Status check on www.bid-on-equipment.com

Bidon · May 12, 2005

I would like to check the status of http://www.bid-on-equipment.com which I submitted to http://dmoz.org/Regional/North_America/United_States/Illinois/Localities/H/Hampshire/Business_and_Economy/

hutcheson · May 12, 2005

The site is waiting review there. I can't imagine that it will actually be considered for a listing there -- the physical location (of what? the webserver? the webmaster?) doesn't signify.

It'll almost certainly be moved somewhere in Business to be reviewed for an actual listing.

Bidon · May 12, 2005

The site is waiting review there. I can't imagine that it will actually be considered for a listing there -- the physical location (of what? the webserver? the webmaster?) doesn't signify.

It'll almost certainly be moved somewhere in Business to be reviewed for an actual listing.

Thanks for the reply and I hope it really is reviewed for an actual listing. I have submitted it under used machinery and under marketplaces but nothing ever happens. I tried regional as a last resort. (I think you guys even suggest that)

spectregunner · May 12, 2005

It would have been helpful if you disclosed ALL the categories where you made your submissions.

Bidon · May 12, 2005

It would have been helpful if you disclosed ALL the categories where you made your submissions.

I was not intentionally keeping anything secret, I just figured this was the section to ask about a submission in regional.

I submitted my site http://bid-on-equipment.com about a month ago in

http://dmoz.org/Business/Industrial_Goods_and_Services/Machinery_and_Tools/

(This was about the third time I submitted it there and I never hear anything about it)

I may have submitted it to another category in the distant past but I cannot locate that.

hutcheson · May 12, 2005

The site is apparently not waiting review there, which is a good thing, as that category also looks like a non-starter.

Please don't submit again, this is not a help to us. We will find the right place, and review it in that context. And chances of it all happening soon are _much_ lower than usual.

Bidon · May 12, 2005

The site is apparently not waiting review there, which is a good thing, as that category also looks like a non-starter.

Please don't submit again, this is not a help to us. We will find the right place, and review it in that context. And chances of it all happening soon are _much_ lower than usual.

I think I gave you the wrong category. I left out the last part of it. I believe I sumitted it in

http://dmoz.org/Business/Industrial_Goods_and_Services/Machinery_and_Tools/Used_Machinery/

And, why are my chances much lower than usual???

Bidon · May 12, 2005

The site is apparently not waiting review there, which is a good thing, as that category also looks like a non-starter.

Please don't submit again, this is not a help to us. We will find the right place, and review it in that context. And chances of it all happening soon are _much_ lower than usual.

I don't mean to bother you, but I would really like to know what you mean by "And chances of it all happening soon are _much_ lower than usual."

This has me worried. Much lower than usual why?

This website is my livelyhood. It is not a game to me. Why can't I get it listed on DMOZ?

bobrat · May 12, 2005

This website is my livelyhood. It is not a game to me. Why can't I get it listed on DMOZ?

I will be very blunt. We are not a service trying to help people make a living by getting their sites listed, and you should base everything you do on the assumption you will never get listed.

It works better for you that way, otherwise, you will keep on being frustrated with the lack of service we provide.

Spend you energy on other ways of getting traffic. Even if you get listed, the amount of extra traffic you get will will be very disappointing.

Bidon · May 12, 2005

I will be very blunt. We are not a service trying to help people make a living by getting their sites listed, and you should base everything you do on the assumption you will never get listed.

It works better for you that way, otherwise, you will keep on being frustrated with the lack of service we provide.

Spend you energy on other ways of getting traffic. Even if you get listed, the amount of extra traffic you get will will be very disappointing.

I just wanted to know what that person meant when he or she said that my chances of getting listed any time soon are "much lower than usual." I am sure you can understand why I am disturbed by a statement like that. I would just like an explanation of what that means and why it was said.

Does that editor intend to somehow slow down my review for some reason?

spectregunner · May 12, 2005

I just wanted to know what that person meant when he or she said that my chances of getting listed any time soon are "much lower than usual." I am sure you can understand why I am disturbed by a statement like that. I would just like an explanation of what that means and why it was said.

Does that editor intend to somehow slow down my review for some reason?

What it means is that we will eventally stumble upon the additional submittals and move them until they get to the right place. All of that takes time.

We have better things to do than to slow down individual suggestions.

hutcheson · May 12, 2005

Ah, I should have mentioned why. I say this so many times, I forget whom I've said it to.

