status: www.halifax-nova-scotia-real-estate.com

Hello,

The following web site www.halifax-nova-scotia-real-estate.com was listed on DMOZ for almost a year now it is gone. I am the webmaster and was going to write that the agent on it had changed but noticed the site was removed from DMOZ. I was hoping to find out what happened.
Thank you,
Webbie

Re: status: www.halifax-nova-scotia-real-estate.co

Removed. The ODP no longer lists "lead generator" sites. A site must provide information to visitors in order to be listed; it is not enough for it to gather information from visitors, even if it promises to provide some information to them later.

This rule was put in place because of the enormous potential for abuse -- not in the use of that gathered information, which is out of our control to review, but of mass alias-URL spamming: that is, multiple sites gathering information for the same webmaster.

As usual when the ODP policies are tightened up, first you see a delay in listing new sites of that kind as people try to figure out how to deal with the problems, then you see new submittals being rejected wholesale, and finally older sites begin to get removed. (There is no "grandfathered right to permanency in an ODP listing.) Having personally dealt with some of these problems, I'm happy to see progress in that third step.

Re: status: www.halifax-nova-scotia-real-estate.co

Hi,

Thanks for responding. The site does feature a lot of useful information. See http://www.halifax-nova-scotia-real-estate.com/halifax.html
Also, the site is not a generator site. The agent is a buyer's agent (which means they do not have property listings). This is the agent's site and I can't figure out why it should be removed suddenly.
Thanks for your help.

Re: status: www.halifax-nova-scotia-real-estate.co

No offense intended but that page is not exactly a good example of "a lot of useful information" since it offers only a very small amount of regurgitated tourism information that just about every Halifax-related site has. I presume that one would get some useful information after submitting the form but that is what makes it a lead generator, not a useful site. The rest of the information on the site is so generic as to be inconsequential for a Halifax listing.

The agent in question has his own site which is already listed.

Re: status: www.halifax-nova-scotia-real-estate.co

[edited out]

Re: status: www.halifax-nova-scotia-real-estate.co

Your wrote:
"No offense intended but that page is not exactly a good example of "a lot of useful information" since it offers only a very small amount of regurgitated tourism information that just about every Halifax-related site has. I presume that one would get some useful information after submitting the form but that is what makes it a lead generator, not a useful site. The rest of the information on the site is so generic as to be inconsequential for a Halifax listing.

The agent in question has his own site which is already listed."

The content on the site is developing. The agents that are listed deal with the leads and information provided on the site. We are working to develop more content. In order to be reconsidered what would be required. My goal is to create an excellent resource for those looking to buy or sell a home in Halifax.
I didn't realize that agent already had a site listed on DMOZ. I hope that the site can still be listed once it has more content. Also, other agents wish to be listed on the site, who have listings to show at that point can the site be listed? Thank you for your comments. I am not offended and see them as a way to improve.

Re: status: www.halifax-nova-scotia-real-estate.co

>> In order to be reconsidered what would be required. <<

Simple, add lots of unique content.

The content must be on the site, not mailed to the user after a form is filled in, or inside a 'members' area, or 'available on request'. The user should be able to go directly to the content.

Copying text from tourist information brochures would not count as content. You'll have to write something unique and useful to be considered for a listing.

Re: status: www.halifax-nova-scotia-real-estate.co

Thank you for your comments. was intending to add lots of useful content. I actually was working on it for about a year.
The other editor mentioned that agent was already listed on DMOZ. I just spoke to this agent and he told me that he never submitted his site to DMOZ, especially since he had never heard of it before. I was hoping that his other site could be removed and the halifax-nova-scotia-real-estate.com site in its place. To confirm that the agent does indeed want this change his email is jeremycroft@ns.sympatico.ca
I hope that this situation can get resolved soon.
Many thanks!

Re: status: www.halifax-nova-scotia-real-estate.co

The Halifax-keyword-stuffed-domain.com site will not be listed in its present condition as it has NO unique content.

So, the url will not be updated at this time. When the new site has listings (tourist nonsense is not going to get you a real estate listing, sorry) and when the agent's old page redirects to the new site, the agent can go to the category's update request page and make a request.

Re: status: www.halifax-nova-scotia-real-estate.co

>I just spoke to this agent and he told me that he never submitted his site to DMOZ, especially since he had never heard of it before.

That would, of course, NOT keep it from being eligible for a listing. (Public submittals are a way of helping editors find sites, NOT a way of keeping editors from listing other good sites.)

>I was hoping that his other site could be removed and the halifax-nova-scotia-real-estate.com site in its place.

>To confirm that the agent does indeed want this change his email is jeremycroft@ns.sympatico.ca
I hope that this situation can get resolved soon.

He should request the change the way anyone else would: change the old website to include a prominent "We've moved to xxx.newlocation.com" notice on the home page. That is all that is NECESSARY -- when an editor notices the notice, the URL will be changed.

Of course, we are always willing to accept help (in the form of "Update URL" submittal) but it is the editor's job to verify all submittals by actually looking at the site (NOT contacting the webmaster!).

The ODP way of preventing submittals from hijacking listings is that for a "change URL" request, the editor should verify the change at BOTH the old and new URL's. There's never a requirement to contact the site owner.

Re: status: www.halifax-nova-scotia-real-estate.co

marisa1116
You wrote:
"The Halifax-keyword-stuffed-domain.com site will not be listed in its present condition as it has NO unique content."

