Neglected chat room category !

Hi there

I recently tryed to get my site listed on this section of your directory
Top: Computers: Internet: Chat: Web-Based: Chat Rooms (55)

Since my site hasnt been listed im assuming that my site wasnt good enough <url removed> to get into this category, so i thought i would go thru the sites in this category to see what im up against, unfortunatly i was pretty shocked with some of the sites that are on this section.

The category seems to out of date, and full of sites with no safety advice and sites with little quality, i tryed to contact the editor of this section to give my thoughts on the offending sites, somone from digital point has pointed me towards this forum, in the hope of getting this section sorted, as you can imagine its frustrating to not get ur site listed, but then to find that the sites in section i wanted to get into are not even safe, thats very frustrating to a webmaster. I even applied to tidy the section up myself and attached the list on my application !

The main reason i am upset about this is SAFETY, i have put a lot of time into making my site safe for people to use the incidents of chat room sexual abuse from official sources is about 2 day so this shouldnt be underestimated, it feels like a bit of a kick in the teeth, to not get my site on there, and then to see all these other sites with seemingly no thought for users safety, there is no excuse for these sites to have no warnings or safety advice!

Here is the list of the sites in question i have removed the urls as i dont want these sites to get a link back from this forum !

Aok chat – No Safety information, Doesn’t even work !

Big bobs chat - No safety information, out of date hasn’t been updated since 2005

Blackboard - No safety information and doesn’t work !

Buzz chat - Again doesn’t even work and terrible site with very poor navigation

800 chat - No safety information Irc channel that doesn’t work !.

Chat Valley - Is more of a games are than a chat room, as the chat room isnt even listed on the links !

Chat Web - Advertised as a teen chat room with no safety advice and doesn’t even have a chat room, just links to another website with chat rooms !

Chat Attic - Awful site with no quality, and a clear attempt to get people to donate money to their chat room

Chatglobe - Not in English and no safety information, cant use it properly as there are so many pop ups on the site, plus the chat room doesn’t work !

ChatWeb - Decent site, but the chat room isnt even a chat room, its just a script that runs like a chat room, outdated probably about 10 years old.

English Chat - No safety information, doesnt have a chat room, and has keyword stuffing at the bottom of the page.

Fantasias place - No safety information and again doesn’t work, and just generally of poor content and quality

Fire-house58 - No safety information, outdated script must be 10 years old, not even a proper chat room, poor quality content,

Hip Planet Chat room - No safety information and site is corrupted as all the image files are missing

Joe Hollywoods Bang - No safety information, outdated script that simulates chat room activity, but isn’t a chat room !

Leahims Java Chat - No safety information doesn’t have a chat room !

Mikes2000chat – Hasn’t been updated since the year 2000, outdated !

Shophub - No safety information, another outdated chat room, not been updated since 2000

The Ultimate Chatting Zone - No safety information, awful site, cant even figure out how to use it, and really cant be sure if it works or not

Zinger chat - Teen chat room, no safety information, Very little content and what content there is its poor, also too made ads, and to top it all off the chat room doesn’t work !

Hope this helps !

Woc

there is no excuse for these sites to have no warnings or safety advice!

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Lack of warnings or safety advice doesn't make a chat site unlistable in that category, nor does the use of outdated technology.

I'm sure someone will take a look at the other issues you mentioned when they have a chance. (Note: it won't be me.)

Category

motsa said:

Lack of warnings or safety advice doesn't make a chat site unlistable in that category, nor does the use of outdated technology.

I'm sure someone will take a look at the other issues you mentioned when they have a chance. (Note: it won't be me.)

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Nope it doesnt and i never said these sites shouldnt be listed in the first place, however i belive i make some valid points that maybe could be taken into consideration in future.

Woc

there is no excuse for these sites to have no warnings or safety advice

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That may or may not be, but we are a directory, not the Internet police. It is absolutely not our place to try and enforce standards.

No responsible editor would even consider that as a listing factor other than, possibly, in determing eligibility for the Kids and Teens branch of the directory tree. Even then, that is speculation on my part.

We get this from time to time in other industries. A common complaint is that real estate agent X is claiming to be a Realtor when they are not members of the national association. We decline to remove the listing because it is not our role to police memberships. The same concept applies here.

We list websites -- that is really all we do.

Hi there

Yup u list websites, but u dont list all websites, so there has to be some criteria somwhere otherwise every site suggested would get listed.

You list web sites, i campaign for chat room safety, so i am certainly not having a go at dmoz, i am merely trying to make them a safer place to be.

As for the policing thing thats a complete red herring, there is a world of difference between making somthing safer and policing the internet.

If i said to u to you should make your home safer, u wouldnt call this home policing would you ? or goto the police to ask advice ?

Woc

Woc

Except that you're not telling us we should make our home safer. You're telling us that we should make sure that everyone else's houses are safer. There's a big difference.

Hi there

Well i give up now lol !

You are still listing the sites, therefore u are promoting them. i know you dont own the sites.

Does that mean safety isnt an issue with Dmoz at all ?

Woc

Yup u list websites, but u dont list all websites, so there has to be some criteria somwhere otherwise every site suggested would get listed.

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The main deciding factor is which sites have been pulled out of the pile of suggested sites and been reviewed by the editor, and which (if any) listed sites have been re-reviewed recently.

Please don't think that the current public category represents the state the category would be in if we had just reviewed every waiting suggested site, and rechecked every listed site against our current listing criteria. We get a lot of new suggestions every day, and only have a finite number of volunteer editors who offer to look at them, and check existing listings. There will certainly be good sites waiting to be reviewed and sites that do not meet our guidelines still listed.

You can help with the latter by letting us know about those listed sites that don't meet our site selection criteria (not that this does not include anything about requiring safety statements on chatrooms*). If, having read our criteria, you think there are any listed sites that don't meet them, please post details here, or using the "update listing" link at the top of the category page http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/Chat/Web-Based/Chat_Rooms/

(* There is, however, a whole separate section for child-safe links: http://www.dmoz.org/Kids_and_Teens/ -- and the K&T Editing Guidelines are stricter accordingly.)