"Aggregate content" sites -- directories, classified ads, "portals", etc., are of all the sites we WILL list, the least likely to be valuable (to our customers the surfers -- the webmaster can look out for himself).

The reason for that is simple. The fewer aggregate sites the useful content is spread over, the easier it is for the surfer -- the fewer places he has to go. And the easier it is for the content provider -- the fewer places he has to distribute content to, and the better chance he has of catching the eye of the right surfer. EVERYONE is better off that way. And that's what we're trying to do -- help people to help people, not help people to impede people.

The practical implications are, I think, obvious. we focus (as we ought to) on listing the few best aggregate sites of each type, for the good of the surfer. So of all the sites we might review, we are most likely to choose everything else first, and of all the sites we review, we are least likely to actually list these. For the good of the surfer, and for the most productive use of our time.

Doesn't mean we won't ever review them. Doesn't mean we won't ever list them. But we won't "make" them -- we'll simply list the ones that are already made. For the good of everyone.

Bidon · May 13, 2005

Ah, I should have mentioned why. I say this so many times, I forget whom I've said it to.

"Aggregate content" sites -- directories, classified ads, "portals", etc., are of all the sites we WILL list, the least likely to be valuable (to our customers the surfers -- the webmaster can look out for himself).

OK. I now understand what you mean. I thought you were singling me out but that is not the case.

However, you neglect the fact that most, if not all, of the websites in the category

http://dmoz.org/Business/Industrial_Goods_and_Services/Machinery_and_Tools/Used_Machinery/

are exactly the kind of site you describe. They are basically lists of inventory. That is the nature of this industry.

You would be mistaken if you believe that one inventory list is the same as another. Everybody has different inventory. And you would also be wrong if you believed that these inventory lists have no interest to people in our industry.

If you run a food processing plant and your Hobart Mixer breaks down, you would go on Google and type in "Hobart Mixer" to try to find one. If http://www.bid-on-equipment.com happens to have one of these mixers in stock and you cannot find it in a web search, then it is your loss, not just ours.

http://www.bid-on-equipment.com is no more of an aggregate site than any other site in that category or in the category

http://dmoz.org/Business/E-Commerce/Marketplaces/Industrial/

which I suppose it could also go in. I just hope there is an editor in one of those categories who can give us a review.

hutcheson · May 13, 2005

You are right: that is a kind of site that we do list.

And you are right: each one has a different list of content, and that is useful content.

But it is so inconvenient for both the content providers and the surfers for that content to be spread over many sites. That's why we prefer to recommend only the best, so that as everyone focuses on them, they get better (and the others get less and less likely to have unique content, more and more likely to be ignored without loss.)

And new sites would be compared to the best sites already found -- if they can take their place among them, well and good, and we can trim some of the excess we already have. If not, we still try to recommend just the best.

Bidon · May 13, 2005

But it is so inconvenient for both the content providers and the surfers for that content to be spread over many sites. That's why we prefer to recommend only the best, so that as everyone focuses on them, they get better (and the others get less and less likely to have unique content, more and more likely to be ignored without loss.)

Whoa! Are you taking it upon yourself to recommend one used machiney dealer over another? With all due respect, I don't think you are qualified to do that. How could you possibly know if one dealer has better inventory listed on his site than another? Or if one gives better deals to the people who find his site than another?

Even you do it strictly by the _quantity_ of his inventory, you are favoring the big over the small and making it hard for a smaller dealer to grow. And you don't even know if a dealer actually has all the inventory he claims he has. I know from experience that other dealers have listed MY inventory on their websites in order to pad their lists.

And you also don't know if one dealer is reaching an entirely different customer base than another.

hutcheson · May 13, 2005

Ah, therein lies confusion. I was not talking about dealers. (You're absolutely right, we have nothing to do with recommending dealers! We list Microsoft; so I can't imagine anything a dealer could do that would be vile enough to cause us not to list his website.)

I was talking about websites containing classified ads -- horses with completely different plumage. For instance, on the net, anyone can get to any of the websites, so the concept of "customer base" simply cannot apply. A seller may (in our fractured example, MUST) list his ad in multiple websites, so the concept of "unique content" isn't really a consideration either. But "amount of content" -- ah, that we CAN judge.

Sorry about the confusion.

