What to do now?

Ok, So I submitted a site to DMOZ a year ago, (in the flash gaming / portal section I believe).

I was crossing my fingers patiently for months on end before I actually forgot all about the submission, and focus on other things I could do in the mean time. I recently check our sites PageRank and for some reason I was sure we listed in DMOZ. The results of today however have confirmed otherwise.

I think that this may have been because I used a ropey Pagerank tool in the past, that set everything to 'Yes' for DMOZ listing . Nevertheless how do I contact someone that may be able to investigate what I did wrong with my submission (if that is the case)? Is there something I can login to?

I have used my sites url and searched the DMOZ directory and it's not there. Is there anything I can do to avoid waiting another year?

Thanks for reading..

Is there anything I can do to avoid waiting another year?

Click to expand...

No.

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.

So how can I determine whether my application has failed or is still pending?

I believe if I keep submitting the same site, it will be classed as spam...

Also, I understand the constraints to which your team is working, however having to wait 2 years, without any form of confirmation seems a bit harsh. I want to be clear here, that I am not asking to jump the que or, be dealt with quickly. Instead I just need a way to determine what I have done wrong, if I have done something wrong?

We list listable websites - eventually. You can check for yourself if your website is listable by scoring it against our guidelines .

Some elements to the criteria are subjective. In addition to that the site has gone through many changes over the course of a year. It's hard to say whether someone would fail us on this criteria over the many iterations of the site.

What is the consquence if I make 3 more submissions. (the site covers three broad categories). Would I get banned for this?

Three suggestions is very likely to be termed "aggressive".

The ONE suggestion that the submittal policies allow, a year after the last one, is not likely to be termed spam.**

[**caveat--unless, of course, the site itself is "primarily intended to drive commercial traffic elsewhere"--in which case even the first suggestion was spam.]

bugger, then I guess I have a problem.

My site covers three major categories..

How about 1 or 2 submissions a year?

Stick with what the submittal policies allow--ONE category--and you won't incur the penalties described in the submittal policies.

If the reviewing editors think the site would fit better in some other category (or multiple categories) they can put it there--once they've found it (which your suggestion helps).

Why would you do that? Suggestions don't expire. If it hasn't been reviewed, it still sits in a pool which can be accessed by any editor who decides to edit there.

Instead of worrying about resuggesting your site, invest that time and energy into adding unique content and marketing in other areas. You'll come out farther ahead.

You might want to think about this.

I've looked at a lot of sites that their owners thought should be listed in multiple categories. And in my experience, an obsession with multiple listings STRONGLY correlates with sites that are -- unlistable at all anywhere even once.

Stand back. Take a deep breath. Decide what to do with your site if it turns out the ODP has already banned it completely. Then forget about the ODP completely.

And go do what you've decided. The suggestion has been made, so it'll show up on the ODP radar--eventually. Whatever and whenever the ODP reviewers decide, you'll have done the right thing in the meantime. If the site is listed, it'll be a better site for your work. And if the site is banned, you'll have made the right decision and done the appropriate things, as quickly as you could.