What can I do so my site to be listed in DMOZ OPEN DIRECTORY

Dear Editors,

I'm the webmaster for the website http://www.autorental.ro. I submitted on 24th July 2005 this website to what I believed was the correct category in the Open Directory:

http://dmoz.org/Regional/Europe/Romania/Localities/Bucharest/Transportation/Car_Rentals/

I used the following title and description in my submission, which I thought was accurate and objective:

Site URL: http://www.autorental.ro
Title: Autorental Romania
Description: Offers rent a car services in Bucharest and major romanian cities and airports.


I think that my site don't broke any rules (http://dmoz.org/guidelines/include.html#notinclude : Affiliate Marketing Schemes, Identical Mirrors, Redirects and "Cloaked" URLs, Illegal Sites, Site Listings Including Search Results, Product Listings or Site Listings as Notices).

I’m ready to cut any link which you considered to not be property for my site and broke the rules to be admitted.

I think that my site has an useful and valuable informational content that can be very helpful for someone who travel in Romania, so please ad my site in DMOZ OPEN DIRECTORY .

I would very much appreciate a response, and some advice on how I may proceed with this website for it to be included in the Open Directory.

Sincerely
Catalin Rada

As you have already suggested the site, there is nothing more you can do directly with the ODP. You now just have to wait. It may be days, months, or years before a volunteer editor reviews your site. Make sure that when they, or any other surfer, visits the site, it is as good as it can be.

The website is easy. So long as it tells who you are and what you'd be willing to do for money, it counts as "unique (because uniquely authoritative) information about some aspect of human experience." After all, nobody else on earth can tell what you'd do for money (unless, of course, they've already hired you, in which case THEY are the unique authority on just what it is that they pay you to do, and THEY are in the position of being able to create that uniquely authoritative website.)

Unfortunately, the web is cluttered by tens of millions of sites ("doorways", "affiliate banner farms", "marketing" sites) that purport to offer goods and services actually provided by someone else. And, for some reason, travel-related businesses are especially targeted. So ... an editor may not want to deal with the dozens of marketing sites that attempt to push the actual providers of goods and services (hotels, auto rental companies, airlines) out of site. And when the editor DOES want to deal with that, there's no easy way of picking the genuine businesses' sites out from the promotional spammers. We have to look at all of them, one by one.

A combination of these two factors suggests the high probability of a long wait.

Spam: it's not just done to editors, it wastes EVERYBODY's time.

It will, I'm sure eventually be looked at. From July to now is a very short time, and although some sites are reviewed and accepted a few days after suggestion, others may wait longer considerably longer. Auto rentals are in general a problem and require more care and attention from an editor and review times could be longer, since it is quite common for the same company to operate under a number of different names and submit multiple URLs/sites for what is, in the end, the same company.

When we find this happening, especially when it happens multiple times, it does not make us happy.

Thank you for yours’ answers!

I saw myself a few company that operate under a number of different names and have multiple URLs/sites for what is, in the end, the same company.
So I understand that my site must be checked to avoid this thing. But is a little hard to live with the idea that sites which break DMOZ rules are in the Directory and because of them my site or others’ sites are not admitted. I can give you a few URLs/sites which own to the same company, are full of hidden text or hidden links or redirects to another URL/site, but I don’t think that will help my site to get listed. The life is not fair, I know .

Thank you again for your time!
Rada Catalin

It won't help you get listed faster, but removes the unfairness

Take a look at posting in http://resource-zone.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=5453

I'm sorry for the delay. Here is the information about a few sites that I think that breake yours rules:

In this category :
http://dmoz.org/World/Română/Regional/Europa/România/Afaceri_şi_economie/Tranzacţii_imobiliare/
is listed
RomVision Travel Ltd www.romvision.ro/ and on these addresses www.bookarest.com , http://www.bucharest-travel-guide.com/, www.bookarest.net/ (for the last one look at the contact page and you will see the same information) you will find another pages of the same company (is the same pages, the same mobilephone, the same cars and prices, services …). And if you go on this page (is Google cache – cached text only)
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:...n.ro/+rent+a+car+in+romania&hl=en&lr=&strip=1
you will see that the site is full of hidden words.