Bidon · May 13, 2005

In any case, getting back to the subject at hand, I submitted http://www.bid-on-equipment.com to THIS category about a month ago:

http://dmoz.org/Business/Industrial_Goods_and_Services/Machinery_and_Tools/Used_Machinery/

I believe I submitted it to THIS category about three months ago:

http://dmoz.org/Business/E-Commerce/Marketplaces/Industrial/

Could you tell me if either of these submissions is still sitting around? Has the site been declined anywhere?

Thanks.

oneeye · May 14, 2005

Please do not submit a site to multiple categories - it is in breach of the submission guidelines and the penalties can be draconian.

http://dmoz.org/Business/E-Commerce/Marketplaces/Industrial/ - not there and no sign of rejection. Do not resubmit.

http://dmoz.org/Business/Industrial_Goods_and_Services/Machinery_and_Tools/Used_Machinery/ - no information available yet. Check back one month from now and someone will give you a status check or advise you of your options. Do not resubmit.

Thanks.

Bidon · May 14, 2005

Please do not submit a site to multiple categories - it is in breach of the submission guidelines and the penalties can be draconian.
Thanks.

Thanks. I submitted it mulitple times before I knew this forum was here and that there was a way to actually contact you people and get answers.

Now I have a better idea how it works.

oneeye · May 15, 2005

I submitted it mulitple times before I knew this forum was here

It is in the guidelines you should read before submitting a site and on the form you complete when you do submit - nothing to do with this forum. It is worth reading all the guidelines when submitting or you just waste your time and ours. And ultimately risk getting all sites with which you may have an association excluded. In the time it takes to reject one of those submissions we could have accepted a site, maybe your own, so when people complain about the length of time it takes for a site to get reviewed, you and others like you are, I'm afraid, the number one cause. I know you know better now but it is worth saying anyway for the benefit of the lurkers in this forum.

Bidon · May 15, 2005

It is in the guidelines you should read before submitting a site and on the form you complete when you do submit - nothing to do with this forum. It is worth reading all the guidelines when submitting or you just waste your time and ours. And ultimately risk getting all sites with which you may have an association excluded. In the time it takes to reject one of those submissions we could have accepted a site, maybe your own, so when people complain about the length of time it takes for a site to get reviewed, you and others like you are, I'm afraid, the number one cause. I know you know better now but it is worth saying anyway for the benefit of the lurkers in this forum.

You can say all that but I notice that my _most direct competitor_ is listed in two different categories. I assume, if he is listed in two different categories, he APPLIED in two different categories. I also notice another competitor of mine who is listed under used machinery AND regional.

If you are threatening me with exclusion, why do you not exclude them???

I would be happy to supply their URLs. I assume you would rather get them by private message. How do I do that?

oneeye · May 15, 2005

Two things:

It is not forbidden to have more than one listing - especially if one is in the Regional branch and one in a Topical branch such as Business.

BUT

It is a breach of guidelines to submit to more than one category. Exception (and you will see it around here from time to time) - an editor gives a submitter permission to submit to an additional category. There are specific instances where this might happen and at an editor's discretion.

So how do sites get more than one listing legitimately? Either as above - an editor says they can submit to an additional category; or an editor, in reviewing the site decides it warrants an additional listing and submits or lists it internally.

If you know of an URL listed twice in the same branch (e.g. Business) then post it here or in the Quality Control section of this forum. Someone will look at it and if one listing is in error then it will be dealt with. It does not mean the owner submitted twice necessarily - as above it could well be an editor action or error.

BTW I'm not threatening you with exclusion, just pointing out the guidelines provide for such a sanction. And it is used so you are taking a risk - since you don't know the circumstances of any other listings you can't make comparisons or assumptions.

Bidon · May 15, 2005

If you know of an URL listed twice in the same branch (e.g. Business) then post it here or in the Quality Control section of this forum. Someone will look at it and if one listing is in error then it will be dealt with. It does not mean the owner submitted twice necessarily - as above it could well be an editor action or error.

OK. I was trying to avoid doing this in public but, if you insist, I will.

http://www.equipnetdirect.com is in

http://dmoz.org/Business/Food_and_Related_Products/Tools_and_Equipment/Used_and_Remanufactured/

and

http://dmoz.org/Business/Industrial_Goods_and_Services/Machinery_and_Tools/Used_Machinery/

Now, please explain to me again EXACTLY why this was allowed?