Report Hijacks, Dead Links, Inappropriate DMOZ Content, and other issues here ONLY

#2521 is done. Thanks dogbows.

http://www.dmoz.org/Regional/Asia/China/Guides_and_Directories/

On http://www.dmoz.org/Regional/Asia/China/Guides_and_Directories/

1. How does http://www.chinacenter.umn.edu/ qualify as a China guide or directory?

2. In http://www.index-china.com/ China winning 2008 Olympics is headline news, even the ad link to www.a724.com does not work

A sure sign that it is a dead spaceship without anyone at the helm is that on http://www.index-china.com/index-english/environment-s.html even the ad links don't work. Three of the four links at the bottom do not work. The fourth, China Environmental Review, has not been updated since 1999.

3. http://sun.sino.uni-heidelberg.de/igcs/index.html
claims to have been updated on 1 May 2006. But as the last line shows he hasn't heard of Google. Click anyway on the search engine called Magellan to learn all about real estate in Ann Arbor
The page also contains a link to http://sun.sino.uni-heidelberg.de/igcs/igguides.htm (search engines and guides to East Asia) but again no mention of Google. Talk of Rip van Winkle.

Editor misconduct on Local real estate categoy

I cannot believe my eyes as to what has happened here. The following category was edited by an editor yesterday:

Top: Regional: North America: United States: Louisiana: Localities: S: Shreveport: Business and Economy: Real Estate

The editor has removed ALL of the agents' websites in that category except for 4 of them. I suspect that the editor is, or affiliated with, one of the remaining agents websites. The other listings remaining in the category are websites that do not pose a "threat" to the remaining agents' websites. What I find particularly interesting is that the editor made sure to completely extinguish every single agent that works for the brokerage, Realty Executives. I certainly hope you have an archive where you can verify this claim. If not, an archive from June 2002 can be found here:

http://web.archive.org/web/20020610.../Shreveport/Business_and_Economy/Real_Estate/

It is interesting that the archive from June 10, 2002 contains 22 listings while the current update from 5:11 PT, Wednesday, May 24, 2006 has only 13 listings. One must wonder why in the past four years the number of listings in this category has decreased when the number of agent websites in this area this as increased exponentially.

The aforementioned is just another prime example of corruption that happens daily in the dmoz directory. I've been trying to get my Shreveport real estate website listed in this category for well over a year, and it blows away most of the sites that are listed in that category. There is a rat controlling this real estate category, and he needs to be outsted!

Please email me at dennis_t@juno.com and provide me any additional information. I would love to find out the editor of this category. If it is found that this editor has some sort of motive I'm sure the Realty Executives broker would love to know about it. While DMOZ is an open directory and cannot be held responsible for such actions, this editor can.

I expect a rectification to this problem within a week. If no solution has been enacted at that time I shall publish an article concerning this matter to the worldwide RSS feeds. I have expert author status at the publishing firm I'm affiliated with, and my article will be syndicated all over the world once I release it.

Don't let me down.

http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Qatar/Education/

Official Site of MES Indian School, Doha-Qatar - title and desc redundant.

Qatar Education Reform Initiative - ditto...

Virginia... and Weill... both have quite long desc's. Also "and ivy league university"...


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Qatar/Government/

Electionworld.org - Qatar - redirects to a wikipedia site.

:: ICTQatar :: - weird characters in title

Ministry of Civil Affairs & Housing, Qatar - title/desc redundancy.

Ministry of Economy and Commerce - Qatar - Desc says ARABIC Only, but there is an English link.

Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Qatar - title/desc redundancy.

Wikiipedia - Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani - misspelling in title. This makes 2 wikipedia listings in this cat (after the earlier corr'n).


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Qatar/Recreation_and_Sports/

:::Qatar Fencing Federation::: - title/desc redundancy, and all those colons in the title.


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Qatar/Travel_and_Tourism/

Gulf Adventures - "Discover Qatar with us" - bad title.

Qatar Hotels & Travel Information Guide - an affiliate of World Choice Travel (WCT) (Check their phone #)

Qatar National Hotels - No desc plus root listed twice under Qatar/T&T/


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Qatar/Travel_and_Tourism/Lodging/Hotels/

The Haven, a self-catering holiday villa in Qatar - looks like bad title.

Qatar National Hotels Co. - this is the 2nd listing of such mentioned earler.



http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Qatar/Society_and_Culture/

Doha Indian Community - Classifieds, Events, Matrimony, Yellowpages, Network - title just looks way too long.

IBPN - Indian Business & Professional Network - title/desc redundancy.

Yahoo! Groups - Qatar - looks like mostly Arabic.


