Web Site Titles in DMOZ directory

For the second time mine has been changed in this category

http://dmoz.org/Business/Financial_Services/Insurance/Employment/

Instead of it reading. Insurance Jobs Board it now reads the co trading name instead .

Question ...who makes these changes ? as I certainly have not.

I have reported this as possible abuse because we have a good site with a good url that does what it says on the tin so to speak and this is very frustrating. I amended it myself last time this occured. but this time I shall see what dmoz have to say about it.

Does DMOZ data power alexa at all as this has also changed ? to our co name.

does it seem like sabotage to any one here? Will it affect our rankings ( we have 10s of no 1 2 3's across the search engines and hundreds of first page listings) as dmoz is important for google and other directories

Any advices as to what I should do would be appreciated

http://www.insurancejobsboard.com
Thank you

It is absolutely appropriate for a listing to use the name of the company as the title.

The clickable link that you provided to your URL does not work.

The clickable link that you provided for the category does not work.

Nonetheless, I looked at the site and the editing record. On the bottom of the Contact Us page I found: © 2004 E-Jobs Board Ltd. All Rights Reserved. This is the company name, and in Business, we almost always list websites by the company name. This is covered extensively in our editing guidelines, which are a public document located at http://editors.dmoz.org/guidelines/ and the part that deals specifically with titles can be found at http://editors.dmoz.org/guidelines/describing.html#titles

In my opinion, the title as listed is correct.

that may be the case but we were submitted as insurance jobs board and that is what we are known as and were listed as. insurance jobs board is the trading name of the limited company.

so I am confused as who did this or why it was changed

any further info appreciated

Who is irrelevant. It was an ODP editor.
Why is simple: to be guidelines compliant.

We change about 99% of the submitted titles and descriptions that are submitted. We are under no obligation to use them because we are not a website listing service. We craft titles and descriptions in compliance with our guidelines.

This is a common source of misunderstanding. When people suggest a web site to us, such as you did, it does not obligate us to use any of the words that came with the suggestion. We are not a listing service for webmasters. We view them as a starting point. It is the same thing with URL Updates. Most of them get tossed out because people us ethem to try and keyword-stuff titles and descriptions.

It was changed incorrectly by someone who is no longer an editor, and as part of ongoing quality control it was fixed in March. Please do not submit any more updates asking for it to by changed back, that might be viewed as spam.

Editors decide how to list a site: that is we change the tiltle and description of a suggested site.
Read the description of that category http://dmoz.org/Business/Financial_Services/Insurance/Employment/desc.html
"When writing your site's title please ensure it is the same as your organization"

Confused..

Call our office the phones are answered insurance jobs board how many times does it say it on the site plenty and yet one ref to e jobs board means it can be changed. We are an insurance jobs board its all that we do ! opinions here seem conflicting from to tough its changed again! to it was an error first time it happened and a dmoz mistake.

I do hope this matter can be resolved quickly

Any further advice and guidance appreciated

Thankyou

mzb64 said:

I do hope this matter can be resolved quickly

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There is nothing to resolve.
We use the name of the company as title, not the brand they are using.
And the name of your company is: E-Jobsboard Ltd

There's nothing to resolve.

The listing, as it is, has been reviewed by multiple editors. In their opinion, it complies with ODP guidelines, and is best for our customers.

THAT'S all that matters to us. That's ALL that matters to us. That's all that MATTERS to us. That's all that matters to US.

You can make a list of things that matter to you. You can represent them on your site and in your advertising however you wish. We will not hold you accountable.

Please allow us the same liberty.

It certainly isn't my intention to raise hackles which is what this posting appears to have done so apologies if that is the case.

I was asking a bonafide question as to why it had been changed. I do find it curious that this has happened b4 and it was changed back.

My category has no editor so I was indeed surprised and delighted that it was listed with ease you hear people moaning all the time about waiting etc I am not here to moan just seeking clarification.

I was worried that a potential competitor had done it. I work hard to run my site and it provides a valuable service keeping and retaining talent in an already skills short market. Only today another 1000+ people have lost thier insurance jobs. If my site goes part way to helping any of them find employment then we are happy.



Melanie

No hackles have been raised. At least not on our end.

I can appreciate you wondering why, when the title had been changed, it was changed back again, but that was in order to correct an error. Last time you submitted a request to change the title to Insurance Jobs Board, an editor approved the change not realising that it was contrary to guidelines. Those things happen, and it's no big deal but we try to fix those errors as quickly as possible.

So there has been no abuse, neither from the editor who changed the title to Insurance Jobs Board and definitely not from the editor who changed it back. You may rest assured that we're not trying to sabotage your rankings

I appreciate all that has been said here by the editors and mods. However I do think that it is odd that it has been my site that has been singled out. In my category there are at least 3 others that carry other company names on them as the holding group or company yet these have not been touched. Not to mention in the main job search category some 40/50 that are owned by PLCs and media companies yet these too have not been touched.

