />

Actually there are many sites in my industry that have multiple listings.

I just checked one off the top of my head, and it had 7 listings not counting its other country sites.

And as far as I know sites don't get in 20+ times, even big companies, but I might be wrong.

Click to expand...

I think that part of the problem is that there are (a great) many sites with multiple listings. For example
http://www.resource-zone.com/showflat.php?Cat=&amp;Board=submissions&amp;Number=6106&amp;Forum=All_Forums&amp;Words=smooth%20hound&amp;Match=Entire%20Phrase&amp;Searchpage=0&amp;Limit=25&amp;Old=6months&amp;Main=5713&amp;Search=true#Post6106

I suspect that many of the multiple listings date from early days of DMOZ, and may or may not be fair/relevant now. These will (probably) only be reviewed if readers submit details to a meta. (make that full details to a meta)

From the perspective of a submitter to a category, who may have no experience of other categories, then the assumption is that multiple listings are up for grabs if multiple listings exist in their neck of the wood.