Some Quicker & Ethical Method of Approving the Sites

[solidradicle]

Dear Webmaster of DMoZ.org,

 

I am regular follower of dmoz.org and I had placed a link 5 years back. I am very thankful to you.

 

I would request if there is some quicker and ethical method of approval and verification of domains and placement on dmoz.org.

 

I submitted <URL removed> almost a month back and there is no reply. Another domain that I submitted in 2004 took 1 year to list. Can we avoid any delay.

 

Regards.

 

For Solid Radicle

RJ

[jimnoble]

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.

 

There are plenty of other directories out there which offer the service you're looking for. I suggest that you try a few of those.

 

PS. I don't think it's particularly ethical to ignore this forum's ToS by link dropping. Were you hoping this would give you processing priority here or just another inbound link?

[makrhod]

I would request if there is some quicker and ethical method of approval and verification of domains and placement on dmoz.org

Consider this: an editor is interested in a topic, and spends some of his/her time looking for worthwhile sites to build a category.

None of those sites was suggested by their owners or webmasters, who probably don't even know the sites are now listed.

 

Multiply that by hundreds and thousands and you might understand how the directory works.

 

How much quicker or more ethical can you get than that?

[solidradicle]

DMOZ.org being the "Mother" of all directory on the internet, one expect it to be more responsible to the user online. And when it comes to accountability it should be more clearer to the its subscriber.

 

I understand the volunteer method on DMOZ, but isn't it the Volunteer be more responsible for DMOZ credibility online. I am sure you don't care about what other say (specially the bad ones).

 

I was reviewing WikiPedia and very much impressed by the management and I decide to donate. They have created that trust within the user and made sure the user get "Right" + "Quality" content from Wikipedia.

 

DMOZ being the oldest and I have been following it since its inception, it has been driven with really narrow strategy.

 

Kindly consider these points as suggestion and method of improvement and we are not offending anyone.

[solidradicle]

Consider this: an editor is interested in a topic, and spends some of his/her time looking for worthwhile sites to build a category.

None of those sites was suggested by their owners or webmasters, who probably don't even know the sites are now listed.

 

 

Well look this category and see the listings below: Don't you feel these websites should have been under specific category / sub category.

 

http://www.dmoz.org/Regional/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Business_and_Economy/

 

It is important to understand that no all users / webmasters who submit the site for FUN. Some are really very serious about their submission and if it takes days, months or years then where is the credibility of DMOZ.

[jimnoble]

one expect it to be more responsible to the user online

 

Our users are surfers and downstream data consumers, not website owners desiring to be listed here.

[solidradicle]

I completely disagree with you Jim. Unless there is a BeeHive there will be no Bee's and to build a BeeHive its important that Bee are allowed and all type of Bee's be it user / surfer / website owner. We are in the same universal question i.e. who is first egg / hen

 

It's very important that the BeeHive (in our case DMOZ.org) is maintained and accountable to deliver honey to its surfers and downstream data consumers.

 

Well if you feel that responsible business owners should not consider their site to be listed in DMOZ then it is not fair.

[makrhod]

It is important to understand that no all users / webmasters who submit the site for FUN. Some are really very serious about their submission

Sadly, this is true. In fact they are so worried about having a DMOZ listing that they completely fail to understand the purpose of the directory and the role of volunteer editors.

 

As we have explained many many hundreds of times: the ODP is not a listing service, and reviewing sites suggested by webmasters is absolutely not the primary role of editors.

[gloria]

I would request if there is some quicker and ethical method of approval and verification of domains and placement on dmoz.org.

 

I submitted <URL removed> almost a month back and there is no reply. Another domain that I submitted in 2004 took 1 year to list. Can we avoid any delay.

 

Certainly! Find a way to eliminate spammers and those who suggest sites such as spider food and lead generators. It would also be helpful to eliminate those who suggest their sites to multiple categories, even though we ask that they only suggest to one.

 

I joined in 1999. I remember when I was delighted to find site suggestions. I spent several hours each day searching the web for sites to list and was thrilled to find that someone had saved me some time.

 

Then the spammers found us. If I have an hour to list sites, in many categories it is a far better use of my time to look for sites out on the web or to list sites that I have found during my time off the web. In an hour of searching, I can find a bunch of sites to list. In an hour in many categories, I may only have sifted through garbage and still not have found the needle in the haystack. New editors are frequently stunned to find how much garbage is waiting in the categories. I can also spend hours improving things without ever listing a site.

 

We have never been a listing service nor have we ever promised to be one.

[solidradicle]

Dear Gloria,

 

I am not saying to make DMOZ a listing service but atleast make it a healthy resource where one can find the right sites. Let me show you an example:

 

http://www.dmoz.org/Regional/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Business_and_Economy/

 

Do you thing the sites listed in this Sub-regional category are correct. I still doubt if there are certain guidelines of submission.

 

I am assuming self-submit bots are avoided through CAPTCHA. I am sure you must be receiving 1000's of request, but isn't some better system be developed to make DMOZ a world class online resources for its users and data consumers.

 

Let me ask you a simple question: Why the internet GAINT not helping to make DMOZ a better manageable platform and avoid spammers?

 

I am sure it not "Impossible"

[gloria]

How do you expect ODP to "force" updates of certain categories?

 

We are fighting spammers, but it is still a huge problem.

[pvgool]

Do you thing the sites listed in this Sub-regional category are correct.

If you know of any site that should not be listed you can either make an "update listing" request on DMOZ (yes, you can make such requests for websites you do not onw) or you can provide the information on this forum in the Quality Control Feedback section.

 

I still doubt if there are certain guidelines of submission.

Ofcourse there are. They are presented to you when you suggest a website and you must aknoledge that you have read them.

 

I am sure it not "Impossible"

Nothing is impossible. Provided there are enough resources (money, human).

Based on the fact that there are never enough resources some choices must be made.

[hutcheson]

Let me ask you a simple question: Why the internet GAINT not helping to make DMOZ a better manageable platform and avoid spammers?

 

It's a simple question, sure.

 

But it's an incoherent question: we have no idea what "the internet GAINT" is.

 

It's a stupid question: whoever TIG is, you don't know whether they are, or are not, doing anything for ANY purpose, let alone the ODP.

 

It's a misplaced question: we can't answer for TIG, you'll have to ask it.

 

And it's an unreasonable question: even IG's have their priorities. I work for a large company that prides itself on "giving back to the community" -- but nothing gets given back unless we individuals initiate it. _I_ give back to my local library. Other people help with food banks or medical research or outdoor cleanup projects.

 

We all set priorities; nobody has a right to ask me why I don't help collect money for medical research; I have no right to ask anyone else why they don't do anything for the library. All these things are good and important. Anyone that helps any of them deserves my thanks and respect -- not my whining about how he ought to be doing something else.

[Webzcas]

New editors are frequently stunned to find how much garbage is waiting in the categories.

 

Just want to confirm as a fairly new editor what Gloria stated.

 

I have quickly learned that there is so much more to being an editor than processing through the suggested sites. Indeed a lot more productive work can be done outside of this area to improve upon the category or categories you are responsible for as an editor.

 

Instead of bemoaning what DMOZ is or isn't. Why don't you become part of the solution and apply to become an editor.