Since when did the words in the URL reflect the quality of a site. The name was chosen carefully because it clearly states the purpose of the site. Hyphens were chosen because it allows the user to read the name clearly.
There is actually plenty of unique content and more is added all the time. As well, Jermey has added to the halifax-nova-scotia-real-estate.com site one listing. He is a buyer's agent so it is usual for him to have a listing, so it is just one for now.


you wrote:
"So, the url will not be updated at this time. When the new site has listings (tourist nonsense is not going to get you a real estate listing, sorry) and when the agent's old page redirects to the new site, the agent can go to the category's update request page and make a request"

As for unique content the site has several pages which give excellent information those those thinking of moving to Halifax.
See http://www.halifax-nova-scotia-real-estate.com/neigh1.html
http://www.halifax-nova-scotia-real-estate.com/neigh2.html
As well it has many generic pages about things people should know when buying or selling a home. The agent and I are working to make these pages more specific about Halifax and Nova Scotia. The goal reflected in the name is become the best resource for Halifax Nova Scotia real estate. The tourist pages were not non-sense, this is useful information because of the off-shore development many people are relocating to Halifax and it is important to know this type of information before making the move.
I appreciate the comments made by you as I see it as ways to improve and goal of every webmaster is to improve.

Jeremy will be submitting a change request; however, there is one problem there is no editor for the category also because he did not submit the site orginally he is not sure if the editor will know the request is coming from him because his email address won't be connected to the URL.
Thanks again for all your help.

Re: status: www.halifax-nova-scotia-real-estate.co

Although the category might not have a named editor, every category does have many editors: all those in the higher levels of the same branch, as well as the Editall and Meta editors.

Re: status: www.halifax-nova-scotia-real-estate.co

giz,

Thank you for addressing my concerns.

Re: status: www.halifax-nova-scotia-real-estate.co

The problem with submitting a URL update request is that you've already been told that the halifax-nova-scotia-real-estate.com one doesn't contain sufficient relevent content for listing. The fact that it is one of several cookie-cutter type real estate sites for various cities in the US and Canada further contributes to the image.

Re: status: www.halifax-nova-scotia-real-estate.co

... also notice that the replies you have had, have come from three Meta editors, and two Editall editors.

Re: status: www.halifax-nova-scotia-real-estate.co

Motsa,

The DMOZ guidelines do not state how much content is required. There are many sites listed that have far less content. The Halifax site has the required listings, it has relevant content, and the agent has requested the other site (which wasn't submitted by him and is not his active site) to be removed.
I have done everything that was asked of me. I realize as editors there is a fear of spam this is not the case. The goal of the site(s) is to provide the agent(s) with a personal web site where they can show their qualifications and act in the role of educator for the area they serve.

I wish there was someway to speak with the people at DMOZ. I know there are many good editors that work for it, but lately I feel a victim of prejudice. There is whole background story to the current situation and I feel that old issues must be resolved in order to address the current problem. I do not believe this is the proper forum to discuss these issues because they deal with information that was held in confidence between myself and the organization of DMOZ. I would welcome resolution and a way to make everyone happy. I hope that some kind of arrangements can be made. I realize your time is valuable and this is only a volunteer position, but I hope that this problem ater 2 years can finally get sorted out.

Re: status: www.halifax-nova-scotia-real-estate.co

OK, the agent's previously listed site has been removed (not a big deal since I was the one that mined it originally from the Royal Lepage website). But that doesn't, unfortunately, mean this URL will be listed in its place.

I wish there was someway to speak with the people at DMOZ.

Click to expand...

Editors are "people at DMOZ". I take it you mean staff?

There is whole background story to the current situation and I feel that old issues must be resolved in order to address the current problem. I do not believe this is the proper forum to discuss these issues because they deal with information that was held in confidence between myself and the organization of DMOZ.

Click to expand...

Can imagine what that might be but feel free to email/PM me (I'm a listed editor in the NS section).

Re: status: www.halifax-nova-scotia-real-estate.co

Hi Motsa,

I sent you a message.
Not to sound paranoid, but I did some research and noted something very interesting. As I said before I spoke with agent who never even heard of DMOZ and didn't submit the site which caused the duplicate listing problem. So who did? The halifax-nova-scotia-real-estate.com was listed from about 1 year. However, someone decided to list small page from the agent's company's site and remove the halifax-nova-scotia-real-estate.com site. This all happened in the last week, I checked Google's cache of the page and the change wasn't there.
So who did this and why? The halifax-nova-scotia-real-estate.com was the agent's active site, it has excellent content, why the sudden change at DMOZ?
I think there is a definite problem. I noticed the agent's company's page was removed. I hope the halifax-nova-scotia-real-estate.com can be put up in it's place. It meets all the requirement it has unique content, it has listings, so I leave it up to you.
I would be really interested in hearign the answers to my questions.

Re: status: www.halifax-nova-scotia-real-estate.co

Did you actually read my last post?

Re: status: www.halifax-nova-scotia-real-estate.co

You are right, I missed something.
You wrote:
"mined it originally from the Royal Lepage website"

I think I know why you did this. You were actually trying to build the category. This is actually what good editors do. (My previous paranoia has now subsided) Okay, so that link is gone. Can you finally add the halifax-nova-scotia-real-estate.com site? It is a good site and getting better all the time.
It has more content than the original site you added and it is the agent's active site.
I feel that we are close to working things out.
Thanks Motsa!!!!