Problem changing category of listing

DavidRed · Sep 13, 2011

My band has been listed on this site for some time but I have realised recently that it was set up (by me, in ignorance) into the wrong category. I notice several other bands of similar style have successfully been listed in what is now my preferred category (and none listed in my actually category).

About 5 weeks ago I used the proper channels of the site to request a category change, but have had no response and no change has been made. In particular I have had no reply indicating that my request had been considered but refused. I note and appreciate the comment in the relevant section that this change may take a few weeks but since we're now at 5 weeks ++, I begin to feel that I should progress the matter.

For the last 6 days I have regularly tried to use the 'feedback' mechanism, which appears to be the correct route to progress my interest, but on each occasion the 'feedback' page indicates it is 'temporarily' out of service.

Any advice as to how to complete what I believe to be a helpful, valid and appropriate update to my listing would be appreciated.

Thank you.

pvgool · Sep 14, 2011

DavidRed said:
About 5 weeks ago I used the proper channels of the site to request a category change, but have had no response and no change has been made. In particular I have had no reply indicating that my request had been considered but refused. I note and appreciate the comment in the relevant section that this change may take a few weeks but since we're now at 5 weeks ++, I begin to feel that I should progress the matter.

If a change is not processed there are 2 options.
1) the change is not processed yet
2) the change was not accepted - We look at the change and the given reason and than check if the site confirms that the change is needed. If the site does not confirm that a change is needed there will be no change. It also happens that people have a valid reason for change but at the same time try to write a commercial/seo hypened description. We might miss the real change reason and delete the request because of the spammy description.
BTW, You will not receive any reply. Not when we accept the request an not when we reject it.

For the last 6 days I have regularly tried to use the 'feedback' mechanism, which appears to be the correct route to progress my interest, but on each occasion the 'feedback' page indicates it is 'temporarily' out of service.

We are not aware of any problems with feedback. Could you tell us what you did (which page and which actions) and what the exact message you received.
BTW do not expect an answer to such feedbacks. Editors are advised not to answer questions from people who want info or actions for their website. To many bad experiences.

DavidRed · Sep 15, 2011

pvgool said:
If a change is not processed there are 2 options.
1) the change is not processed yet
2) the change was not accepted - We look at the change and the given reason and than check if the site confirms that the change is needed. If the site does not confirm that a change is needed there will be no change. It also happens that people have a valid reason for change but at the same time try to write a commercial/seo hypened description. We might miss the real change reason and delete the request because of the spammy description.
BTW, You will not receive any reply. Not when we accept the request an not when we reject it.

We are not aware of any problems with feedback. Could you tell us what you did (which page and which actions) and what the exact message you received.
BTW do not expect an answer to such feedbacks. Editors are advised not to answer questions from people who want info or actions for their website. To many bad experiences.

DavidRed · Sep 15, 2011

Thank you for your response to my troubling and puzzling question.

The 'feedback' problem is:-
I go to http://www.dmoz.org/ and search for 'cats whiskers barn dance band'.
The new page is http://www.dmoz.org/search?q=cats+whiskers+barn+dance+band and quotes my site (given as the 1st entry) as listed in category Regional: Europe: United Kingdom: England: Worcestershire: Redditch: Arts and Entertainment (which is no doubt where I originally set it up some time ago).

Since comparison with other similar sites (e.g the 2nd one listed, Woodsiders) and others strongly suggests that my site should be in the Arts: Music: Bands and Artists: C category I sent a change-category request via what was fairly obviously the appropriate route (though I forget exactly what this was, but it did talk about requesting changes, etc). After 5 weeks of no change I attempted to expedite my request via the feedback button in the top right of this same page. The response to this button is (and always seems to be) a new page with address http://www.dmoz.org/docs/en/unavailable.html and saying

Service Temporarily Unavailable
We apologize for the inconvenience while we resolve technical problems. Please check back in a day or two.

(and some more text)

I am however very pleased that through this forum and your contribution I am able to get further advice concerning my original request and subsequent difficulties.

Are you able to discuss my original 'change-category' request with me? If so -- here we go ...

It is apparent by reference to entries for similar bands to mine in the ODP that Arts: Music: Bands and Artists: C has been considered an appropriate category for those similar bands, and seems entirely appropriate from my own point of view. I would hence be disappointed and puzzled if it was nevertheless considered unsuitable for my own band (how is mine different?). Or perhaps I am too impatient - you point out the change may not have occured because it's not yet at the top of the list for action - but help pages suggest that 'a few weeks' might need to elapse, and I have now been waiting for 6 weeks.

Thank you for your help.

David

jimnoble · Sep 15, 2011

Where is your customer base

?
(I'm primarily a Regional editor, obviously)

Websites with a Topical significance are listed within a Topical category such as Arts.
Websites with a Regional significance can be listed in their localities.
Websites with both can be listed in both.

