Want to submit a site

I don't understand how to submit a site. I am following the steps but it tells me to come back later.? Am I doing anything wrong?

Our server is currently not working. Please check the announcement in our announcement forum for more details. We will update that announcement one we have new information.

No you are not doing anything wrong. At this point the servers at dmoz have had some technical difficulties which are outlined in the Announcement Thread in this forum. At this time, unfortunately no one is able to suggest a site to the directory. Hopefully things will be back to normal shortly but at this point its impossible to predict how much longer the problem will take to correct. Please be patient and check back in the announcement thread linked above for an update.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Doesn't make sense at all

I've been tracking this "server issue" for awhile now. This doesn't really make ANY sense at all. And I'm looking forward to seeing your replies. Why would a server not be fixed by now? If your dmoz website was down, would you not take aggressive action to correct it!??

Hopefully I'm incorrect on this, but:
1. Dragging this on for as long as you have makes me think that maybe you are simply trying to "catch up" with all of the new submissions made in the last 12 months. This way you stop all NEW submissions but don't want to "irritate" all new ones (like me). Obviously not very fair to "the rest of us". Might there be any truth to this?

2. To not be able to submit a new site to the directory is obviously a significant issue for "some" (i.e., newbies). And to continue saying "we have no idea, absolutely no idea when it will be fixed..." seems very strange and, frankly, unprofessional.

3. Why are you not able to get capable tech/professionals on this problem and fix the darn thing already?!!

Please reply. Thanks.

1. Dragging this on for as long as you have makes me think that maybe you are simply trying to "catch up" with all of the new submissions made in the last 12 months. This way you stop all NEW submissions but don't want to "irritate" all new ones (like me). Obviously not very fair to "the rest of us". Might there be any truth to this?

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Aboslutely none at all. The ODP is unavailable to editors as well as potential site suggesters.

To not be able to submit a new site to the directory is obviously a significant issue for "some" (i.e., newbies). And to continue saying "we have no idea, absolutely no idea when it will be fixed..." seems very strange and, frankly, unprofessional.

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Strange or unprofessional as it may seem to you, it is the truth. Would you like us to lie to you?

Why are you not able to get capable tech/professionals on this problem and fix the darn thing already?!!

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AOL techs are already working on the problem.

justbadco1 said:

Why would a server not be fixed by now? If your dmoz website was down, would you not take aggressive action to correct it!??

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1-3 were answered but to clarify this part:
What makes you think no one is actively (or agressively) working on fixing this problem? Have you considered the fact that it is quite possible that problems breed problems? Perhaps (and I have no idea, I am just a plain old editor not a techie) one or more problems were fixed which lead to the discovery of other problems that needed immediate attention. It would only make sense to me that if you are down anyway, why not fix all the problems at once rather than just the most urgent ones.
Believe me editors are just as upset by the downtime as everyone else and are biting a the bits to get back in and back to work. There is nothing any of us can do at this point, its in the hands of the technicians who I have every confidence are working hard to repair, test and get things back up and running as fast as they possibly can. I sure wouldn't want to be back up one day only to crash again right away. I would rather be down a month and come back better than ever.

Hopefully I'm incorrect on this, but:

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You are, , and it's just as frustrating for we editors who are used to spending a great deal of our free time trying to be of service to others, but, stuff happens, and we all just need to be patient.

Perhaps they are also working on making site submission easier and faster in the approval process? one can hope anyways.

Power to the Tech's ... we're not worthy...we're not worthy...

trying to help out by cheerleading here. i did everything i could now. haha.

...making site submission...

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That would be site suggestion. Ideas from the public are just one source of sites that editors use to build the directory. We're not a listing service for webmasters, we're here to build a useful directory. If you saw the amount of spam that people suggest we list, blatently ignoring all the suggestion instructions, you'd probably want to make it more difficult and slower...

Setting aside the recent problems, the speed of the 'approval process' otherwise known as editorial review, is basically down to the number of editors and the suitability of the suggested sites. Presumably you've been contributing (in some way) to only one side of this equation. Short of fanding a magic new supply of good volunteer editors, or somehow getting people to only suggest listable sites (ideally with approprite titles and descriptions too), I'm afraid I don't see how things could go any faster...

Ok, maybe I'm just a bit irritated by this process. Thanks for following up. BUT it would be nice to be able to get SOME sort of update.
For example:
- AOL has identified 3 primary issues. (These of course, have many sub-issues to work through.)
- AOL began with "x" staff (hoping to correct this within one week) and has added "y" staff to address these issues due to the magnitude of project adn length of time / server down.
- One of the three primary issues has since been fixed.
- The remaining two primary issues will take anywhere from "XX" days/weeks (whatever) to "(insert reseasonable/helpful timeline here)". This, of course, is open to modification.
- Check back for regular status updates (posted as soon as available).

Do you see how this might help you ease the overall tensions and help fend off people like "me"?

Lastly, how much emphasis does AOL place on this issue?
1. Does it impact their BUSINESS and bottom line in any significant way?
2. If it does not, why would/should any of us assume that there's more than one "part-time" techie working on this in between other (more important to the AOL bottom line...) jobs?

Anyway, thanks again for your feedback.

We can't give you what we don't have. When we have something to share, we'll update the announcement thread. Until then, "It's still not available and we currently have no ETA" is really the best we can do.

Remember, take your interest in the ODP being up, multiply that by a hundred thousand or a million or so, and you'll have an idea of what interest the editors have in this.

At the risk of repeating myself, from the perspective of experience working through some very complex problems that were of legitimate concern to my fellow-workers, I'd tend to say something like:

"Those of us who have a vested interest in the site (due to our own personal commitments) would like to know more details. But those of us who have actually had to work on complex problems know how frustrating it is for the people actually doing the work to have to stop doing the work and explain what needs to be done to gawking people who are not actually doing anything to help.

"So I sit on my hands and don't ask status questions, because I'd MUCH rather the people make the next status happen than tell me about the last one. (Enough stupid questions, asked at just the right times, can keep the next status from EVER happening!)

"And I know the people who are working on the problem would prefer it that way also."

Well said, , I think we editors have much more invested in the ODP, timewise and effortwise, than anyone else, and our interest isn't self serving, other than wanting to get back to work, .

I want to submit a site too, but it is not allowing me to do
so at the moment. I am wondering also what happens if
my site is related to more than one group? Do I have
to choose the best fit? Thanks all!

> I want to submit a site too, but it is not allowing me to do so at the moment.
See answer given in post #2 of this thread

> I am wondering also what happens if my site is related to more than one group? Do I have to choose the best fit?
Yes, please choose the best fit.

Any Idea when it will be fixed?

I think I have tried on and off about a month now to submit A site .Is they are general response when this will be online again?

Please refer to the announcement at the top of every forum here. Whenever we have an update, we'll put it there.