Guest 123 Posted January 23, 2004 Posted January 23, 2004 Good afternoon, I'm wondering if there's an editor that can look at these two sites: http://www.frankhardy.com/ and http://www.virginiaestates.com/ because I believe a thorough review of both sites will clearly show that they are not mirror sites, and while sharing the same name through a franchise agreement, the two companies are separate in every sense, web site, street address, owner and assets. The Virginia Estates site is much more comprehensive, inlcluding its own listings database with 1000's of properties. Is there any way to get the Virginia Estates.com site listed in the Charlottesville Va Real Estate Directory in the ODP? Thank you, sincerely, Sean C. Corso
Meta hutcheson Posted January 23, 2004 Meta Posted January 23, 2004 Re: Frank Hardy Realty and Virginia Estates Compar Short answer: Almost certainly not. On the net, "Franchise" is almost invariably a euphemism for one of either doorway domain spam, vanity domain spam, affiliate spam, or MLM spam. There is no economic justification for it -- one website can serve the whole world -- so we see it as a blatant violation of that bit in the guidelines that say "do not submit related sites". Also note that THAT specific bit is the ONLY bit in the whole submitter's guidelines that contains a threat to violators, and consider how seriously we must take it.
Guest 123 Posted January 28, 2004 Posted January 28, 2004 Re: Frank Hardy Realty and Virginia Estates I'm sorry but each physical office has its own agents and separate income, different ownership... I can send you the legal paperwork, with all due respect, this is not spam. In the same Charlottesville directory that we request a listing, DMOZ lists back-to-back (see below) entries for Century 21, which legally operates under a franchise agreement, just by use of the name. Under your rule, you couldn't list McDonalds in the business section for two different locations, but under different ownership, in the same city. < http://www.dmoz.org/Regional/North_America/United_States/Virginia/Localities/C/Charlottesville/Business_and_Economy/Real_Estate/ > # CENTURY 21 Albemarle Properties, Inc. - Full service real estate brokerage serving the Charlottesville area. # CENTURY 21 Manley Associates, Inc. - Includes homes for sale, real estate services, company profile, and career opportunities.
thehelper Posted January 28, 2004 Posted January 28, 2004 Re: Frank Hardy Realty and Virginia Estates Sorry, but the Real Estate section has its own guidelines. McDonalds is not Real Estate so the same rules do not apply.
Guest 123 Posted February 2, 2004 Posted February 2, 2004 Re: Frank Hardy Realty and Virginia Estates That's all fine and good, but it still doesn't answer why various real estate sections of the ODP list multiple franchise corporations in the same section, and this is the very reason why we can't get listed??? thank you!
thehelper Posted February 2, 2004 Posted February 2, 2004 Re: Frank Hardy Realty and Virginia Estates Some probably have slipped through the cracks.
Guest 123 Posted February 2, 2004 Posted February 2, 2004 Franchises I'm sorry but you're reply doesn't hold because in this section of the directory: http://www.dmoz.org/Business/Real_Estate/Agents_and_Agencies/ it lists the following: # Century 21 Real Estate Corporation - Agency with franchised offices throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia. Find local offices and agents, search listings, or view mortgage rates. Then if you look in the Charlottesville Real Estate section of the directory there are two listings for two franchise locations. Doesn't seem to follow with what you said... thank you
Guest 123 Posted February 2, 2004 Posted February 2, 2004 Re: Frank Hardy Realty and Virginia Estates I'm sure things slip through the cracks, but our business is sorely affected by the ability of our competitors to do what we can't... That's what I don't get about DMOZ - the inconsistency! Can't the editor of that section do something about it.
Guest 123 Posted February 2, 2004 Posted February 2, 2004 Cause for Concern I understand that the system isn't perfect, no one can get everything absolutely correct, but I really believe if someone takes a good look at both sites, you'll see that they are separate companies and that I am not Spamming; the truth is that the sites are vastly different because we are two separate companies. Thank you!
thehelper Posted February 2, 2004 Posted February 2, 2004 Re: Frank Hardy Realty and Virginia Estates We try to be consistent but sometimes due to the lack of editors we cannot get to all the categories we want to. I am sorry that it effects your business but to be quite honest - I really don't care. We are doing our best.
