Submission Help Needed: 6 month old problem :-(

Hello,

We have 16 different websites with same content. But we wanted ONLY ONE website to be in the directory. Our websites give information on the list of lawyers/law firms across America. We have been trying since past 5-6 months now. We also had sent a message to the editor of our category with the request for giving us suggestions. We had submitted 2-3 websites in these 4 months. But we didn't mean to spam or anything. The problem was whever we tried to submit our website, it would give an error, syaing server problem please try again, so we would hit back button and re do it. and it would again show the same finally until it says "your website was submitted" but we were not sure if it really did. So we waited for some time and since the website wasn't added we tried again. Also, since our website wasn't added to the directory, we thought maybe the url wasn't good enough. So we used other URL and it wasn't taken either.

We are sure that our site is submitted to the proper directory and we also are sure that our site's content is unique and very helpful to people looking for lawyers online.

We hope that we are not black listed.

But we dont' know what we have done wrong so far. And what could we do to get ONLY one of these 16 websites in the dmoz.org.

We infact have seen 2 websites with similar content in this category (though the looks are different, but they have same content, as they belong to same company)

We would really appreciate if some editor could help us here and guide us with it.

All we need is a single website listed in the category :- Top: Society: Law: Services: Lawyers and Law Firms: Directories

And we know our content and site is very much suitable for this category as compared to other websites listed in this category.

All of Our 16 Websites are:-
State-Lawyers.com | State-Attorneys.com
Professional-Lawyers.com | Find-Attorneys.com
TopNotchLawyers.com | American-Law-Firms.com
City-Attorneys.com | 1800StateLawyers.com
Professional-Lawyers.us | Find-Attorneys.us
Affordable-Lawyers.us | 1800CityLawyers.com
CityAttorneys.us | State-Lawyers.us
American-Attorneys.us | CityLawyers.us


Of all these 16 websites we just need this website to be listed:-
www.Find-Attorneys.com


Thanks in advance and a response will be highly appreciated.

This question would have been better asked in the Submission Status Forum.

Your submission of 3 April 2003 is awaiting review in http://dmoz.org/Society/Law/Services/Lawyers_and_Law_Firms/Directories , with more than 50 others. If you resubmitted, you probably overwrote your earlier submissions, but this one is still there. There is no blacklist of your site; there's just a backlog in that category. There is no need to resubmit. You can check again on the status after at least one month, but use this thread when you do.

And thanks for the list of mirrors. They won't be listed. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" />

This is the first time we are using resource-zone.com.

Which link should we go to? to check the submission forum status?

Also out of all those 16 websites, we prefer www.find-attorneys.com to be listed. How can we do that?

Don't worry, you've done all you can. All you can do for now is wait. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" />

The other 15 sites won't be listed. The find-attornies.com site is awaiting review in the category you mentioned; an editor will decide if it is eligible for a listing. After at least one month, you can check the status of find-attornies.com by using this thread.

Perhaps some kind admin will move this to the Submissions Status Forum.

I hope www.find-attorneys.com was added and not find-attornies.com (which you just mentioned) <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" alt="" />

also to check up after 1 month, all we need to do is come to this link page and again ask a question?

How do we do that?

Oops! <img src="/images/icons/blush.gif" alt="" /> Sorry about the slip of the fingers. The URL that is awaiting review is indeed http://www.find-attorneys.com/ .

To clarify: nothing was added to the directory. Your submission is still awaiting review, just as it was before. I just left it where it was, and told you the status (waiting with over 50 others).

The submissions for your other mirrors in that category have been deleted from the unreviewed pool, so it is highly unlikely that you will be seen as spamming, unless you have lots of other submissions elsewhere that you haven't mentioned.

You'll just have to wait to see if/when your site gets added. A volunteer editor will review it when he or she has time. These forums are not a way to speed up addition to the directory.

I was asked to come back after one month to enquire again using this same thread.

