Checking I made the right change request

[Christiansuk]

Our site has just been listed in one of the regional sections related to online dating. Having just found on here a thread pointing to the fact that if a category does not have an editor this does not mean new sites won't get list there I have made an update request (via the form). In there I've listed the current category (http://dmoz.org/Society/Relationships/Dating/Personals/Regional/Europe/United_Kingdom/) and the initial reason we wanted to be in there (which was that the category is fine for now but since the original request we are expanding out to the States and now this may not be suitable). I have also listed the new category which has all the main equivalents to our site in it (http://dmoz.org/Society/Relationships/Dating/Personals/Christian/) . I have also tracked down who might be the top level editor of this section.

Can anyone tell me if this is enough information?

 

Many Thanks,

Richard Lloyd

[hutcheson]

For a change-of-category suggestion, what really matters is the new category and the URL.

 

The editor would re-review the site, and on that basis make whatever changes seemed appropriate -- presumably keeping in mind the changes you had suggested, but also keeping in mind mortal fallibility. Nearly all suggestions are deficient in some way -- which is not a problem if they at least point us in the right direction.

[Christiansuk]

RE: Changing category

 

Thanks for the quick reply Hutcheson. I also included a suggested new description to go in the new category as all the listings there seem to follow the exact same style (more or less). What I found difficult was trying to describe our site without copying exactly a description elsewhere on the page and yet still describing what is unique about our site. If the editor wants to make some changes that's fine by me.

[Christiansuk]

RE: Change request

 

From the looks of it (on our server logs) an editor looked at the site a few days ago. I can't, as yet, see any changes either in the description or a move in category. Does it take some time after a review/change for this to be visible on the main DMOZ? Or should I at some point (if we see no change after a period of time) re-request a change?

 

Regards,

Richard.

[spectregunner]

I think one of the things that would be useful to remember is that this is not an interactive process.

 

Basically, submit it and forget it.

 

Think about it for a second, while we would like to be nice, there are hundreds of thousands of webmasters in exactly the same situation as you, and we cannot hold everyone's hands though the process.

 

Here is how the process works:

 

1. You build a website.

2. You add lots of unique content and have no "Under Construction" or "Coming Soon" placeholders.

3. You determine the best possible category and make a submission. Your work is done at this point. There is really nothing more you can contribute to the process.

4. At some point in time -- hours, days, week, months or even years, a trusty editor comes along and looks at the site.

5. Said editor may list it, or may delete it, or the given site may give the editor an instant migraine headache, and the editor ignores it, hoping for some magical serendipity whereby the next time the editor visits that cat, the suggested site is gone.

6. Multiple editors may or may not look at the site, and there may or may not be logs that say editors have looked at the site. A wise webmaster does not then jump in and ask what they mean. They mean absolutely nothing, other than someone with ODP credentials looked at your site. There is only one person who knows what that particular entry means -- whichever of the 8,000+ editors chose to take a peek at the site.

 

Not trying to be mean, or rude here, just trying to give yo and understanding of why we cannot walk you (or any other webmaster) though every step of the process.

[Christiansuk]

RE: Change request

 

Dear Spectregunner,

 

I'm totally aware of how the DMOZ volunteer editor system works as I have been using the forum since 2004. I was only asking a simple technical question about whether, after an edit, does it instantly update or does it wait until a general update. This is not a question like many others about "why does it take so long to...." and by your answer it is clear that have given a very cursory read of my question. My site IS listed and IS listed in an OK category. I am generally happy with this but have asked for a move to a better category and am happy to wait. All I was after was "after an edit does it go straight away live or does it wait in a batch". A simple question really. Do you know? I am an intellingent adult and don't expect to be patronised please, just answered if that's possible :-). I'm happy to wait until someone who does know gives me an answer.

 

Regards,

Richard

 

 

 

 

I think one of the things that would be useful to remember is that this is not an interactive process.

 

Basically, submit it and forget it.

 

Think about it for a second, while we would like to be nice, there are hundreds of thousands of webmasters in exactly the same situation as you, and we cannot hold everyone's hands though the process.