Your own suggest a url form to submit on dmoz says this.

http://www.dmoz.com/cgi-bin/add.cgi?where=Business/Financial_Services/Employment

Title of Site:
Please supply a short and descriptive title.

Always opt for the official name of the site.
Do not use ALL CAPITAL letters.
Exclude promotional language in the title.


"the official name of our site is insurance jobs board" always has been thats what we do.

We have even be recognised for it . Best specialist site in the UK awards for the industry.

see here http://www.alljobsuk.com/awards/Norafinalists.shtml

I do feel that the response I have here has been very heavy handed I posted here because I thought I might find assistance not confrontation and abject arrogance. I will be taking this matter further and await feedback from the original abuse request that I posted to dmoz. I only thought that it was odd and needing clarification just a mistake perhaps, now I am not so sure at all. All very curious indeed

You may think there is nothing to resolve... but I do.

My site provides a valuable service and I take it personally when any attempt to sabotage it is made, believe me this is nothing compared to some of the things we have had to contend with Hacking attempts, proxy servers to try to bring about crashing, click fraud, and many other things.

I have sought advices on this and I am assured that something untoward is most likely the case, this has been backed up in a anonymous phone call and an email from within ranks.

I know you are not there to provide a listing service to webmasters that has been voiced many times over, however it is supposed to be a quality directory and edited as such. How does changing our title in the manner it has been changed serve to deliver an informative entry into the directory. It does not say what we do how will the insurance job seeker know that we are a site they should be looking at.

We have taken 18 months to get our site to the top of the search engines through sheer hard work. You guys can make or break a site but it should be done fairly and ethically changes as drastic as this could break ours in the rankings despite what you say. It is well know that google is replacing some of the results with dmoz titles and not the sites own in serps. What effect that will have only time will tell.

So I shall wait and see what happens next.

You have been assured - by several editors that it was not abuse - that the title is correct and it will not be changed - I think further discussion is futile.

We have rules for how we title websites, and it is in many case not the same as what the web sites owners thinks the title should be.

http://www.dmoz.org/guidelines/describing.html#titles
Do give the official name of the business or entity as the title, if the site is about the business, organization, or other entity (e.g. a company's home page).

For example everyone calls IBM - IBM - we call it IBM Corporation

The title is not there to give information about what the site does.

If you feel that other sites are not titled correctly - you may post in http://resource-zone.com/forum/index.php?showforum=12

Many sites have been listed with incorrect titles, due to lack of experience of some editors. Many of the sites that I first reviewed I did incorrectly - hopefully I went back and corrected then later. That's not justification for making other mistakes.

anonymous phone call and an email from within ranks.

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And that of course has absolutely no value.

You guys can make or break a site

Click to expand...

No we can't - that a myth.

So I shall wait and see what happens next.

Click to expand...

I doubt anything will happen - at this point any editor who tries to change the title back again will have to have a very good reason to go against this decision.

If you believe all the editors that posted here and the other editors that changed your site's title are all competitors in a conspiracy to do you in - I guess you should file an abuse complaint.

>It does not say what we do how will the insurance job seeker know that we are a site they should be looking at.

That is just flat not so, and anyone reading the title and description of the site will know it is not so.

Why do people tell us such STUPID lies?

Hi all,

Have to say I can see why the poster is aggrieved here.

With DMOZ editors being so busy you do have to question why an editor would visit a category where no editor is currently appointed and pick just on this one site and change the title whilst the others remain unchanged. You can quickly see why the poster feels somehow picked on.

As im interested in becoming an editor myself I have also looked at this site in its category and would like to add the following comments:-


http://www.dmoz.org/Business/Financial_Services/Insurance/Employment/

You can quickly see the 15 sites listed. Of these 4 others do not carry the company name either but use the website name. A quick check on the site and whois confirms. They are:-

Insurance Job Channel - Yorkshire Place Ltd
Insurancedayjobs.com - Informa Ltd
Reinsurance and Insurance - Linda Platzer Inc
Insurance-jobs.net - IJOC Inc


When you look at the job site main index in DMOZ:-

http://www.dmoz.org/Regional/Europe/United_Kingdom/Business_and_Economy/Employment/Job_Search/

You see the general sites listed but again the following 7 sites listed use the site address name rather than the company name. They are:-

Job Search - Hotgroup Plc
Charity Job - Popcorn UK Ltd
Totaljobs.com - Potential Job Board Company Ltd
Sales Vacancies - Picscesdrb Ltd (correct spelling)
3W Jobs UK - 3W Ltd
1Job.co.uk - Direct Recruit Ltd
Jobs Zoo - Maximum Technology International Ltd

The poster is going to feel aggrieved here when on the face of it its ok for “Reinsurance and Insurance” , “Job Search”, “Charity Job” and “1Job” to use keyword driven domain names in the listing rather than their official company name but its not ok for “Insurance Jobs Board” to be listed as this. This is a double standard hence why it looks unfair.

