Cant get into DMOZ

submissions over months and still no luck

[BRasCO]

Hello there

I have tried over a period of 4-5 months of submissions to dmoz.org

My site has 3 different URLs all relative to forums. We are listed in google and a lot of the other engines but have no look on DMOZ.

My friend has a site of a similar topic and submitted in the same way and he got listed within 2 months.

I am submitting to the computer security section which is definately 'on topic' to the theme of the site.

Without any bias I have also looked through a lot of the sites listed, most are excellent but there a few where our site is definately more relevant yet we just cannot get listed.

Ive tried with all of the URLs and included a good description and email address with every submission.

Did also contact dmoz but never got any response.

I know dmoz will bring the site a fair bit of traffic as my friend in a similar section gets a good amount from it, and searching for two of our major keywords brings up the dmoz section which I would like to be listed in.

Am I doing anything wrong, I wonder if the moderators just dont like the site or similar, over the past few months we have changed the site a fair bit and made it better and a lot more dynamic yet still nothing

Any help // ideas // suggestions greatly appreciated

Thanks

[jimnoble]

Assuming that you're referring to the url in your profile, no ODP editor has processed it yet. It's presumably still sitting in the queue of whichever category you submitted it to.

I can't predict how long it will take before something happens I'm afraid.

[smokin]

It may help sending an email reminder to the editor of that category and then waiting for a week. If still no joy you could email the editor of the category directly above (it worked for me).

smokin

[hurlimann]

Email the first active editor of the category directly above asking politely :)

[BRasCO]

Thanks a lot for the replies I did consider contacting the moderators directly but I thought this may be considered rude or bad 'net etiquette' and they might have declined it permanently or something :)

Suppose ive tried everything else and will try this

:)

[BRasCO]

I have messaged all three editors for the category over the space of 3 weeks and not had one response :(

After this I tried submitting again and still no listing, no replies, no nothing

I have read the threads and appreciate the submissions are manually checking and things about the moderators being overworked etc. but its really frustrating.

Even if they just replied and said my site had been rejected that would make it easier :)

With no bias I have been through all of the sites listed in the category I want to get into, there are some excellent sites on there but there are also ones which I have been told by other people are not as good.

Running out of options now, anything else to suggest?

[vmcknight]

Hi,

If it's the site in your profile, it hasn't been reviewed yet. The Computers: Security category has more than a thousand unreviewed in the main and subcats, so it will be awhile.

Since you're interested in the field, you might like to apply to edit. We can let you know which subcats are small enough for a new editor.

[Birdman]

Hello, Brasco. Have you tried the ODP forum. This is thier forum where you can speak to editors live. Maybe they can answer your questions. But unfortunately, I think it is a waiting game. I've been waiting 6 months and nothing. Good luck.

[edited by: Laisha at 11:56 am (utc) on Sep. 25, 2002]
[edit reason] Remove URL [/edit]

[BRasCO]

Thanks again :)

VMCKnight said "The Computers: Security category has more than a thousand unreviewed in the main and subcats, so it will be awhile."

How did you find this out ?

[rafalk]

She's an editor, and as such has access to that sort of data.

[q_b_p]

Brasco, please do not keep submitting. If the editor(s) of this category finds too many submissions of the same site in one category, it will/could be considered "spam" and all submissions deleted. It is possible that the editors of the category either:
a. Are editing another area of the directory
b. The feedback e-mail address isn't correct so they aren't getting your mailings

Please wait...all editors at the ODP are volunteers. It is quite possible that they are taking a break from editing for the time being...please remember this, any submitters reading this, before submitting something again and again.
Thanks,
qbp :)

[Sebastian]

Birdman

Thanks for the heads up on the forum for dmoz editors and sites. I think that 99% of people would have no idea it existed.

[edited by: Laisha at 12:08 pm (utc) on Sep. 25, 2002]

[digitalghost]

>>The Computers: Security category has more than a thousand unreviewed in the main and subcats, so it will be awhile."

Which means that the content on those unreviewed sites will be largely outdated by the time they get listed and the main reason I wish ODP would simply go to paid listings and HIRE people to keep it updated. It's also of course the reason that people don't search ODP for timely content.

[jimnoble]

Which means that the content on those unreviewed sites will be largely outdated...

I'm not sure that I understand that. Are you suggesting that the site owners won't bother to keep them current if ODP hasn't yet listed them :o?

[digitalghost]

Nope :)

A number of security sites that have current patches, fixes, warnings, etc. are waiting to be included in that category. What I'm suggesting is that the ODP is a terrible place to visit for current information.

What I keep seeing in response to any complaint about the ODP is that >>all editors at the ODP are volunteers. Someone went as far as to suggest that it is the fault of people that "aren't" volunteering to be editors.

Whatever purpose the ODP is intended to server simply isn't happening. It is link rot on steroids. Then again, you get what you pay for...

[g1smd]

>> It is link rot on steroids. <<

Er, Um, I am not sure how you come to that conclusion when an automated tool is run across the whole directory every 3 or 4 weeks to flag all sites that have produced at least 2 error messages (like '404') in the previous fortnight. A lot of editors spend a vast amount of time moving all these listings out of the public view, researching a new URL for the resource and adding the data back to the directory. Link rot isn't caused by editors leaving old listings in the directory; it is caused by too many people shifting their web sites to new domain names every five minutes.

[kctipton]

Jimnoble asks the right question. A site specializing in "security" should be current with or without an ODP listing.

A variation on that question would be, "So only unlisted sites have current information?"