Submitted site 4 years ago and still waiting!

To the powers that be,

Periodically over the last 4 years i have submitted one of our sites to DMOZ (with at least a 2-12 months break inbetween). Unfortunately, we still have not recieved a listing. We manufacture our own products and offer (in our opinion) a very good site with excellent products.

We have studied the categories very carefully and always take time with our submissions.

Can anyone provide some useful information?

williamfor said:

Can anyone provide some useful information?

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Yes
> Periodically over the last 4 years i have submitted one of our sites to DMOZ
> We have studied the categories very carefully and always take time with our submissions.
DMOZ clearly asks you to suggest a website only ONCE to the ONE best category.

Suggesting the same website more than once to the same category can make the time between first suggestion and review longer.
Suggesting the same website to many categories can result in being marked as spam. And like you we do not like spam.

Thank you for taking time to answer my query!

We have left submissions for well over 18 months sometimes - i think you will agree this is long enough. We obviously have not spammed with our submissions and been careful with correct category.

Due to the product we sell, there are 2 categories we could add to (we have not submitted to any more)

I think at this stage our site is not what DMOZ regards as satisfactory (absolutely no idea why as we are one of the leading manufacturers in the UK).

I do feel a little disappointed with DMOZ. If someone could just tell me "don't bother, you won't get in" and give me a reason then i would be satisfied.

> i think you will agree this is long enough
We don't. Once a suggestion is made it will stay in the system until it is either listed or rejected. I have processed suggestions that were made 3 or 4 years ago.

> Due to the product we sell, there are 2 categories we could add to (we have not submitted to any more)
This is impossible. [except when the site is listable in both a Regional and a Topical (outside Regional) category]

> I think at this stage our site is not what DMOZ regards as satisfactory
> (absolutely no idea why as we are one of the leading manufacturers in the UK).
You can check yourself if the site is listable or not. http://www.dmoz.org/guidelines/include.html
If it is listable there is no reason to asume it was rejected. It just will be waiting review.

> If someone could just tell me "don't bother, you won't get in"
I can only tell you "don't bother, a listable website will be listed someday"
When that will be is something I can not predict.

If i had to wait 3/4 years and knew eventually i would get listed, i would not be wasting my time in this forum. However, when i see retailers (not manufacturers) getting listed in dmoz within months (our category specifically), then i feel something is amiss!

Due to the lack of information available to me, it just feels unfair!

Also, how do i know if a listing has been rejected?

As i wrote before you can know if a website will be rejected by reading the guidelines.
If the guidelines specify that it is not the kind of website we will reject there is no reason to assume it is (or will be) rejected. So it must be waiting review.

As we do not have a first in first out procedure the date of creation of a website nor the date it is suggested to DMOZ has any influence on which website will be listed on an earlier date than some other website.
Editors use all kinds of information to decide which website they will review next. It might be suggestion date, but most of the time it is not. Suggestions with good titles and descriptions often are picked first and those with realy bad ones may take years before they are looked at. Noone knows how the minds of editors work. I do not even know how I will decide which website I will review next.

I was going to ask about my website, as I originally made a submission some time ago, but wasn't sure if I entered all the details correctly. When I search the DMOZ directory it isn't listed, but in some SEO website checkers it shows a entry.
I suppose patience is a good virtue and maybe one day I will get lucky

You answer like a true "Dmoz" politician (this is not a compliment or criticism)!

We work very hard at our site and feel that the "Dmoz Gods" control our fate with the inclusion policy.

It does not appear a fair structure is set up. Editors can pick and choose at there own free will who they want listed.

Surely the merits of website or company in question should be taken into consideration.

I do not request an answer to this post, as i am sure the information you supply will still leave me puzzled, bemused and disappointed.

Many thanks for taking the time to answer my previous posts - and good luck with other disgruntled webmasters like me!

However, i may be back in 4 years time to expand my thoughts above.

> We work very hard at our site and feel that the "Dmoz Gods" control our fate with the inclusion policy.
DMOZ does certainly not control the fate of your website.
Why do you rely on some volunteers that are building a directory as a hobby for the succes of your website. Seems to me a stupid thing to do. Rely only on yourself and on what you can do or control.

> It does not appear a fair structure is set up.
> Editors can pick and choose at there own free will who they want listed.
Correct (as long as those picks are within the guidelines).

> Surely the merits of website or company in question should be taken into consideration.
I see totaly no reason.
Why would we give some preference to on website/company and not to all other.
DMOZ fairness means that we give the same attention to all websites. Websites that are suggested and websites that are not suggested. For us they are all the same.

You did not read my response carefully!

I said (and i quote) "the "Dmoz Gods" control our fate with the inclusion policy." - this does not make any reference to the altering of performance online. I was referring to inclusion in DMOZ only.

And i don't appreciate you implying that this (as you put it), is "a stupid thing to do"....

You did not read my response carefully!

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It seems that I didn't either because I interpreted it the same way that pvgool did .It's good to remember that English isn't the first language of many posters here and to be as clear and unambiguous as possible.

You have a basic misunderstanding too. We're a bunch of volunteers building a directory as a hobby and for the benefit of surfers and our downstream data users. We don't offer any kind of service to website owners. You seem to be expecting one.

