site not updated: nightmare for several months

Hi,

We 've been living a nightmare for several monthsq trying to update our listing as dmoz directory gives a description that we've never and never given.
We still wonder how smoz got such a description.
We've been trying several times to update our listing but vainly each time it gets back to the wrong description.
How can we find a solution.
We have a wrong category and a wrong description.

Please answer

SOI

The description for a website is based on what the editor sees when he/she visits the website. It will not list everything that's on there - but will typically point out what is unique. The terms used to describe the site are typically generic - they're nonpromotional and do not use any personal pronouns. Excess capitalization is frowned on.

When a site is suggested, the description that comes with it is normally deleted and a new one is written. I'm pretty sure that in the 3000+ sites that I've added, that there's been only one or two that I haven't rewritten.

Further, the development of the title and description is not a collaborative process.

Certinaly, we are willinig to listen if there are factual errors, but if it is a matter of wordsmithing or a differnce of opinion as to what should be mentioned in teh descriptin -- it is the sole discretion of the editor (who is often highly allergic to anything resembling a keyword).

You can suggest a change in the listing -- not here, of course, that's all taken care of back at the website. The "update listing" link will create a request for an editor to re-review the site (with a view towards the necessity for the changes suggested, or for other changes.)

Such a request is usually reviewed fairly quickly. Naturally, if it LOOKS like spam, and the current listing has no obvious problem, the request might well be quickly written off as one of the 90% of suggestions that are spam.

So, to get the most favorable review:

(1) Avoid anything that resembles hype or keyword-stuffing. The ODP editing guidelines are pretty good at describing an appropriate title and description: as are (in an absolutely negative way) introductory marketing textbooks -- avoid anything, absolutely anything they tell you to do, and you'll be perfect.

(2) Make sure any change requested can be easily verified on the website itself. The website speaks for itself with absolute authority -- anything else is just hearsay. (We don't know and don't care whether the "update" suggestor is the webmaster: the whole ODP structure is designed around the principle of "don't do anything for your own site that you wouldn't do for a competitor.")

(3) Remember, the intent of the ODP listing is to be accurate and objective: mention ways in which the listing (or site placement) simply doesn't accurately the website as it is.

(4) Remember, editors' decisions are driven by the guidelines, not webmaster whim or edict. If there are no ODP-guidelines-compliant reasons for a change, it almost certainly won't happen.

(5) Editors don't work on timetables, schedules, or priorities imposed from outside. We don't know when your suggestion will be reviewed (so of course you can't know either) -- just that for the sake of directory accuracy, many active editors give priority to update suggestion.

(6) Remember, there are many things in the world that ODP editors simply will not accept responsibility for, such as nightmares. It's your job to seek such medical help as necessary -- see http://dmoz.org/Health/Conditions_and_Diseases/Sleep_Disorders/ for advice.

(7) Worth repeating: all ODP incoming communications are filled with peremptory, accusatory, repetitive, blustering, hyped spam. Stand out from the main crowd -- be succinct, accurate, non-judgmental -- the sort of suggestion that seems like it might have come from the public-spirited netizens from which the ODP draws most of its energy. (And if it's too late for that approach and you've built the other kind of reputation -- write the ODP off as a lesson in burnt-bridge communications and go on. [Of course I don't know if the last applies to you -- just that it often does.])

partially agreed

Understand that when you see your web site with a description that you've never given and when this description is completely wrong, this is not normal.
I'm still wondering where the editor took this description.
Moreover, we agree that despite each update listing, the same wrong description is repeated again and again.
That's not good at all. We have just updated the listing I'm sure that the same unfortunateliy we will have to update in a couple of weeks again.

It is absolutely normal--it is REQUIRED--for ODP editors to describe websites with their own words.

I think I may have figured out part of the confusion. You don't actually "update" ODP listings directly. What the "update listing" link does is create a suggestion for an editor to re-review that site. It doesn't directly change anything. So the original editor's description (incomplete, insufficiently adulatory, inaccurate, or whatever) hasn't changed until some editor changes it.

Repeat: whatever you thought you were doing, you did not change the ODP listing. You could not. There is no way.

We still may be failing to communicate here. You may have been doing something unrelated to the ODP, and so all of our replies are inoperative. I am entertaining this theory because I don't know anything at the ODP that would act like you describe (that is, show your change for awhile then revert.) If you were really clicking the "update listing" link at some category at http://dmoz.org/ , then I'd be curious to know which category it was.

The difficulty we face is that there are large amounts of people who feel that the description is wrong if it does not give the impression of 'this is the best site to visit, ignore the rest!'.

There are a few aspects of the guidelines which cause the description not to be as people might first expect. The main one is that you do not repeat the category name or entry title in the description so if the category title is 'hamster farms' then the description should not include the term 'hamster farms'. If the title of the firm is 'Red Hamsters Inc' then the term 'Red Hamster' is also avoided. Hence the description may be 'sparser' than you would expect.

If the hamster farm wants to to appear a bit up-market and refers to himself as a 'diminutive domestic livestock supplier', he might also be disappointed in the description. What would be wrong is a description that stated the business was a 'Blue mouse taxidermist'.

If we take the situation is as you say, then you are trying to correct a factual description ('blue mice taxidermist') because it is incorrect (should be 'red hamster farm') and failing to get a result. There can be a problem in specialised areas where what is obvious to the specialist (you) is as clear as mud to an ordinary person (editor). It may be that your case is one of them (or not).

If you get no joy with the current update and want to correct factual a factual error, then you have the option of reporting it as a quality issue by filling in an abuse report (don't be put off by the name - you don't have to name an editor) which will be considered by senior editors who may have more experience. If it is a case of a lack of understanding by an editor, then everyone benefits.

You will not get individual feedback on the report but you can find out when it has been processed. If your description has been changed, it may take a couple of days to reach the public side. Note that all that is guarenteed is that another person will have looked at your case independantly and made a decision based on the guidelines etc.

regards

Based on the description of events, I am not sure the nightmare rider was even dealing with dmoz.org. And there's no indication yet of what "wrong" means to him.