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Qatar/Society_and_Culture/History/

Qatar Dinasty - misspelled title word.

#2523 dealt with, thanks.

The Internet Guide for China Studies still has value I feel. Of course we would not list a guide to search engines that didn't mention Google! But the old list of search engines is an afterthought here, which has clearly been overlooked. The directory of sites relating to China is the reason for the listing here and that is being maintained. It forms part of the WWW Virtual Library.

#2524 - This is a matter of perspective Dennis. From the outside (and particularly to someone who works in the cut-throat world of real estate) the clean-up of this category might look deeply suspicious. Naturally you have visions of some dastardly competitor working his/her evil upon the listings.

From the inside, we get a totally different picture. The editor who cleaned up the category is a meta editor i.e. one who can edit all over the directory. She is one of our experts in real estate, but is not currently working in that field. She does not live in Louisiana.

She was removing dead links and sites without unique content, in condordance with http://dmoz.org/guidelines/. However if you feel that some abuse has taken place, then please feel free to go to the category http://dmoz.org/Regional/North_Amer.../Shreveport/Business_and_Economy/Real_Estate/
click on the 'report abuse/spam' link top right, and make a report.

dogbows said:

You seem to be looking in the wrong category. Real Estate agencies and agents are listed by the location of office, not where they market. Realty Executives is listed in this category and most likely that is also where all the agents have been moved for further review to make sure they comply to the very strict Agent guidelines:

http://www.dmoz.org/Regional/North_...ossier_City/Business_and_Economy/Real_Estate/

Click to expand...

Re #2524, #2526, #2528: They (Realty Executives) claim to have offices in both Bossier City and in Shreveport. If that's correct, the listing should be moved to http://www.dmoz.org/Regional/North_America/United_States/Louisiana/Business_and_Economy/Real_Estate/ . As for the individual agents -- no comment. However, a little study of the listings would show that someone deleted 16 listings, modified 9, and added 2. If you (#2524) believe what you're saying, you should investigate the 2, rather than the 16.

#2525 dealt with, thanks.

Issues: Web Design and Development: Promotion: Weblogs

I went trough Promotion : Weblogs in this evening.

IMHO, this is what i found :

1. Developedtraffic.com - Diane Vigil writes about web design, search engines and internet marketing.

Click to expand...

Not really posting the information in the description anymore. And the main purpose of the blog (look trough the lastest posts) is really general Internet aspects, not Promotion.

2. Online Recruitment Blog - Joel Cheesman's thoughts on internet recruiting and search engine optimization.

Click to expand...

Redirects to cheezhead.com

3. Search Gal - Thoughts on search engine optimization (SEO), blogs, and writing.

Click to expand...

The owner, Janet Martin, has announced that she moved her blogging place at www.janetmartin.ca/blog/.

Latest post in the above blog was 28 February, 2006. Maybe the url could be updated ? And the title too ?

4. SEO for Small Business - Helps small business owners understand the intricacies of SEO for do-it-yourself promotion results.

Click to expand...

All the content is scrapped from other websites, primarily from http://www.sebura.com (which i believe is the new place where the writer writes), and all the posts link to the ealier URL. All the other content on the website, represents some affiliate banners, some links and some Adsense.

Latest post : December 2005.

#2531 dealt with, thanks.

http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Yemen/Arts_and_Entertainment/

Culture - no description...

Yemen Gateway - somewhat weak desc.


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Yemen/Education/

The English School, Sanaa - listing denied.

Faculty of Science - Taiz University - page not found.

Sanaa University - redirects to a site with no English that I saw.


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Yemen/Health/

Ebtisama Dental Center - domain expired,


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Yemen/Travel_and_Tourism/Lodging/Hotels_and_Motels/

# Hadhramaut Hotel, Al-Mukalla, South Yemen - title too long.

Taj Sheba Hotel - actual site title refers to hotels in India. (?)


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Yemen/Travel_and_Tourism/Travel_Guides/

Yemen Tourism Promotion Board - I think this site belongs under T&T

#2533 dealt with, thanks.

http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Syria/Arts_and_Entertainment/

Abdul Rahman Mowakket - server not found.


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Syria/Health/

Al Bassel Heart Institute - "cinic"


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Syria/Recreation_and_Sports/

Jalaa Sporting Club - Aleppo Syria - just didn't see any English here.


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Syria/Society_and_Culture/

Dr. Abdul Kader Dakkak: Astrology and personal advice - saw no English here either.


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Syria/Travel_and_Tourism/

There are several guides sites here that I would think belong in other related cat's.


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Syria/Travel_and_Tourism/Lodging/Hotels_and_Motels/

Al-Rawda Hotel - expired domain.