There are several hundred million websites that we haven't yet evaluated and we don't believe that a suggested website is somehow more worthy or listable than one that hasn't been.

Of course we evaluate websites carefully; listable ones are listed or moved to a more appropriate category for further evaluation. There are checks and balances in place to ensure that editors edit fairly, but editors have a free choice as to which sites they evaluate within the bounds of their permissions and when they do it.

We have finite resources and we don't claim to list every website. Frankly, the chances of our ever doing so are slim. If that's what you wanted, you'll be better served by the search engines which spider most websites.

I think at this stage our site is not what DMOZ regards as satisfactory

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It's more likely that nobody here has yet examined it.

I read on many forums and blogs about Dmoz stopped submission and also lost SEO values, As PR is not flowing in.

Well if you read it on the interwebs, it must be true

We have no interest in SEO or PR BTW.

I was trying to get information about the add of my website on this directory .
On this forum , it seems that the only reason why it take so long is that there is no editor in certain category .

Many people are talking about DMOZ and how people are mass rejected from being editor and when you come in this forum , they say , its because there is no editor in this category ..
Now , website CAN'T be added to directory ( well you can add it , but it will never be approve )
I'v heard about editors that are PAYED to insert website in the category they manage. I understand them , its good oportunity to make easy money when directory can't be update

I remember , it was not so long time ago , dmoz was good but now its over for me , and not only for me ( you can see thousand of thread asking , is DMOZ still alive? )

The importance that google give to this website is too much now , hope one day it will decrease , google should not give omportance for inactive website

Bobypreseident said:

I was trying to get information about the add of my website on this directory .
On this forum , it seems that the only reason why it take so long is that there is no editor in certain category .

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You misunderstood our explanation.
It is not that there is no editor for a category (all categories can be managed by several 100 editors) but that no editor is interested enough in the category subject to do any work.
Editors are allowed to work only on those subjects they are interested in. Other subject must wait until an editor gaisn interest or until a new editor applies for the subject.

Many people are talking about DMOZ and how people are mass rejected from being editor

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I am one of those editors that can evaluate editor applications and I have never seen mass rejections.
The problem is that you only see the negative messages, the many people we accept as editor normaly do not post. The same for messages about site suggestions. People that see there websites being listed do not post on forums, those that feel their website should have been listed in a short timeframe are the ones that complain.

I'v heard about editors that are PAYED to insert website in the category they manage. I understand them , its good oportunity to make easy money when directory can't be update

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This is not normal behaviour and will be punished very hard. Both editor and websites involved will be removed permanently.

The importance that google give to this website is too much now , hope one day it will decrease , google should not give omportance for inactive website

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You should do some research and read stuff from people who know what they are talking about. A long time ago Google did put to much importance on a DMOZ listing but those days have been gone many years ago.

pvgool said:

You misunderstood our explanation.
It is not that there is no editor for a category (all categories can be managed by several 100 editors) but that no editor is interested enough in the category subject to do any work.
Editors are allowed to work only on those subjects they are interested in. Other subject must wait until an editor gaisn interest or until a new editor applies for the subject.


I am one of those editors that can evaluate editor applications and I have never seen mass rejections.
The problem is that you only see the negative messages, the many people we accept as editor normaly do not post. The same for messages about site suggestions. People that see there websites being listed do not post on forums, those that feel their website should have been listed in a short timeframe are the ones that complain.


This is not normal behaviour and will be punished very hard. Both editor and websites involved will be removed permanently.


You should do some research and read stuff from people who know what they are talking about. A long time ago Google did put to much importance on a DMOZ listing but those days have been gone many years ago.

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I can understand the philosophy of DMOZ and the way it works. Personally I too have tried to submit a site after reading several category descriptions and other terms time and again, still neither it was included nor rejected.

I personally do not like to discuss/talk about such things but this category was not updated in last 4 years as there is no editor associated with it.

So, what should I do, wait or submit to some other relevant category with associated editor. Please suggest.

Thanks

ybailwal said:

I personally do not like to discuss/talk about such things but this category was not updated in last 4 years as there is no editor associated with it.

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There is a bug with the date at the bottom of a category. These dates are reset to about 4 years ago and are not updated.

The fact that no editor is named at a category does not mean the category is not maintained.

So, what should I do, wait or submit to some other relevant category with associated editor. Please suggest.

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Suggesting a website to a category in which it does not belong will result in more work for editors as they will have to move the suggestion to the right category. You will not only make the time for your site between suggestion and review longer but also for all other websites.
Suggest a website to often to a wrong category and you could be marked as a spammer. As we do not like spammers we ban them and all their sites from DMOZ.

pvgool said:

There is a bug with the date at the bottom of a category. These dates are reset to about 4 years ago and are not updated.

The fact that no editor is named at a category does not mean the category is not maintained.


Suggesting a website to a category in which it does not belong will result in more work for editors as they will have to move the suggestion to the right category. You will not only make the time for your site between suggestion and review longer but also for all other websites.
Suggest a website to often to a wrong category and you could be marked as a spammer. As we do not like spammers we ban them and all their sites from DMOZ.

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Thanks for clearing my doubts.

Hi, in regards to spamming concerns, what if you hired a seo company and you found out that they submitted your site more than once with automated software without your knowledge? Is it possible to notify DMOZ of the error so that you aren't penalized?