In this category :
http://dmoz.org/Regional/Europe/Romania/Travel_and_Tourism/Lodging/
is listed
EastComfort Accommodation http://www.eastcomfort.com/ .
Go on these pages (is Google cache – cached text only) :
http://66.249.93.104/search?q=cache...om/+accomodation+in+romania&hl=en&lr=&strip=1

http://66.249.93.104/search?q=cache...x.php+rent+a+car+in+romania&hl=en&lr=&strip=1
and you will see that the site is full of hidden words. And if you go on this page http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=rent+a+car+in+romania
and click on www.eastcomfort.com/transportation/index.php you will see that the site is now being redirected to a different URL.

In this category : http://dmoz.org/Regional/Europe/Romania/Localities/Bucharest/Transportation/Car_Rentals/
is listed

1) AD Tour Rent a Car Bucharest - http://www.rentacar-romania.go.ro/ and on this address http://www.adrom-rentacar.go.ro/ you will find another page of the same company (is the same mobilephone, the same cars and prices, …)

2) Cars4Rent - http://www.cars4rent.ro/ and on these addresses http://www.reservations.ro/ and http://www.bucharest-accommodation.ro/ you will find another pages of the same company (is the same template, mobilephone, the same cars and prices, services …)


In this category : http://dmoz.org/Regional/Europe/Romania/Transportation/Car_Rentals/

is listed Budget - Car Rental and Leasing - http://www.budgetro.ro/

and also

Affordable Car Rental Romania - http://www.romania.affordablecarrental-europe.com/
which is a reseller for Budget (try to get a quotation and you will see this). On bottom of page you will se 4 links (Bucharest, Constanta, Timisoara, Brasov) wich goes to 4 pages wich are almost identic.

I hope this information will help the editors. For me are no matter if these sites are listed in Directory or not (I try to become an editor but you refuse me, so I'm not the one who put this site in Directory and who is responsible for that). It matter very much and it will help me if my site is listed or if you tell me what is wrong with my site and why is not listed (to improve it).
Thank you for yor time!

Thank you for that report.

It matter very much and it will help me if my site is listed or if you tell me what is wrong with my site and why is not listed (to improve it).

Click to expand...

It can take more than three years for an editor to even look at a site, and you have only been waiting a month. Only in rare circumstances do we provide feedback.

catalin said:

I'm sorry for the delay. Here is the information about a few sites that I think that breake yours rules:

In this category :
http://dmoz.org/World/Română/Regional/Europa/România/Afaceri_şi_economie/Tranzacţii_imobiliare/
is listed
RomVision Travel Ltd www.romvision.ro/ and on these addresses www.bookarest.com , http://www.bucharest-travel-guide.com/, www.bookarest.net/ (for the last one look at the contact page and you will see the same information) you will find another pages of the same company (is the same pages, the same mobilephone, the same cars and prices, services …). And if you go on this page (is Google cache – cached text only)
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:...n.ro/+rent+a+car+in+romania&hl=en&lr=&strip=1
you will see that the site is full of hidden words.

Click to expand...

A site having mirrors is not a problem and not against DMOZ guidelines.
Suggesting these mirrors is against these guidelines.
If by accident one or more of these mirrors has made it into the directory please let us know where. [on did and I requested it to be changed to romvision.ro

We only judge a site based on its visible content. Hidden words are of no interest during the review proces unless they make it impossible to see the real content or if they make normal navigation impossible.

Like I said before: for me are no matter if these sites are listed in Directory or not.
Sorry for wasting your time and my time, also! but on post August 10, 2005, 11:05 AM bobrat (see up): write: "It won't help you get listed faster, but removes the unfairness".
Thank you for yor time!