Site deleted after eight years. Help

My site is an authority site which is eight years old and has 15,000 backlinks or more. We are expanding and I sent in a request to change my category to a more proper one. I found my site deleted after the request was made and my corporate site in it's place. One site is the store and other corporate information on other matters. Both familly friendly. The problem is the corporate site is new and has 15 back links.
To the piont:
I sent in another request to have the site changed, nothing happened. I then thought that something was going on. I sent in an abuse report. Still no answer. I then e-mailed an office ODP member, still no answer.

Well, you can imagine, important or not, I saw my site tumble in listings the day the site was no longer cached by Google directory. Call it unfair, but my business is at stake here. I have worked very hard to achieve top spots and I am not getting any sleep at this piont.

Famillies with children depend on me for providing thier fathers or mothers with a job. (not a joke)

......Still, no answer from anyone at the ODP.

Even if I did something wrong, I think someone should tell me about it, or suggest options from ODP.

It took me eight months to get this site listed in 2000.

Need some help. Any suggestions?

Well, you've sent in an abuse form, I would wait until the investigation has a chance to be completed, .

My first opinion, without knowing all the facts or having looked, is that it doesn't sound like an abuse case. Many sites that did qualify at one time, may not meet our criteria now. No site has a right to be listed, and we don't care about backlinks, it's not a consideration.

Also, the Directory lists or delists sites at it's own discretion, and an update request is just that, a request, not a collaberation between the Directory and the site owner. Some requests are granted and others are declined (when they aren't compliant with our guidelines)

Thanks for your comment. The case is closed and answer/comment/reply NOT given.
That is when I wrote to a general mailbox at ODP and still got no answer.
Just left hanging. Site has not changed. I have not done anything to trigger an issue or penalty of any sort. I just asked to switch categories to a more appropriate. Previously the category was managed by a person in the same field and most likely my competition. Now there is no editor for the category. No contact info or editor since then.

Dmoz controls Google, google is running the web, shouldn’t there be some kind of proper customer service for such a huge corporation. Google earns $10,000 a month from me in advertising and can't give me a directory listing due to a corrupt or misinformed editor. I think I will retract my ads. This is not fair.

Dmoz has to end it's reign or Google smarten up.

Is there any live person at DMOZ to talk to anymore? Should I start another case and have my other site removed because I pissed someone off. What about a new suggestion, that will for sure put me in the black book.

How am I going to get my authority domain back in the index?

DMOZ does not control Google and Google has no input in what DMOZ does. DMOZ and its editors have absolutely zero control over what the users of our Data choose to do with it. The only real connection DMOZ has with Google is that Google mirrors its own directory with DMOZ, but that happens infrequently and at random. Google search results are not dependent on the DMOZ directory, its not even clear how much importance, if any a DMOZ listing has in regards to a Google search return. You would have to ask them that. And without specific knowledge of the situation, generally there can be any number of reasons that a site would be removed.

needsomehelp said:

I have not done anything to trigger an issue or penalty of any sort. I just asked to switch categories to a more appropriate.

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Again just in general, I have not looked into the situation but this is a prime example of one way a site could be removed from the directory. If you requsted an update for the site to be moved to a more appropriate category, and an editor agreed that was needed (or if an interested editor was cleaning up the category and noticed it needed moved) then the site would be unlisted and sent to the new category for review. If the editor processing the request didn't have permissions in the new category, the site would go to the unreviewed pile pending someone who did have permissions. Its not uncommon for a site to be unlisted for a while, as it migrates to a more appropriate category.

needsomehelp said:

Previously the category was managed by a person in the same field and most likely my competition. Now there is no editor for the category. No contact info or editor since then.

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I really, really wish people would get over the myth that the only reason their site could possible be removed/rejected is that all editors who have access to the category are competitors. There may be one or more named editors on a category and its entirely possible that one of them has some vested interested in the topic. That does not prevent the other 199+ editors who can edit in that category from working there and the vast majority of them are not ever going to be "your" competitor. If no one is listed, then any of the higher branch editors or those same 200 or so other editors can and will edit there if/when they are interested.

needsomehelp said:

Is there any live person at DMOZ to talk to anymore? Should I start another case and have my other site removed because I pissed someone off. What about a new suggestion, that will for sure put me in the black book.

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You are talking to live persons, at least I wasn't a robot this morning. Your site will not have been removed because you pissed anyone off, that would be abuse and it would be dealt with swiftly and completely. If you have reviewed the guidelines and are confident that your site still qualifies for what the directory includes then you are welcome to resuggest it once. One resuggestion won't make you a spammer (if that is what you mean by "Black book"). Calling all the volunteers who have permission to edit in that category corrupt, abusive competitors isn't exactly gonna make them want to run out and work on the category either.

needsomehelp said:

How am I going to get my authority domain back in the index?

