My Site Was Deleted

After much work getting listed on ODP, I finally made the cut. My Site http://www.Label-Exchange.com was listed for about 4 months. Last Friday, 9-6-02, my site was still listed, but when I came in on Monday, I noticed that my site had been deleted. Can anyone let me know what happened, and how I can get my site relisted.

Thanks,

It appears to have been deleted because it is a mirror of http://www.stickersexchange.com/ which was previously listed. It also appears that http://www.stickersexchange.com/ was also deleted for being a mirror of http://www.Label-Exchange.com/ . You need to decide which of the two you would like listed and not submit the mirror as it can lead to problems like this -- Foe

Oh my goodness, you are right. These sites are both mine and very similar. One site sells Labels and the other sells Stickers, which are essentially the same. I just re-submitted both sites yesterday and again today. After reading this forum, I now know this is a no no. What can I do to get either of my sites re-listed, preferably http://www.StickersExchange.com, but would definately be happy with http://www.label-exchange.com.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[insert here the faint sound of a very very tiny bit of sympathy being extended]

You know, the submittal guidelines are not just for editor convenience. They are for your own protection. You blatantly broke them, the editors got a wee bit careless, and the site went into limbo.

I saw another similar case yesterday. Some pest submitted their site a dozen or so times. I deleted it eleven or so times (with some other spam, and a note saying in effect "mass delete of duplicate submittals, inappropriate deeplinks, notorious spam, etc." I passed the last submittal on to something near the correct category. An experienced editor saw the note on the site -- eleven times -- and deleted the last copy with a note "see above."

Whose fault was that? Mine, for using a somewhat generic note on the 2000 or so spam submittals I deleted this weekend? (I do not accept that!) The other editors, for misinterpreting a somewhat cryptic note, in the process of dealing with what was doubtless a whole passel of spam in their categories?

Or ... the submitter: for doing what the guidelines plainly say not to do?

And who is hurt most?

From the outside, you don't see the amount of effort spent to try to find every deserving site a home somewhere. And especially with inexperienced editors, sites get dropped that could have been shuffled around to a good home. (From the outside, you don't see the experienced editors ranting in the forums about that very thing!)

We'll lean over backwards, especially for submittals from the "great unwashed public." But the professional SERP perps among you are really committing negligent malpractice when you make these kinds of mistakes -- you are causing your own clients trouble. It will be worth your while to know not only the submittal guidelines, but also the editor guidelines. Your clients will be better served to be told why they can't be listed in the ODP than to be foisted off with false promises or irrelevant anecdotes.

Well, that's the sermon for today. Most submittal damage can be repaired, with acts of contrition and the help of sympathetic editors. Go forth and sin no more.

1 hail Mary
2 hail Mary
3 hail Mary

Forgiven???????

I've undone some of the damage; the Stickers Exchange site is now listed in one of the categories where it used to be, and I've left notes to try to prevent this confusion for happening again.

I'm not sure where all you've submitted your site; it has been found in the unreviewed queue of some really off-topic categories like http://dmoz.org/Arts/Music/Bands_and_Artists/S . Stop doing that, please -- Foe

I promise I will stop doing that. I would like to thank you for your time.

I have been thinking about re-doing my Label Exchange page. If I make it a completly different page with no reference to Stickers Ecchange, am I allowed to resubmit?

Do I hear this right? You want to modify your second site a little and get both sites listed again? I think that is asking waaaay too much. From what I have seen of the editor notes and the details in this thread, you were lucky that a conscienscous editor has managed to get one site relisted. I don't think you can hope for more. I have also noted that the off-topic category submissions very nearly sunk your relisting at all. Please can you confirm if this is your intention, or whether I misinterpreted it?


[General Note - 'cus this isn't the first time this has been asked this week] What is it with people that want to spread their content over several domain names in the vain hope they can have multiple listings in the ODP? Why not build one great site that has everything, then submit it to the one best category that it fits into?

WOW!

What's with all this anger? Some of us are still learning. I was asking a simple question, not trying to pull the wool over anyone's eyes. I think there are many people who would like answers to questions like this, but with reactions like yours, they are certainly afraid to ask. This is a forum for asking questions isn't it? I wanted to ask before I leaped this time, so as not to offend. You know Hutcheson's response was firm but funny, your response is just plain mean.

Please accept my apology for being stupid.

Hi Matt,

First of all, thanks for coming to this forum.

The public is very important for us, and concerns, such as yours, are very welcomed here.

However, with limited editorial abilities, we are dealing often with lack of manpower, and overload. Therefore, we try to put the important guidelines into a document, and we hope that in this way we will save some amount of time that could be used in order to increase our productivity.

One such document is http://dmoz.org/add.html .

>> Do not submit URLs that contain only the same or similar content as other sites you may have listed in the directory. Sites with overlapping and repetitive content are not helpful to users of the directory. Multiple submissions of the same or related sites may result in the exclusion and/or deletion of those and all affiliated sites. <<

Speaking about your problems and concerns is very interesting, and probably if your questions weren't already addressed in similar places, as well as official documents, probably you would have received more diplomatic advices.

But I can't blame hard-working, volunteer editors that donate their free time to help us fight spam, that process up to 200 submissions per day just because they believe in ODP's ideals, that already mentor their collegues and must keep up also with the internal editorial forum, for been a little angry when hundreds of URLs are submitted in the whole directory without even reading the submission guidelines.

I'm sorry if comments above offended you, but we simply can't do more. The quoted message above is already displayed on http://dmoz.org/add.html , and I can't think of a more important place to add it. If submitters can't work with us by reading a simple document in order to improve the speed on which we list their sites, I'm afraid that comments like the one specified in this thread are unavoidable.

Thanks for letting us know your concerns, and we'll work in the future in order to find even better ways to address them.

Thank you again,
vladd.

Just keep in mind that the editors do write the submission guidelines for each category for a reason, and that's not to be ignored. This also applies to any other submitter who may be browsing this forum as well.

When submitting a site, it's a very good idea to read both the general submission guidelines, and the category-specific guidelines. This does involve reading a significant amount of text, but it does ease the pain for both the submitter and the editor if they are read and followed.

Editors have short fuses sometimes but they must be forgiven
for they carry a heavy load.

Hmm... That comment makes me wonder if you're an editor...

For once! Somone from the outside world understands!!! <img src="/images/icons/grin.gif" alt="" />