 

Here is how the process works:

 

1. You build a website.

2. You add lots of unique content and have no "Under Construction" or "Coming Soon" placeholders.

3. You determine the best possible category and make a submission. Your work is done at this point. There is really nothing more you can contribute to the process.

4. At some point in time -- hours, days, week, months or even years, a trusty editor comes along and looks at the site.

5. Said editor may list it, or may delete it, or the given site may give the editor an instant migraine headache, and the editor ignores it, hoping for some magical serendipity whereby the next time the editor visits that cat, the suggested site is gone.

6. Multiple editors may or may not look at the site, and there may or may not be logs that say editors have looked at the site. A wise webmaster does not then jump in and ask what they mean. They mean absolutely nothing, other than someone with ODP credentials looked at your site. There is only one person who knows what that particular entry means -- whichever of the 8,000+ editors chose to take a peek at the site.

 

Not trying to be mean, or rude here, just trying to give yo and understanding of why we cannot walk you (or any other webmaster) though every step of the process.

[jimnoble]

When an edit's done, it's done. It can take a few days for our public facing servers to catch up though. ODP's search can take longer and our downstream users such as Google even longer.

 

However, it would be unwise to assume that any work has been done merely because of a log entry.

 

Also, it could be that whoever agrees your request doesn't have permissions to relist your site at its destination, causing a period in transit when its listed nowhere. Most editors try to avoid that situation though.

[chaos127]

spectregunner has answered at least half of you question (as I understand it) - which is to say that something in your server logs may or may not correspond to an editor approving (or rejecting outright for that matter) your changes. If it doesn't then there will be no update to occur. (This is actually surprisingly likely to be the case.)

 

Perhaps what you actually wanted to know is the following: If the editor did publish any changes, then the change will (barring any technical glitches) make it to the public servers in a couple of days, and into the RDF dump and ODP search within a week or so. At this point, downstream data users (eg google) have the information available to them, but they may not choose to update from every RDF dump.

[Christiansuk]

RE: Change request etc

 

Thanks Jim,

Thats the kind of answer I was looking for. I tried to find out about the process elsewhere but couldn't so I asked here.

Regards,

Richard

 

When an edit's done, it's done. It can take a few days for our public facing servers to catch up though. ODP's search can take longer and our downstream users such as Google even longer.

 

However, it would be unwise to assume that any work has been done merely because of a log entry.

 

Also, it could be that whoever agrees your request doesn't have permissions to relist your site at its destination, causing a period in transit when its listed nowhere. Most editors try to avoid that situation though.

[Christiansuk]

RE: Changes etc

 

Thanks Chaos127,

These are the kind of answers I was looking for. It just helps to know if an editor visit in the logs means anything or nothing and if so what should our response be if, in a few weeks, nothing has changed, for example.

Regards,

Richard

 

spectregunner has answered at least half of you question (as I understand it) - which is to say that something in your server logs may or may not correspond to an editor approving (or rejecting outright for that matter) your changes. If it doesn't then there will be no update to occur. (This is actually surprisingly likely to be the case.)

 

Perhaps what you actually wanted to know is the following: If the editor did publish any changes, then the change will (barring any technical glitches) make it to the public servers in a couple of days, and into the RDF dump and ODP search within a week or so. At this point, downstream data users (eg google) have the information available to them, but they may not choose to update from every RDF dump.

[hutcheson]

An apparent editor visit in the logs means nothing. An absense of apparent editor visits in the logs also means nothing.

 

You've made a suggestion. If it's not considered a good one, no further reponse is necessary or appropriate.

[Christiansuk]

RE: Change request

 

Dear Hutcheson,

I concluded the same myself. I will wait and see what happens (or doesn't happen) and then re-request a change (if nothing happens) perhaps with different wording as a suggestion as I do believe we can be in the category that was suggested as sites similar to ours are also in there.

Thanks for everyone for their feedback. I do value this form of constructive communication.

 

Regards,

Richard

 

 

An apparent editor visit in the logs means nothing. An absense of apparent editor visits in the logs also means nothing.

 

You've made a suggestion. If it's not considered a good one, no further reponse is necessary or appropriate.