AS a resolve imo editors should either change the site listing back to the title it is known in the market as which is the name of the site “Insurance Job Board” or change the 11 sites above to their company name so that the posters site is not looked on as being selected against.

As for making or breaking a site, which ever way you look at this an editor’s involvement in changing a title can affect things. Editors know full well that Google is starting to use the DMOZ listed information directly in its search results and that a listing in DMOZ creates a good number of back links. Where a keyword anchor text name is used it helps the site under those key words in the search.

So what’s it to be? Change it back, update the index or operate a double standard?
You reply will be most interesting

Regards

Kate

Kate, you should read the full thread. The webmaster lied time and again about the actual situation and the actual circumstances. On the other hand, I have looked at the edit logs, and the editors involved were NOT in competition -- there is no actual evidence of abuse, except by the webmaster.

If you think, based on your understanding of the editors' policies, that there are other listings that need to be changed, this is not the place to suggest them -- post them in the "abuse report" thread (which is a bit of a misnomer, any kind of quality control issue goes there.)

If the concern is Google -- then -- sorry, but that is not and will not be an issue here. Take that up with Google. They have, so far as I can tell, significantly changed the way they used the ODP three or four times already -- and they may change again tomorrow. (I should add: in addition to what Google has done, there are half-a-dozen other recurring theories floating around the SERP perp world about what Google does, that I believe have always been total fantasies.)

We cannot and will not and must not adjust the way sites are listed in reaction to what we think any other site -- search engine or licensee or otherwise -- is doing today.

With DMOZ editors being so busy ...

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Editors do not just take sites, review and list them, once an editor gets experience, there is considerable other work to do. One of those things is quality control - which involve things like reviewing older listings, and make them compliant with newer rule for listings.

Another task is reviewing newer editor's work to ensure that one who is inexperienced is doing the job correctly. In this case, an editor without experience listed the site incorrectly, a senior editor found the error and corrected it. Someone [perhaps the site owner] later submitted an update to change it back, a different inexperienced editor accepted that update as given. Another [different] senior editor then found it had been changed incorrectly and changed it back. Four different editors, four changes back and forth.

Dear Hutcheson,

Kate, you should read the full thread. The webmaster lied time and again about the actual situation and the actual circumstances

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With respect i read the thread from the start. Its a hard line to take to say that this poster has lied time and time again. I simply do not agree with you. This posters website was listed in DMOZ as "Insurance Jobs Board" the site domain name is www.insurancejobsboard.com and they are known in the market as this. The title in DMOZ should be the same. It was another DMOZ editor that later changed it. The poster has not lied about this because it is FACT. The listing has been this way for some time, why change it now and why just this one site?


Dear Bobrat,

Editors do not just take sites, review and list them, once an editor gets experience, there is considerable other work to do. One of those things is quality control - which involve things like reviewing older listings, and make them compliant with newer rule for listings.

Click to expand...

OK, so lets take it that this was the case here. An update from an editor doing some "Quality Control". So this editor had a look in on the Insurance sector at the 15 sites listed. Rather than change the 4 of the 15 that clearly dont use the company name they thought they would just pick on "Insurance Jobs Board" WHY? After all if your trying to convince the poster that its a quality control issue why didnt they adjust the 4 others? or the 7 others in the main Job board index?

From the editors answers here so far, you must admit that a double standard is in action here. You cant on the one hand let 11 sites keep a keyword driven domain name as the title and hit just one site hard on the basis that its Quality Control - that is just not right!.

The posters site should be restored in your directory back to "Insurance Jobs Board" - This title clearly defines the site as to what it is, what its domain is and what it trades as.

Await your advises

Kate

My honest thoughts were that I would have stuck with the Insurance Jobs Board title. But I have reviewed the notes and am completely 100% certain that the changes were made/confirmed by editors with more experience in this particular part of the Directory and are backed up completely in the Guidelines. I am also certain that those editors could have no possible self-interest. The titling convention within DMOZ does vary from branch to branch. In this particular part of the directory the preference is by all accounts for the business name. That other sites in the same category may not follow the same convention is not really relevant - two wrongs don't make a right, and we have no interest whatsoever in marketing and competition matters, this isn't the purpose of what we do and any commercial benefits that accrue are entirely unintentional on our part. There is no error according to the Guidelines, there is no abuse I can see, there is no case to answer, the listing is correct, and no amount of argument will change that.

Other listings not consistent with the company name method of titling are not technically wrong - it could still be supported by the Guidelines - and if editors are performing quality control and have limited time available to them it is not unusual to bring some up to date with preferences in a branch and leave others that are not totally wrong (e.g. don't need a description change as well) for another session which could be the next day or the next year. It doesn't mean there is anything sinister going on.