Updating Directory Issues

heath4n · Oct 21, 2010

I have spent quite a fair bit of time and money updating my website and what we do.

I noticed that DMOZ refers to us when we were much older and our business has diversified significantly since then along with moving.

I updated through DMOZ around 4 weeks ago and know that it said that it should take around 2 weeks. Nothing seems to have changed so i thought I would resubmit my changes but now it says that the website is not found?

I'm really keen to work out what is going wrong and if there is anything that I can do?

my website is <URL REMOVED> and I have a multitude of websites and this is very important. I would be most appreciative of anyone who could offer help?

Thanks in advance.

pvgool · Oct 21, 2010

heath4n said:
I noticed that DMOZ refers to us when we were much older and our business has diversified significantly since then along with moving.
I updated through DMOZ around 4 weeks ago and know that it said that it should take around 2 weeks. Nothing seems to have changed so i thought I would resubmit my changes but now it says that the website is not found?

I notice a few misunderstandings, let me try to explain
1) You can not update a website listing in DMOZ. You can only suggest us to have a new look at a website. An editor will decide based on the current listing, the website and the information you provided in the suggestion what needs to be done.
2) Nowhere do we provide any timeline. Although suggestions for an update normaly are processed rather quickly (few days to a few weeks) it happens ofetn enough that it will take longer (few months).
3) The message "website not found" means that it is not listed in the category you are trying to suggest the update in. This can be the result of two actions (most probably as a result of your first update suggestion). The website is either moved to another category (it might be listed there already or it is waiting for a new review by an other editor when the acting editor does not have access to the new category) or during the evaluation of the update suggestion it was decided that the website in its current form is not listable in DMOZ and the website is removed.

I'm really keen to work out what is going wrong and if there is anything that I can do?

There is nothing going wrong and there is nothing you can do. You told us about a website that has changed (notice that ownership of the website is not relevant to us, you can suggest updates for all websites), that is all we ask from people.

heath4n · Oct 25, 2010

Thanks for getting back to me.

1. I filled out a form, I didn't realise that you don't use that but use it as a means to go and check out the website again to draw up the description.
2. I'm sorry but I didn't understand what you meant here. I didn't understand " it happens ofetn enough that it will take longer (few months).", could you please explain again.
3. I did check to see if we were listed under the correct directory but when I do a search on the company it just tells me that i'm still in the artarmon section which we moved away from 8 years ago.

Thanks again for your help.

pvgool said:
I notice a few misunderstandings, let me try to explain
1) You can not update a website listing in DMOZ. You can only suggest us to have a new look at a website. An editor will decide based on the current listing, the website and the information you provided in the suggestion what needs to be done.
2) Nowhere do we provide any timeline. Although suggestions for an update normaly are processed rather quickly (few days to a few weeks) it happens ofetn enough that it will take longer (few months).
3) The message "website not found" means that it is not listed in the category you are trying to suggest the update in. This can be the result of two actions (most probably as a result of your first update suggestion). The website is either moved to another category (it might be listed there already or it is waiting for a new review by an other editor when the acting editor does not have access to the new category) or during the evaluation of the update suggestion it was decided that the website in its current form is not listable in DMOZ and the website is removed.

There is nothing going wrong and there is nothing you can do. You told us about a website that has changed (notice that ownership of the website is not relevant to us, you can suggest updates for all websites), that is all we ask from people.

motsa · Oct 25, 2010

2. I'm sorry but I didn't understand what you meant here. I didn't understand " it happens ofetn enough that it will take longer (few months).", could you please explain again.

He means that, while we try to review update requests fairly quickly, it can sometimes be a few months before a particular update request will be reviewed by an editor.

3. I did check to see if we were listed under the correct directory but when I do a search on the company it just tells me that i'm still in the artarmon section which we moved away from 8 years ago.

Don't use the search. (The search database can be out-of-date.) Actually go to the category where you think your site is listed and look. The actual categories are up-to-date so if you see your site in a category, then it's listed in that category. If it's not the right category for your site, then you can submit an update request for it asking for it to be moved to the right one.

heath4n · Oct 27, 2010

Hi Motsa,

Thanks for getting back to me.

I looked directly and found that I am still in the wrong category.

This is my problem, I can't submit the form anymore. It just says website not found.

I can find it in the directory but I can't submit the form to change it.

Again, I thank you for your time.

motsa said:
He means that, while we try to review update requests fairly quickly, it can sometimes be a few months before a particular update request will be reviewed by an editor.

Don't use the search. (The search database can be out-of-date.) Actually go to the category where you think your site is listed and look. The actual categories are up-to-date so if you see your site in a category, then it's listed in that category. If it's not the right category for your site, then you can submit an update request for it asking for it to be moved to the right one.

pvgool · Oct 27, 2010

As I said before that message is only shown when the url (website) is not listed in the category.
If you get this message while theulr is listed in the category we might have found a bug.
Could you send me a PM with the category (full url) and the website you are trying to change. [do not post them in the forum]
I will than see if we have a bug.

motsa · Oct 27, 2010

It works for me when I try it on that site in that category, heath4n, so there doesn't seem to be any bug here. Make sure that you're submitting the request from the exact category where you can actually see the site, and copy and paste the URL from the actual listing.

broadview · Nov 12, 2010

I'm sorry but I didn't understand what you meant here. I didn't understand " it happens often enough that it will take longer (few months).", could you please explain again.

jimnoble · Nov 12, 2010

broadview said:
I'm sorry but I didn't understand what you meant here. I didn't understand " it happens often enough that it will take longer (few months).", could you please explain again.

Most update requests are processed within a few days but it sometimes takes a lot longer than that before some volunteer does so.

If you've raised an update request, please remember that processed and accepted aren't the same thing at all; many are declined because they are contra our guidelines or SOP.

Updating Directory Issues

heath4n

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pvgool

kEditall/kCatmv

heath4n

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motsa

heath4n

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pvgool

kEditall/kCatmv

motsa

broadview

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jimnoble

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