We are business professionals trying to do our jobs right
I'm a hobbyist having fun and grateful that the directory provides a platform for me to do so.
The perennial problem of trying to get people to understand what we are about. You are running a business and feel there are certain things you need to achieve to ensure your success - we understand that. I understand it. However it is nothing to do with us.
Now like all editors, I work according to my interests, which change over time. At the moment I am interested in an area about 75 miles square and passionately interested in getting sites for a set of little village of less than 100 inhabitants. If anyone has suggested a site listable in the area, I am grateful, if anyone suggested a site listable in one of the villages of extra interest, I would be ecstatic. I hunt out, find and list sites myself and I am currently totally uninterested in any sites suggested to the other 500,000+ categories in the directory.
The sites I list reflect the area, including businesses, large and small, clubs, churches, schools and informative ones. If you saw the sites I consider and compared them to yours, you might take umbrage as, without a doubt, a proportion are, over all, less important than yours. However in the context of what I am doing (building a specific category) and what you want (list your site elsewhere), yours is entirely unimportant whereas the on-topic site merits consideration. Where I to be working in the category you suggested your site to, the reverse would be true.
In a few months time I'll be equally passionately interested in another area or topic, equally grateful for the suggestions waiting to be looked at, equally determined to hunt and find the sites not suggested and equally uninterested in sites suggested to the other 500,000+ categories in the directory (which will then include the area and villages I am looking at now).
In your line of business, having a proper understanding of how the internet and it's denizens work is the key to success. The directory relies on enthusiasts building categories for their own satisfaction, and. as a result, other people benefit, some in unexpected ways because search engines have decided to follow particular algorithms. But that is not what we are about - we are building a good resources in areas that have some interest for us.
So your suggestions are waiting for an editor to get interested enough about the particular category it was suggested to. Your suggestion may not even be needed, an editor could find the site themselves and list it without even being aware you suggested it (90% of all sites I list, I find myself).
Now I have a website for my wife's children's folk dance club which has good PR. Would you expect me to link from that to everyone out there who has a business? No, because it is my site and covers my interests. Does the search engine argument hold any weight? No, because it's nothing to do with me how anyone chooses to interpret my site. Can you ask me for a link? Yes, but I'll ignore you. Would you get any sympathy were you to complain about not being listed on my site? I doubt it.
So how is DMOZ any different? Only in that instead of totally ignoring your suggestion, we store it so when an editor wants to develop that category, they have a list of sites to look at should they want to.
Would you honestly expect me to alter my website to benefit your clients so you can earn a living? I doubt it. But isn't that essentially what you are suggesting - that your business is dependant on someone you don't know changing what they are doing in order to provide a service that they do not offer and are not interested in?
A better understanding of what DMOZ is about will help improve your business and, as you can see from the replies, many editors have kindly supplied a lot of the information you need.
regards
