Subdomains allowed?

I've searched the archives, but I can't find a simple answer to what seems like a simple question. Is it allowed to submit subdomains? In this case they would be completely separate sites focusing on different catagories. I'm only trying to prevent jinxing my chances of getting accepted by seeming to do something sneaky. At least anything sneakier than playing with multiple sites while paying for one.

Thanks!

A lot of people seem to think that the FORM of a URL makes more difference than the CONTENT on the server. It really doesn't.

For practical purposes, a subdomain is nearly always treated just like any other deeplink into a site, or like any other related site.

That is, "gadgets.myshop.com" is the same as "myshop.com/gadgets" is the same as "myshop-gadgets.com"

Dunno what kind of sites you're creating: if you're calling sites "completely separate" just because they don't link to each other, our response likely will be: "you don't even link to your OWN sites, why should WE link to them?" If you're calling them "completely separate" because each of them describes a separate product for sale (or service for rent), we'd call them "vanity domains/subdomains/deeplinks" (and we'd call you a spammer.)

If they're "completely separate" because you're a little web development shop selling cheap independent websites to your neighborhood businesses, or building free websites for local charities (and therefore scrimping on the cost of domain name registrations), then yes, we'd be happy to consider them all for listing -- whether deeplinks or subdomains.

BTW When you ask whether a URL gets privileged consideration simply because its on it's own subdomain or domain or server, then ... it's almost impossible to form the question in a way that isn't insulting to editors. It is logically equivalent to, and is going to sound like "Hey, I know you idiots are spotting my deeplink spam, but are you smart enough to spot it after I tweak the DNS?" And our answer has to be, "If you're calculating ANYTHING based on assumptions about how we treat URLs, then you're already a spamming weasel. And if it ever matters, we'll find out where your den is, and what kind of roadkill you had for dinner."

The basic principle is: we WILL deeplink domains that are clearly umbrellas for clearly independent sites. We'll only list ONE of a swarm of related sites, even if they're on separate domains on separate servers. And we'll even try not to be over-suspicious of subdomain names, EVEN though their most common use is as stupidly blatant spam. Beyond that, we can't go without conceding the presuppositions in your "when will you stop beating your wife?"-type question.

Wow, thanks for the thoughful reply. I think I get it now. Like anything else, it just gets more complicated when you start to realize there are a lot of angles you didn't consider.

FWIW, what I was hoping to get listed is one "commercial" site and two subs that consist of (A) a site for a friend who's too broke to spend the extra 10 bucks a month, and (B) a grab-bag of code examples and personal flotsam. When I called them "completely separate", it was only in regard to intent, not lack of cross links.

What I was worried about was unintentionally annoying you folks by submitting something that might appear to be avoiding the intent of dmoz. And, like I said, I think I get it now.

Basically, regardless of the form of the URL, the editor will follow the dmoz guidelines (dmoz.org/guidelines) on deeplinking.

Therefore if your domain includes sections with significant content on the history of the banana, Fidel Castro and how to build a suspension bridge then it would be eligible for listing in three categories. If it includes sections with significant content on the history of the banana, the history of the apple and the history of the melon then it would only be eligible for listing in the category Fruit/History, not Fruit/Banana/History and Fruit/Apple/History and Fruit/Melon/History.

Hope that clarifies things.

This sounds perfect. Thanks for the clarification. I wasn't really understanding the gravity of "human edited" nor how deep links and subdomains were considered basically the same thing. Now, if I could only submit...

BTW, one problem (frequently) is that it's difficult for a newbie to even figure out what the guidelines are because any link at dmoz keeps bringing up that naughty Squid cache error page. C'est la guerre.

Hmmm, what about country content sites, for example www.domain.com and www.canada.domain.com?

Two similar looking sites, but one has U.S. pricing, one has Canadian pricing.

Appreciated.

You also aske that same question in: http://www.resource-zone.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=47692

Is the case of www.mydomain.com and www.mydomain.ca different from what is described in this chain? Are these two allowed to be submitted separately?

In my opinion, the two would not be entitled to separate listings.

We don't mind how deeplinks are named. Don't bopther trying to hide them. If we find out that someone tries to fool us, we might feel angry.

I am a canadian distributor of the head office in US. These are two separate organizations who have two different web sites. Obviously they link to each other but I pay for my own web site. Does this mean I loose all rights to advertise myself?

I assume you mean "lose", not "loose."

Yes, by submitting to the ODP you have given up all rights whatsoever to use any medium, whether electronic, published, or personal, to promote yourself, not to mention your family, your company, your community, and even your website. T/W/AOL/Netscape employs thousands of lawyers for the sole and express purpose of monitoring your daily activity for evidences of self-promotion.

Doesn't ANYONE read the submittal policies first?

Obviously you don't give up the right to promote your site, however if your content is not unique, we won't list it. This is done at the discretion of the reviewing editor. This thread is intended to be a general description of the process editors use for determining whether to list a site. Not to issue any hard and fast rules for submitters.

The directory does not exist so you can advertise your website (no matter how many people seem to think otherwise.) There are other directories that serve this need.