So, no need to change/move your Regional listing and you can additionally suggest your website to the Arts category

Added: I suppose the Arts/../C category is for folks wanting to hire a band beginning with the letter C

.

DavidRed · Sep 16, 2011

Jim -

Following your advice I have submitted the URL again, to my preferred category (Arts/..../C ), and after the description have added a comment to the editor explaining why this is in some respects a duplicate submission.

In answer to your question re. customer base, we live in the West Midlands but have worked across almost all of England, some of Wales and Scotland, and the very occasional trip to Europe (Denmark, Spain, France). Hence a tight regional category is unhelpful and restrictive, as you suggest.

I still get the same response when I click the 'feedback' button. While with your help I may now have sorted out this current problem, it is worrying that what should be a useful feature of the OPD system doesn't work - at least for me.

Elper · Sep 17, 2011

DavidRed said:
I still get the same response when I click the 'feedback' button. While with your help I may now have sorted out this current problem, it is worrying that what should be a useful feature of the OPD system doesn't work - at least for me.

To help us track down the issue, what is the URL you are using for the 'feedback' (ie. which page is it on) ?

DavidRed · Sep 18, 2011

Elper

All the details are in my post of 15/9/11 timed at 8.51pm. I can't think what other information you need. I have explicitly quoted the procedure and all the URLs, in order, that get me to the problem. Please advise if there's anything I've missed.

I'm sorry to report that I still have the 'feedback' problem as tested two minutes ago, and that my category change request (which I think msut be about 7 weeks old now) has still not been actioned, though I honestly believe it's the best, most appropriate category, and several other bands very similar to mine have been allocated my requested category. I am beginning to wonder at what point paranoia sets in.

Clearly I don't want to overload the system with repeat requests, but in the absence of a 'feedback' mechanism (which I hope will also feed back to ME) I seem to be very short of options.

pvgool · Sep 18, 2011

I have been seeking for a feedback function because I (being an editor) do not know of any such function.
I only now noticed you meant a feedback function on the search result page
http://www.dmoz.org/search?q=cats+whiskers+barn+dance+band
This must be relic from the past as we do not have a feedback function on any of the other pages.
It might be that DMOZ did have such a function in the past.
Contact functions have been running through this forum for several years.

motsa · Sep 18, 2011

Yes, it's definitely a relic from the past. (It used to allow general feedback to be sent to staff. I think it was working, though pointless since it rarely opened up a dialogue, in DMOZ 1.0.)

I'm sorry to report that I still have the 'feedback' problem as tested two minutes ago, and that my category change request (which I think msut be about 7 weeks old now) has still not been actioned, though I honestly believe it's the best, most appropriate category, and several other bands very similar to mine have been allocated my requested category. I am beginning to wonder at what point paranoia sets in.

As jimnoble mentioned, a site can be potentially be listed in a Regional category and in a topical category. You might not feel the Regional category is the best choice for you (and it may not be), but from DMOZ's point of view, it's not a wrong placement for a band. Did you follow jimnoble's suggestion: "So, no need to change/move your Regional listing and you can additionally suggest your website to the Arts category"?

DavidRed · Sep 19, 2011

I appreciate it's not a 'wrong' placement, but I have indeed followed Jim's advice and look forward to a positive response, as mentioned on my post of 16/9/11. I added a note to the 'submit site' dialogue indicating that to some extent it was a duplicate request (since we're already listed) but that I was following Jim's advice. I have had no response and my request has not been actioned to date ... it does seem very difficult to achieve a legitimate request ....

One of the reasons I'm anxious to achieve this is because I believe there are other directories which get OPD to do all the hard work, then just list the information taken from OPD on their own sites. It appears that to be listed on those other sites one has to be in the 'Bands and Artists' section, and that regional categories are not scanned.

Could you advise how long I should expect to wait for my request to be actioned? I'm already up to over 7 weeks, I think. If it doesn't get actioned in that time is it legitimate for me to complain (how?) on the basis that other comparable and competing bands have achieved what I want to do but OPD won't listen to me personally? Or is this really the onset of my paranioa?

pvgool · Sep 19, 2011

> Could you advise how long I should expect to wait for my request to be actioned?
Sorry, that is something we can not tell. Not because we do not want to tell but because we do not know.
Time between suggestion of a website and it being reviewed can vary between a few days and several years.

> If it doesn't get actioned in that time is it legitimate for me to complain (how?)
No. There is just nothing to complain about as DMOZ never promised to review a website within a certain timeframe.

jimnoble · Sep 19, 2011

David,

We're just a bunch of hobbyists here building a directory for the pleasure (and challenge) of it. We have no influence over how other websites treat our freely available data.

Some volunteer will process your new 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. We don't promise to list every website and we probably haven't even looked at the huge majority of what must be several hundred million websites out there.

We don't attempt to provide any kind of service to website owners and we don't list every website. There's been no sign of editorial abuse in your case so I'm not sure what you'd want to complain about. You'll understand why we can't give you priority treatment - we'd be deluged here if we did.

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