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The only thing you can do is continue to build your site to meet the needs of your customers. If the site is listable it will eventually reappear.

Dmoz controls Google, google is running the web

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Googles directory is a mirror of the ODP Directory, but the ODP has nothing to do with Google and has no control over it. I would check the ODP Directory itself, because Google doesn't usually have a current copy. Do a search leaving off the www. Just use mysite.com as the search term.

Google earns $10,000 a month from me in advertising and can't give me a directory listing due to a corrupt or misinformed editor.

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We charge nothing, it's totally free, and we don't work as editors for Google, and you are talking to a live person, unless someone has forgotten to inform me that I've passed away in my sleep, .

I think you have an issue with Google, not with the ODP, and you should contact them, . We're not Google, so I'm afraid you're the one who might be misinformed.

Added - Shadow types with all ten fingers, , better answers anyway.

Which one of your sites is listed is up to the reviewing editor(s), as is the category placement, title and description. The editor who reviewed your update request presumably felt that the other site (what you refer to as your corporate site) was more useful to our users. Editors aim to serve the people who look for information, they don't provide a service to webmasters.

Since the abuse report was closed, it means that there was an investigation. If there was no change as a result of the report, the meta editor(s) who reviewed the abuse report (each abuse report is usually read by a number of different meta editors) presumably didn't find anything wrong with the changed listing.

Previously, this category was managed by an editor that had similar interests. They are no longer there. You could suspect fowl play if there is no answer or direction given and site deleted.

Here is the issue.

We are expanding and a .ca domain and .co.uk domain was established to market towards GEO regions.

The .ca domain was listed under a regional dir. The .com was also listed.

I sent in a request to have the .com changed to another regional dir.

It is not against dmoz policy to have more then one listing. The .ca was deleted and the .com was deleted. Replaced with the head office site and not the store.

Both sites deleted and replaced. Still not in appropriate category.

Is there anyway to speak with someone who can straighten all this out. I feel that this matter needs attention. Businesses change

I also suspect if I ask to move to another category, the site listed will be delted, not to mention that the www is missing from the URL. Is that an indicator of something.

needsomehelp said:

Previously, this category was managed by an editor that had similar interests. They are no longer there. You could suspect fowl play if there is no answer or direction given and site deleted.

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Not really, given the fact that editors are discouraged from responding to inquiries from site submitters regarding specific sites and there are no automatic responses to site suggestions or updates. No response does not equal corrupt, abusive competitors.

needsomehelp said:

It is not against dmoz policy to have more then one listing.

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No its not against policy to have a Regional listing and a topical one provided that the site is sufficiently relevant to both branches. A site could also receive listings in the appropriate World Language categories, if it were properly translated (not machined) into other languages than English. However it is normally going against DMOZ policy to have multiple URL's (mirrors/fraternal mirrors)for the same site listed. We much prefer to list the one main URL to individual divisions of the same company. If a company chooses to break up its content over multiple domains that is their decision to make, but for the directory we will seek out what we feel is the main site and try and include it where appropriate.

needsomehelp said:

Is there anyway to speak with someone who can straighten all this out. I feel that this matter needs attention.

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What am I chopped liver? That is the second time you have asked to speak to a live person and several of us have responded. The only way to request an update to a listed site is to find the category the site is listed in and request the update. The only way(s) to have a site reviewed is to either suggest the site yourself to the single best category or wait for an editor (or someone else) to find and suggest it for you. Posts on this (or any forum) do not effect the processing of site suggestions or the speed of a review.

Shadow is a meta editor, needsomehelp, you can't go much higher than that. You can trust what he says as being accurate.

I want to thank all of the members posting. "chop liver" no, maybe "egg salad".

There are many data centers pulling Dmoz data. Directories for which my competitors now have an advantage over my authority site.

I have been fighting a no win battle for eight years.

Very frustrating. I really hope there is an editor for the category soon.

I will re-submit the site again, but I am sure the existing site will be delted.

.....Still no resloution ,and balding quickly.

By the way, I have submitted the site twice. Still not listed back or anywhere. This was a few weeks ago. I got two sites dellted because of the request. There really is no reason, but someone likes my corporate site better.

I do hope you have a real Canadian presence as the .ca requires (like .us, .fr and a few others) that the domain owner have a legal presence in the country. Otherwise the domain can be revoked by CIRA. (A physical presence is also required dfor a listing in Regional.)