It has been more than 5-6 months now.
PLEASE SOEMONE HELP HERE TO LIST ONE OF OUR WEBSITE, THAT HAS BEEN WAITING FOR TOO LONG NOW.

www.find-attorneys.com

Re: Submission Help Needed: 6 month old problem :-

You are listed in http://dmoz.org/Society/Law/Services/Lawyers_and_Law_Firms/Directories/North_America/United_States - the listing will show up in a few days when the public side updates.

Re: Submission Help Needed: 6 month old problem :-

thank you appreciate it.

but we can't see find-attorneys.com on that page yet.
did u mean that we will see it on that page in 2-3 days?

As we typed find-attorneys.com in dmoz.org search engine.
And it shows :-

Find-Attorneys.com - Directory of attorneys organized by practice area and state.
-- http://www.find-attorneys.com/ Society: Law: Services: Lawyers and Law Firms: Directories: North America: United States (1)


But when we clicked the link, it doesn't show it on the page.
so maybe according to you it will show up in 2-3 days?

Re: Submission Help Needed: 6 month old problem :-

That's exactly it - you'll need to wait for the publicly-viewable side to update, duie to our ongoing (and nearly-comopleted) server upgrades.

Thanks.

Re: Submission Help Needed: 6 month old problem :-

It has been more than 5-6 months now.
PLEASE SOEMONE HELP HERE TO LIST ONE OF OUR WEBSITE, THAT HAS BEEN WAITING FOR TOO LONG NOW.

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And, for the record (not just for you but for others who are reading this thread) a wait of six months is not unusual or excessive. Many sites wait well over a year for their listing.

Nor did your inquiry here have any impact with the timing of your listing. Posting here does absolutely nothingto facilitate or speed up your request.

Congratulations, however, on your successful listing.

Re: Submission Help Needed: 6 month old problem :-

And, for the record (not just for you but for others who are reading this thread) a wait of six months is not unusual or excessive. Many sites wait well over a year for their listing.

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Wow! That is a loooong time in the virtual world of the WWW. If sites are often waiting a year, or more, for inclusions doesn't make the ODP Database content little stale and out dated?

Dave

Re: Submission Help Needed: 6 month old problem :-

It certainly is, and I'm sure there are sites that are waiting much longer than that. One would certainly wonder given the rapid pace of the internet why DMOZ is considered to be useful. But the reality is that it is, and people seem desperate to get in.

I in fact get many submissions of different versions of web sites under different URLS, showing that many webmasters want to get their information into ODP multiple times. No one would spend the time doing this unless they considered DMOZ to be a valuable resource.

Look at the many posts in this forum on a monthly basis, with users asking about their status. If ODP was stale and out dated, why would the same people keep coming back and posting again and again?

Also look at all the SEO forums, with people posting with frustration about their inablity to get the site into ODP. Would they do that if ODP was worthless.

No - of course not. The reality is that there is a perception, that despite the problems, despite the slowness, despite the editor slipups, despite the sarcasm, and flippant comments, that underneath it all is a bunch of people who make a difference, who spend their time editing, and checking and weeding out the bad from the good, the honest from the dishonest, and it's not the same as dumping money into a paid directory and getting instant submission.

Re: Submission Help Needed: 6 month old problem :-

If ODP was stale and out dated, why would the same people keep coming back and posting again and again?

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arrh yes, but these are Webmasters etc and not the general public (that DMOZ exists for) that want to find the latest relevant sites.

I would say the main reason so many site owners want 'in' is the boost Google *currently* give to sites in the directory via PR and that Google uses DMOZ as it's directory etc

I would have thought that as time goes on, the waiting periods will only get longer, the directory staler and perhaps Google and others not using it. Basically, if Google drops DMOZ (due to it being too old etc) I think the number of submissions will drop greatly.

Should this be addressed?

Dave

Re: Submission Help Needed: 6 month old problem :-

Should what be addressed?

Whether or not Google will ever drop the ODP?
Well, speculation is fun and all that but what's the point in addressing something that isn't even in the winds yet?