Guest Posted February 3, 2004 Posted February 3, 2004 Re: Frank Hardy Realty and Virginia Estates ODP makes or breaks nobody's business unless their business model depends entirely on an ODP listing. What real estate business would make that mistake?
Guest 123 Posted February 3, 2004 Posted February 3, 2004 Re: Frank Hardy Realty and Virginia Estates I didn't use the terms makes or breaks, but when your competitors are some place you are not, then it affects your business. I'm not here to disrespect anyone, but just pounding out a blanket reply that isn't even based in fact is a waste of all of our time and effort. Besides, if you are not in ODP, then you also miss out on hundreds of other directories, including AOL, which derive their content directly from DMOZ. So it's not just ODP, but more specifically are competitors are in literally hundreds of directories that we can't get listed in ...
Guest 123 Posted February 3, 2004 Posted February 3, 2004 Re: Frank Hardy Realty and Virginia Estates I appreciate your frankness and taking the time to reply. My only concern is bringing the inconsistencies to the forefront so that it'll be a better service for everyone, especially because the rule regarding 'franchise' is basically bogus [see above]. Now I'm just trying to get Robert Keating to understand why the franchise rule should be scrutinized. Good luck with that, right?!
xixtas01 Posted February 4, 2004 Posted February 4, 2004 Re: Frank Hardy Realty and Virginia Estates All this talk about franchises and mirrors may have only served to distract from the basic question here: "Are both sites listable?" The answer is "maybe". But not because of the legal intricacies of some franchise agreement. As I understand it, it's possible for both an agent and the agency s/he represents to be listed in most real estate categories. The virginiaestates.com site *may* be listable as an agent site for Richard Walden if that agent is not otherwise listed. The site has been added back to the unreviewed queue and is awaiting review there.
rickwalden Posted June 25, 2004 Posted June 25, 2004 Six Months Later - Any Help? Hello and good day to all DMOZ editors, it's been six months since are last post on this topic; we have been just waiting patiently, but thought we ought to touch base and see if there is any progress in getting virginiaestates.com listed in the DMOZ. thank you kind sirs, Richard Walden, Owner/Agent http://www.virginiaestates.com See Page 1: http://resource-zone.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=10020&page=1&pp=15
motsa Posted June 28, 2004 Posted June 28, 2004 Actually, it's been less than 5 months. Come back in early August.
rickwalden Posted August 12, 2004 Posted August 12, 2004 Early August Sounds good, it's early August and I wanted to touch base. Our site now includes thousands of additional listings for Charlottesville and Richmond property listings as well as property listings for Wintergreen, Virginia.
rickwalden Posted September 1, 2004 Posted September 1, 2004 Status Update Hello and good day to all DMOZ editors, thought we ought to touch base and see if there is any progress in getting virginiaestates.com listed in the DMOZ. thank you kindly, Richard Walden, Owner/Agent http://www.virginiaestates.com
spectregunner Posted September 1, 2004 Posted September 1, 2004 I see nothing in the editor notes indicating that it has been touched (edited/moved/deleted) since your last status check. See you on or after March 1.
rickwalden Posted September 1, 2004 Posted September 1, 2004 Understanding the Process Honestly, I don't understand. We posted in January/February and was told to come back in August and now it is September. We now have to wait another six months? After six months, I don't understand why someone can't process the review, and I don't understand the additional waiting process given that no one has taken the time to look at our inquiry in the first place, but the rules are the rules. Thank you for your reply!
Meta hutcheson Posted September 1, 2004 Meta Posted September 1, 2004 Anyone can review the site anytime. But you must absolutely understand that posting in this forum MUST NEVER give an editor a reason to review that site any more quickly than any other site. If we ever changed that, the forums would immediately be overwhelmed and become useless.
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