Website being listed on DMOZ

I started submitting my new Site on DMOZ 9 months ago and have waited 4 months the first shot and now 5 months. I am wondering if there is a secret to being listed in DMOZ? I read threads on how to " beat" the system and be listed in days but that is not my style. Just want to understand what to do the correct and proper way. Please advise if you would be so kind. Our site is <URL removed> ( no www in front )

<Pseudo sig removed>

No secret. Just suggest your website once to the one best category in accord with our T&C. If it's listable, we'll eventually list it. Attempts to game the system are likely to be counter productive.

You might have misunderstood our objectives and how we operate here. ODP is a volunteer organisation building a directory as a hobby. Editors edit where they wish, when they wish and as much as they wish within the constraints of their permissions. We have no schedules or systems to force people to do work that they don't volunteer to do. ODP is not primarily a free listing service for website owners and it does not attempt to process their listing suggestions within the time scales desired by them.

Some volunteer will process your listing suggestion in time but we can't predict who or when that might be. Elapsed times can range from a few days to a few years. There is no need to re-suggest your website and doing so could be counter-productive because a later suggestion overwrites any earlier one.

Thank you I guess. I am not sure as information published throughout the web contradict your statements about listing times. We waited 4 months and now 5 months. Not really sure what else to do in order for us to be recognized. I guess I should thank you, but I am not convinced the time you spent responding is more than the time it would take to assist my request. I know doing business the right way and avoiding the "scams " pays off, just impatient I guess on such a long delay when a fellow Investigator launched his site three weeks ago and asked to be submitted and wala... He is listed.

Sorry if I sound pissed. Dont mean to take out y frustration on you sir.

jimnoble said:

No secret. Just suggest your website once to the one best category in accord with our T&C. If it's listable, we'll eventually list it. Attempts to game the system are likely to be counter productive.

You might have misunderstood our objectives and how we operate here. ODP is a volunteer organisation building a directory as a hobby. Editors edit where they wish, when they wish and as much as they wish within the constraints of their permissions. We have no schedules or systems to force people to do work that they don't volunteer to do. ODP is not primarily a free listing service for website owners and it does not attempt to process their listing suggestions within the time scales desired by them.

Some volunteer will process your listing suggestion in time but we can't predict who or when that might be. Elapsed times can range from a few days to a few years. There is no need to re-suggest your website and doing so could be counter-productive because a later suggestion overwrites any earlier one.

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I am not sure as information published throughout the web contradict your statements about listing times.

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I am not convinced the time you spent responding is more than the time it would take to assist my request.

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I rather wish I hadn't bothered to respond now.

jimnoble said:

I rather wish I hadn't bothered to respond now.

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I always wonder why people ask a question and - if you take the time to answer - say you should not have answered but spent your time doing something else. Maybe it is because me being an engineer, but I don't find that approach the most logical thing to do.

Hehe, you should have seen my unposted initial answer .

Thank you all for your lack of sarcasm and understanding to my simple question as to why after 9 months our site is not listed yet others are listed in just three weeks. Your complete description as to the process has been appreciated and understood fully. Continue on. I am less than impressed by your ability to communicate process and empathy toward someone with less knowledge trying to undertsand.

jimnoble said:

No secret. Just suggest your website once to the one best category in accord with our T&C. If it's listable, we'll eventually list it. Attempts to game the system are likely to be counter productive.

You might have misunderstood our objectives and how we operate here. ODP is a volunteer organisation building a directory as a hobby. Editors edit where they wish, when they wish and as much as they wish within the constraints of their permissions. We have no schedules or systems to force people to do work that they don't volunteer to do. ODP is not primarily a free listing service for website owners and it does not attempt to process their listing suggestions within the time scales desired by them.

Some volunteer will process your listing suggestion in time but we can't predict who or when that might be. Elapsed times can range from a few days to a few years. There is no need to re-suggest your website and doing so could be counter-productive because a later suggestion overwrites any earlier one.

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Hi Jom,

don't you guuys think that my now (2011) you could have some "status" that we can check if it's still pending or has been rejected - something! anything! for crying out loud! Or pay a fee for fast approval - are you going to carry on this blindfolded method religiously forever or whats the newest in making DMOZ more "social"?

webdesigbsp said:

don't you guuys think that my now (2011) you could have some "status" that we can check if it's still pending or has been rejected - something! anything! for crying out loud! Or pay a fee for fast approval - are you going to carry on this blindfolded method religiously forever or whats the newest in making DMOZ more "social"?

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We tried providing status for suggested sites. It was a failure. It was a waste of our time and people were still not happy when knowing the status. "why was my site rejected?" "why is my site still waiting review?" were the common questions when told their status. It did not solve any problem. And it did make people who suggested sites even more frustrtated and it did make editors frustrated.
Paying a fee will never happen. There are many other directories where you can pay if you want such a service. DMOZ is free and always will be free.

If you do not like how DMOZ operates there are several things you can do
1) do not suggest your website; noone is forcing you to do so and the gain of being listed is minor and mostly not noticalble
2) start a directory that offers what you are looking for; do not complain that other are not willing to do what you want them to do but start doing it yourself

Wow did not realize what a high and mighty horse DMOZ rides. "If you dont us, go elsewhere" really? Sounds like the technician who does not want the customer to know his name in case he does something wrong 9 god forbid he has to actually answer for his actions ) perhaps Politics is the place some of the editors belong. I am dissappointed in any person not being held accountable for thier actions. Sounds like we will not be listed as our site was suggested 9 months ago. A Private Investigator site with no " errors" and accepted elsewhere is hardly the kind of site that get rejected for content so I suppose under PVGOOL's answer, we will never know why nor should we concern ourselves with it. Well I got that off my chest> I am sure since we are new to the SEO and website arena, we will take your suggestion to heart and look elsewhere. So sorry to have used this open forum to ask questions about process.

> Sounds like the technician who does not want the customer to know his name
Except that people who suggest websites are not the customers of DMOZ.
People who use the directory to search for information are the customers.
People who suggest websites are suppliers. And many of them do not bother to read what the customer (in this case DMOZ) is interested in and just send all kind of junk.

> I am dissappointed in any person not being held accountable for thier actions
Editors are held accountable for their actions.
But it is accountablity to their peers (the other editors) the legal owner (AOL) and our customers (the people who use the directory to find information).

> Sounds like we will not be listed as our site was suggested 9 months ago
The date a site is suggested does not have any influence on a site being accepted or not. It does not even have any influence on when a site will be reviewed (we do not process suggestions in a fifo basis).

> we will never know why nor should we concern ourselves with it
You can read the DMOZ guidelines to see if a site is listable or not.
If a site is not listable according the guidelines it will be rejected.
If a site is listable it is either listed (you can see that yourself) or it is waiting review.
So in effect each person can know the status of the site they suggested by reading the guidelines (perferably before they suggest the website).

> So sorry to have used this open forum to ask questions about process.
This form is intended to ask questions about the process.
The forum is not intended to ask questions about single websites.