Whether or not the ODP is getting stale and out-of-date?
No one ever talks about the thousands of new sites that are added every day, just the ones that haven't been listed yet. You can't get complete staleness if there is continual turnover (addition of new sites and removal/correction of existing sites). The fact that there is a backlog in some categories doesn't mean that the sites that are already listed in those categories aren't still completely relevent and up-to-date. Do you really think that searchers are being royally stiffed by only having, say, 5,000 web designers to choose from rather than 15,000?

Re: Submission Help Needed: 6 month old problem :-

If sites are often waiting a year, or more, for inclusions doesn't make the ODP Database content little stale and out dated?

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No, it doesn't.
There are several ways new sites will get listed in DMOZ.
One of them is through the 'add URL' option webmsters are using. Many more sites are added because editors are activly searching for good websites themselves. The quality of sites added by the editors themselves is mostly much higher as the average submitted site (I sometimes have to reject upto 50% of submitted sites in a category - reasons: no or not enough content, affiliate site, duplicate submission, mirror site, under construction).

Keep in mind:
Our (DMOZ) main task is to list good sites for the general public. We are not here to list sites for webmasters who want to get a good listing with Google.

Re: Submission Help Needed: 6 month old problem :-

RE: Should what be addressed?

The long time before sites are on shown on DMOZ.

Too me a 'good' directory should have not only quality content but also the latest.


RE: what's the point in addressing something that isn't even in the winds yet?

The point is, if you wait until the problem is "in the winds" it is most likley too late! Prevent is always better than cure.

RE: Do you really think that searchers are being royally stiffed by only having, say, 5,000 web designers to choose from rather than 15,000

No and I never said that. However, if there are 10,000 new sites waiting a year before they are seen on DMOZ they may feel that DMOZ is not keeping up with the WWW. I would imagine the same thoughts would go through the minds of companies that use DMOZ.

RE: Keep in mind:
Our (DMOZ) main task is to list good sites for the general public. We are not here to list sites for webmasters who want to get a good listing with Google.

Exactly my reasons for raising the concern.

Age of content

Too me a 'good' directory should have not only quality content but also the latest.

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Yes, I think this is really the nub of the matter - your definition of a good directory having to do with the age of the content. To me, speaking as a user, how current the content is is secondary. I want the information it lists to be correct, and I don't care how new it is. For me as an editor this means that trying to keep the categories I edit in in shape, weeding out the listings that don't offer quality content any longer, changing descriptions and URLs to reflect changes in the listings, is often more urgent than adding new sites.

To me as one editor and not pretending to speak for the ODP as a whole, this is exactly what it means that humans do it better.

Re: Submission Help Needed: 6 month old problem :-

The delays vary depending on the area of the directory - the largely commercial areas, like Business, Shopping and Computers, have quite long waiting times because editors are generally less interested in editing there, and because there are higher levels of spam which clog up the system.

Places like Sports, Recreation, Arts and Regional, where there are more 'hobby' categories, tend to be better represented and typically sites get listed much quicker. For example, if your business was located in North Yorkshire in the UK you may well get listed within a matter of hours, but that's because I log in a lot and edit actively there.

Fundamentally the problem is a lack of editors, but specifically a lack of trained and willing editors. Learning how to edit isn't too hard, but keeping up with all the latest spam tricks is not quite so easy, so it tends to only be the more experienced editors who are allowed to edit in those areas.

Re: Submission Help Needed: 6 month old problem :-

Ok, editors see this as not a problem and it may not be yet... I can see it becoming more of an issue though as the WWW grows. I think waiting until the problem becomes patently clear is a mistake, but it's your call.

RE: how current the content is is secondary
Agree, but #2 on a list of importance is right up there in my book.

RE: For example, if your business was located in North Yorkshire in the UK you may well get listed within a matter of hours, but that's because I log in a lot and edit actively there.

That is an issue I have always had, from a sumitters point-of-view, i.e it's outright luck as to how long you wait.


Dave