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Posted
Can you please give me more information as to why it is not listable - we have recently taken over the marketing of this site.
  • 4 weeks later...
Posted

Hello

Over the past month I have emailed two of the editors of the category (as near as possible) in which my client submitted his site to ascertain if our assumption on why the site was not listed was correct - we have not had a reply as yet.

 

Our assumed reason as to why this site was not listed has now been rectified.

The http://www.jacketsusa.com site has superceded the marketing of the "jacket/coat" products on the parent company website. All "jacket/coat" content from the parent website has been removed.

 

My question is:

Can I resubmit my client's site to the aforementioned category/ies now?

 

I appreciate your time...

Regards

karyno

  • Meta
Posted

No, no clarification is needed. No, you may not resubmit. The words in the submittal policy about "submitting related sites", and the dire penalties resulting therefrom, are directed specifically at your situation.

 

The idea that by "removing" information from your site, you could earn MORE visibility in the Open Directory Project, we regard as perverse and malicious. The main corporate site should link to all its content, regardless of how many domain names they have. If THEY don't link to their OWN domains, then why would WE want to? And if they DO, they why would we NEED to?

 

We see this as an abuse of our tolerance for small sites: you should tell your client that this kind of abuse is guaranteed to be counterproductive.

Posted

I wish to point out that my client was not intentionally try to gain more visibility in the ODP by perverse or malicious means.

My client comments:

"I guess the problem has arisen because we created PacificOrigins first with quite a wide range of NZ products but found that a narrow range of products would be more successful, hence jacketsUSA. Given the situation how about we remove PacificOrigins from the internet completely?"

In hindsight we realise that we should have requested the removal of the PacificOrigins site from your index - but this was an oversight rather than an intentional attempt to mislead the ODP.

My questions:

Has the http://www.jacketsusa.com website now been blacklisted by the ODP?

If my client was to remove the Pacific Origins site from the net in favour of the JacketsUSA site would his site be considered for inclusion?

 

I appreciate your time...

 

karyno

  • Meta
Posted

Our approach is to consider, for each company, the URL that gives the most information about that company, which would usually be the company's main site. "Product line vanity domains" are not listed.

 

This frequently doesn't match companies' marketing plans, which is OK with us: we don't offer marketing or promotional services. So we really don't negotiate, so much as explain how and why we do what we do, so that if you try to help by submitting sites, you won't be wasting so much time.

 

Some examples that an editor could choose to list a site:

 

under General merchandise:

(1) "sells coats, widgets, and radioactive beer" -- several disparate product lines, no one dominating the site

(2) "sells products from Elbonia: features line of catskin ski jackets" -- disparate product lines, but most of the site covers one of them.

under "Jackets"

(3) "sells jackets: also offers other products from Elbonia" -- 80% or more of the site is about one product line.

(4) "sells jackets; also offers a handcrafted widget" -- site is, with maybe one exception, all about one product line.

 

Where's the line drawn between cases #2 and #3? The editor will decide based on the website, not the suggested category or description. But the suggestion is not ignored -- it is, at least, a hint of what someone thinks is important about the site. (We don't assume that someone is the webmaster.)

 

I'd list the main company site only; it is the company's job to make sure all of its pages (on that and other domains) are well linked together; and if they don't do it, we certainly won't bother. But with this information, you might review that main page to make sure that the emphasis a visitor will perceive is the same emphasis that the company wants to present. And with not much tweaking, you could probably force the distinction of your choice between case #2 and case #3. Hint: does your navigation menu look like "coats, widgets, klitch, food", or like "coats, other neat products from Elbonia"?

 

We aren't concerned about how many domains the content is spread over, if we can identify that all the domains belong to the same company. (That is, if megacorp.com links to fancyjackets.com to sell its outerwear, but fancyjackets.com DOESN'T link back to megacorp.com, then we might wonder if megacorp.com is just a doorway page.)

  • 3 months later...
Posted

Hello

As earlier indicated my client has now removed the http://www.pacificorigins.com website from the internet - The URL is still active as a courtesy to advise that the shop is now closed. The http://www.jacketsusa.com site has now become the main company site.

In order for me to get the process correct, could someone please confirm that I should now use the Update Listing form for the http://www.pacificorigins.com listing to:

 

Replace an old URL with a new URL as it has changed.

Suggest a new title as the title on the site has changed.

Suggest a new description as the scope of the site has changed.

Suggest a category more appropriate for this site

 

I would also appreciate some assurance that a listing for the http://www.jacketsusa.com website will be considered.

 

I appreciate your time.

Many thanks

Karyn Ogier

  • Editall/Catmv
Posted

I think you've got it. The title we use is generally the business name, which seems to be CountryCoats.com for that site, and you can see the style of the descriptions we prefer in the existing listing.

 

May I suggest that, after the new description, you place the note [http://www.pacificorigins.com/ is closed], so that editors can confirm there is no affiliation to be considered?

  • 6 months later...
Posted

Hello

It has been 6 months since my last post (and update listing request) and I am wondering if I can please have a Site Submission status for this site.

 

Many thanks

karyno

Posted

Hello

As per my post #10 above and following the direction in post #11, I used the Update Listing form for the http://www.pacificorigins.com listing to:

 

Replace an old URL with a new URL as it has changed. (to http://www.jacketsusa.com)

Suggest a new title as the title on the site has changed. (to Country Coats.com)

Suggest a new description as the scope of the site has changed.

Suggest a category more appropriate for this site (to Shopping: Clothing: Outerwear)

 

This was done on or about 21/9/04.

 

I look forward to your reponse.

 

karyno

Posted
Your update request unfortunately didn't succeed, but I have now added your site to the unreviewed queue in the Outerwear category.
Posted

Thanks for your reply.

 

Does my place in the unreviewed queue reflect the fact that my Update Lisitng request was made more than 6 months ago?

 

karyno

Posted
Actually, no there is no such thing as a place in the queue. All submissions are just there together and all will be reviewed in time. Nothing more you can do now but wait patiently for it to happen. Good Luck! :)
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