Major PITA with directory software

Directory software

[SwitchFX]

Hey all, I need help configuring a directory software I use.

I use eSyndicat Directory Pro. I get anywhere from 5-20 submittals daily. This is great, but my problem is it takes up to an hour every few days having to go through the ones that didn't pick a category and I have to view their site and then edit the listing myself. I've looked all over its ACP and just can't find anything, unless I need to do a template edit to get it to work the way I want to?

[tangor]

Quick fix is to simply not process those who fail to pick a category. :)

Long term, you'll end up with the same problem anyway, particularly those who pick a category, but turns out to be the wrong one...

That's what directories are: human managed, and if managed properly makes a great benefit to all the users out there. 'Tis the nature of the beast...

[SwitchFX]

We have a small script running that checks against the metadata of a forum (we publish forums only) and notifies us if it's wrong, but 99.9% of the time they get it right. Unfortunately, not publishing it causes major issue. If we edit, remove, delete, ban, or suspend a listing, an email is sent out with a canned message notifying the owner of the site why such and such happened. We're a PR4/5 directory which has been around for just over a year, this is in addition to a PR5 forum. So we do provide some great stuff to our submitees and several thousand active posting members.

Coincidentally, I found out there's a new version of the software we run. We're going to test it out and see if it's good for production use, and we believe this issue was fixed, hopefully, since it was a much wanted feature.

I'll get back to this thread in a week. If it doesn't work out, I would hope someone can be nice enough to guide us in a direction to modify the core to force users to pick it, or change the phrase variables to throw it in there asking users to pick a category first.

SFX

[mack]

I think the simple fix is to only accept submissions from category pages. Don't simply have an add url page and trust the user to choose a cat from a dropdown list.

Mack.

[SwitchFX]

What's the point in that if the users just do it in random categories, it makes my job harder.

[mack]

Over the years I have ran a number of directories, and I do see where you're coming from. My approach was to have a link from each of the category pages, pointing to the add URL page. The referral needed to come from a category page, or it simply loaded the directory index page. This prevented people simply visiting the add URL page directly and pasting in their details.

On the add URL page I didn't have the form. I had the terms and conditions with a checkbox. The user had to check the "agree" box and click continue to see the actual form page.

At the very top of the terms and conditions page I added the following text...

"You intend to suggest a site for inclusion within the following category [insert category here]. Is this the best matching category? If your site has not been suggested in an appropriate category please go back to fix the error. We will not list sites if you have not taken the time to suggest within the correct category"

^paraphrased

This may be enough to prevent the user suggesting in any old category. It may involve a few more steps for the submitter, but will reduce your workload.

Mack.