Update Listing and Category move

I wanted to gain some insight on a update I did a while back. Hopefully someone can help

I looked up our listing and it did not describe us well. It had the wrong company name, wrong description and was just generally incorrect. I went to update the listing but it was in a category that does not have an editor. Since the category was incorrect anyway, I thought it would be best to request a change of category at this time and update the description at the same time.

Unfortunately, I copied the wrong text I was writing, and it contained some misspellings, so I submitted it again. I am hoping that this is correct, but can someone help?

1.) Was this the correct way to update the site? Or is there another method I should have used?

2.) Will submitting multiples in a row look bad and be considered spam or something that would have a detrimental effect?

3.) Will anyone see this since there is no editor in the original category?

Here is a link to the current listing removed after realizing that we can't post these whoops, hope nobody caught that....

and here is what I think it should say...

<!-------------------------------------------------------------->
Also removed
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This listing is well over 10 years old, so I am not sure that once it is in, that a company that grows can update into a new category or even multiple, or am I mistaken?

Thanks for any help.

Brad

Please accept the following without criticism:

The best way to do a multi-part update is in sections. Why, because when we see too much jammed into an update it makes us suspicious.

Do one thing: attempt to fix the title, or description, or location.

Then try the next step.

Usually best to try and do the thing that has the highest chance of approval first.

Try to remember that we are very interested in correcting errors, we are less interested in vanity changes, and aggressively not interested in helping with SEO or keywords.

When this particular editor gets an update request the request is compared to the existing listing. First question I ask myself is: "is the existing listing correct?"

If it is incorrect, I will work to correct it. If it is correct, the update request gets dumped as I have better things to do than to edit listings that are correct -- whether or not the webmaster like the title/description.

Note also, that the description is something that describes the content the surfer is likely to find on the site -- it is not intended to describe the company. Soooooooooo, if the description differs from what the company does, first and foremost make sure the website reflects what the company does.

Hope this helps.

This listing is well over 10 years old

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You must be thinking of some other directory. ODP first launched as Gnuhoo on June 5, 1998 .

OK, Then this leads back to some of the other questions I had then.

If I were just update the current listing (which has an incorrect company name listed, that we changed 8 years ago) my apologies for the chronological liberty, our site is more than 10 years old and the description is from a 10 years old site, probably listed with Gnuhoo 8 years ago, but either way, If I request the update, how do I go about doing the update when there is no editor in that category? I am in the following category:http://www.dmoz.org/Shopping/Health/Disabilities/Assistive_Technology/Daily_Living/
and at the bottom it just states "Volunteer to edit this category."

I obviously can't volunteer for a category that I am in, because I would be considered to hold a bias. Am I just stuck in a closed category? or waiting for someone to volunteer and get through all of the backlog to get to it?

The listing is, in fact, incorrect because it has the old company name, and describes services that we no longer offer or are no longer appropriate, so I feel that what I am doing will benefit the users searching for our unique offerings.

I guess my question boils down to "Will my request be received if I send it to a category that has no editor?" and Since I submitted to a different (more appropriate directory) "Will my submission be redirected to the category without an editor, since that is where it currently resides, or will it be handled by the receiving editor?"

Thanks again for the help,

Brad

"Will my request be received if I send it to a category that has no editor?"

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Yes, it will. All categories have editors, although most categories have no named editor; editors can edit in every category that is lower in the category tree (for instance if there had been a named editor in the category you mention, she or he would have been able to edit in all the subcategories of that one). And there are a couple of hundred editors who have editing rights in the entire directory. Update requests made using the "Update listing" link are flagged to stand out, and many editors treat them with priority because they often signal quality control issues.

[added: I think you said that you sent in a new site suggestion, to a different category. If so, please submit an update request using the "Update listing" link in the current category as well, and mention that you think the current category is inappropriate. Thanks!]

Thanks for the input NEA!

I will submit there.

