www.winehub24.com

Hi,

I would be really grateful if somebody could tell me of the status of this site that I submitted for a friend on 2nd May 2002. The category I submitted to was http://dmoz.org/Regional/Europe/United_Kingdom/Business_and_Economy/Shopping/Food/Beverages/Wine/

Many Thanks, Tim

It was declined on the grounds that you take orders for other people's products and don't have a warehouse of your own.

Thanks Jim for your very prompt response. Much appreciated.

I take on board the reason given and am very grateful for the feedback. I understand that affiliate sites are not welcome in DMOZ but I have to admit that I have always had a different perception as to what is meant by an affiliate site. My understanding has always been that affiliate sites are those whose sole pupose is to sign up with affilaite schemes and promote them. Is there no place for a site that expresses an unbiased opinion and then has made the effort to bring together all the suppliers so products from different companies can be handled in one place, especially when not all the suppliers pay a fee?

Or have I got the wrong end of the stick here and the site was declined because it was in an inappropriate category and should have been submitted to the following category?
http://dmoz.org/Recreation/Food/Drink/Wine/Guides_and_Directories/United_Kingdom/

Tim

First of all, sorry for skipping over the 'for a friend' words. In my response, please change the person from you to s/he /images/icons/smile.gif.

It's got a shopping cart, so Shopping would be the right place were it acceptable.

I note from another forum that you are planning on applying to become an editor. I'm not involved in vetting would be editors but be truthful about your aspirations. Honesty is highly valued in ODP.

Best of luck, Jim

I knew it was a small world but not that small!

No, it genuinely is a friend! I have no affiliation with the site other than the fact that we are located in the same building. I am just doing it as a favour to build up my own experience (which is building rapidly). I can asure you my intentions are pure (and no I am not just saying that). The category I will be applying for would be completely unrelated to this site.

Do I take it that the site does not stand a chance as is? Any suggestion to make it more compatable would be appreciated.

" be truthful about your aspirations. Honesty is highly valued in ODP. "

Tim,

Let me start my saying that I personally think this is a very good site and is of value to anyone buying wine in the UK. I have done the MW exam, and have more than a passing knowledge in wine.

However...by being less than open you have undermined your own credibility. As well as the point that jimnoble makes about your application to be an editor, I looked up the pedigree of the wine site.

It is registered by, and listed as, a client of EBS-Europe, whose list of clients is at

http://www.ebs-europe.com/clients/index.asp

The balance of probability is that they do not get someone "located in the same building" who wants to build up their own experience, to input sites to DMOZ. Whilst this maybe your position, you can perhaps understand why readers of this board, hardened by years of fighting against the tide of spam, feel a little sceptical.

However, I hope you do get your site listed.

In my opinion the site would be suitable - you have your own shopping cart and secure server so I guess that would be fine. I have re-added your site to the submission queue with a note saying that I feel it is fine - it will then be up to the editor who reviews the site as to whether it gets included.

Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Actually the secure server is licensed under a different name than the sites name.

But I also think it's a worthy site and should be listed. I enjoyed wondering through the wine content and found it informative.

At risk of digging myself deeper –

I apologise to all if I am appearing to be deceptive but it was certainly not intended. I do have some SEO experience but I am using wine hub to build up both my SEO experience as well as ODP experience. My own site was kindly listed by someone in the Nicely Designed Sites category sometime ago (which was built by EBS-Europe with whom I have a family connection and is how I have got to know wine hub).

In terms of wanting to become an editor, I feel that getting some experience and even daring to try out a few forums for the first time to get a feel for things and perhaps even build up some credibility (which I have obviously completely failed to do) might have increased my chances of being accepted in due course. I hate spam as well and I would like to become an editor so I can give back something to a community that has helped my (property) business along and I hope will continue to help. I appreciate there is a conflict of interest between wanting to do SEO and wanting to be an editor but I am sensible enough to realise that spamming will always catch up with the perpetrator and if you want to survive in the long term it is not a wise strategy. It is a shame that all I have ended up doing is leaving myself with a mountain to climb.

Many thanks for the constructive comments and to TotalXsive for adding the site back into the Q.

My last response was somewhat terse. I had a clamour (I think that's the collective noun) of grandchildren waiting for me to take the dogs swimming.

Whilst getting wet, I decided to do what totalxsive has already done in the meantime.

So the site will be re-examined, but please don't take that as a promise that it'll be listed.