Lots of "deluxe" hotels here, so the desc's say - are you so sure?


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Syria/Travel_and_Tourism/Travel_Guides/

Columbus Guides - World Travel Guide: Syrian Arab Republic - seems like long, redundant title.

Guardian Unlimited Travel - Countries: Syria - "maountains"

US State Department - Syria Consular Information Sheet - why is "Background Notes" cap'd?


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Syria/Travel_and_Tourism/Travel_Services/Travel_Agents/

Dawn Travel Agency - under construction.


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Syria/Travel_and_Tourism/Travel_Services/Tour_Operators/

Al Taer Travel and Tourism - looks like a hijacked site.

Al Tarek - title should be Megatours...

#2535 dealt with, thanks.

http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Saudi_Arabia/Arts_and_Entertainment/

Al-Rashid Cyber Mall Art Gallery - not found.

National Museum of Saudi Arabia - looks like all in Arabic.


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Saudi_Arabia/Guides_and_Directories/

About Saudi Arabia - domain expired.

AccessGCC - what are "GCC states"?

Phrasebase - not specific to S. Arabia.


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Saudi_Arabia/Health/

Liver diseases in Saudi Arabia and Middle East - listing denied.


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Saudi_Arabia/Society_and_Culture/Religion/

Department of Zakat and Income Tax - is this religion?


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_Eas...ah/Travel_and_Tourism/Restaurants_and_Cafe's/

Cafe's ?


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_Eas...ies/Medina/Travel_and_Tourism/Lodging/Hotels/

The first entry returns an error.


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_Eas...ties/Mecca/Travel_and_Tourism/Lodging/Hotels/

Hyatt Regency Makkah - page does not exist.


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_Eas...ies/Dammam/Travel_and_Tourism/Lodging/Hotels/

Sole entry page does not exist.


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Saudi_Arabia/Localities/Abha/Travel_and_Tourism/Lodging/Hotels/

Abha Palace - goes to general res. page.


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Saudi_Arabia/Business_and_Economy/Shopping/

Rubaiyat for Fashion - some kind of certificate required.


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Saudi_Arabia/Business_and_Economy/

Tech Wonders - keyword stuffing problem

Welcome to the Pizza Hut Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - another desc problem...

Alhamrani Group of Companies - another desc problem


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Saudi_Arabia/Business_and_Economy/Oil_and_Gas/

Ahmed Al-Humood Sons Co. - "Oil, Gaz and Petrolium "

Alhamrani-Fuchs Petroleum Saudi Arabia - another desc with hype problems...

#2537 dealt with, thanks.

GCC states are the Gulf Corporation Council countries. The site fits better at the Middle East level. We don't generally list deep links of directories.

The Liver Diseases site works for me, but fits better in the Health tree than in Regional.

Zakat is a religious obligation in origin, but I agree that this fits better under governement, since it is a tax controlled by a government department.

Rubaiyat for Fashion - I get the same note from my browser, but this does not invalidate the site.

http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Bahrain/Education/

Global Institute - goes to knet infocom

Management Consultancy Group - no content.


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Bahrain/Guides_and_Directories/

Bahrain at AccessGcc.com - a similar page was listed under S. Arabia and the root moved. The comment was that deeplinks of directories aren't listed. (That might include others here as well.)

There are also 2 US Library of Congress listings here.


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Bahrain/News_and_Media/

Computer Point - redirects to http://gbps.tv/


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Bahrain/Travel_and_Tourism/Lodging/

Sheraton Bahrain Hotel & Towers - should be listed under Hotels?


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Bahrain/Travel_and_Tourism/Lodging/Hotels/

HotelBahrain.com - I'm suspicious about this site, owned by free-game.com

Sheraton Bahrain - The actual site is (or was) under T&T/Lodging/ - this one should be deleted and replaced with the other mentioned above.


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Bahrain/Society_and_Culture/Personal_Pages/

Pearl Of Bahrain - unavailable.

http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Oman/Arts_and_Entertainment/

The Traditional Date Palm Culture in Oman - wants you to go to Nizwa.NET (Just noticed it's already listed under http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Oman/Localities/.


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Oman/Travel_and_Tourism/

Al Harthy Al Araimi Travel & Cargo LLC - can't be found. (should be in Travel Agencies anyway)


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Oman/Travel_and_Tourism/Lodging/Resorts/

The Chedi Muscat Hotel - takes you to http://www.ghmhotels.com/hotels/hotel_home.asp?hotelid=13&section=home


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_Eas...Travel_and_Tourism/Lodging/Hotels_and_Motels/

InterContinental Muscat - doesn't exist.


http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Oman/Localities/Muscat/Education/

Al Sahwa Schools - under construction.