I am betting that you have already considered this or that it would cause some headaches, but I thought I would say it anyway.

I was thinking that there should be a comment box or text area that you could add to the submission process. In my particular instance, I could have given an explanation that might help clarify what the issue was and why the changes were appropriate.

I am sure that most of them would just be an ear full of useless gibberish, but it sure would make them feel better about being able to leave the info.

I don't know, just an idea.

Thanks again for the help, it really helped clarify the process for me and my situation.

Thanks,

Brad

Many people put comments into the descripotion field, which is nt a bad idea since we rewrite nearly all descriptions.

I was thinking that there should be a comment box or text area that you could add to the submission process.

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There isn't one in the initial suggestion, as it is assumed that the person has taken a minimum amount of tiime to choose the correct category and write a somewhat relevant description, however during the update process there is a field

Please describe the nature of your changes: (required)

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which should include the reason why a site needs changes, that is where you can write information about the category being incorrect, the title being incorrect,or the description not being accurate. As has been previously noted that 'incorrect' refers to it not being listed with respect to the guidelines, not what the webmaster/owner/designer thinks are good marketing terms, or preferable category choice.

I wrote that suggestion just before I went through the process to update the listing and let out a big Homer Simpson "DOH" right when I saw the field.

Thanks again for all of your input, and maybe I will be able to lend you all a hand editing one day.

I am going to toss a link in here to the submission process described below, so other readers can benefit and have easy access to the guidelines from the discussion.

which should include the reason why a site needs changes, that is where you can write information about the category being incorrect, the title being incorrect,or the description not being accurate. As has been previously noted that 'incorrect' refers to it not being listed with respect to the guidelines, not what the webmaster/owner/designer thinks are good marketing terms, or preferable category choice.

Click to expand...

Thanks,

Brad

B-Double-U said:

I wrote that suggestion just before I went through the process to update the listing and let out a big Homer Simpson "DOH" right when I saw the field.

Thanks again for all of your input, and maybe I will be able to lend you all a hand editing one day.

I am going to toss a link in here to the submission process described below, so other readers can benefit and have easy access to the guidelines from the discussion.



Thanks,

Brad

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As a further example, I just went through the update requests in [cat]Regional/North_America/United_States/California[/cat] and subcategories. There were 4; I accepted one as written (only requested a URL change), and accepted various parts of others, including moving them to a different category, as the business had moved or opened a new location. Most of the subcategories didn't have a named editor.

It would be nice if there were a "requested category" field in the update form, as well as "requiested URL", but....

It would be nice if there were a "requested category" field in the update form, as well as "requested URL", but....

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I agree, this would be a beneficial feature, in that, it would have kept me (the submitter) from submitting to the different directories and, most likely) causing duplicate efforts from the editors, especially if they are/were in different categories.

On a side note for everyone that is giving you all grief about how loooong this process takes, it looks like my request has already been handled in less than 2 weeks! I was really expecting 3 months or so, so I am extremely pleased (So thanks to "no editor in this category" for being so quick!


Thanks again.

Brad

We often tell people that editors try and make a prioroty out of update requests -- because they are often related to directory quality.

Nice to get the feedback.

Unfortunately, too many people "shoot themselves in the foot" with regards to updates when the get greedy and try to use them to keyword stuff titles and descriptions. I owuld not at all be surprised if I have missed some legitimate parts of udpate requests because the instant I saw the massive keyword stuffing I said something along the lines of:

"Woe is me, this most gentle suggester mistakenly attempted to add 17 keywords to the title and another 41 to the description, and all those keywords are making me dizzy so I regretfully must delete this request without taking any action.

Or something like that.

spectregunner said:

"Woe is me, this most gentle suggester mistakenly attempted to add 17 keywords to the title and another 41 to the description, and all those keywords are making me dizzy so I regretfully must delete this request without taking any action.

Or something like that.

Click to expand...

But did you leave that as the edit comment?