Been trying to get into DMOZ for a year

any suggestions?

[webdevsf]

Hi -

Our site has been trying to get into DMOZ since the summer of 2002. We've submitted a few times, and been more or less ignored. The category has no editor. We are a totally valid site, no spam, lots of informational content.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Thx,
WDSF

[kctipton]

Make sure the title and description of your submission are as guidelines-compliant as possible. This would give it a bit of an edge to be listed over those submissions with spammy verbiage. Of course, make sure the site is working whenever it gets visited by an editor.

[mack]

I'm in exactly the same situation as yourself. For me it has been going in for about 18 months and I can't see any easy way about it. I have been using well written titles, description and the site is well suited to the category. To be honest I think all we can do it wait and hope that editors are found for the categories and that they do a fair job as category editor.

Good luck.

Mack.

[webdevsf]

"DMOZ - Like the DMV, but slower!"

:)

[cornwall]

>>Our site has been trying to get into DMOZ since the summer of 2002.<<

I have had a large number of sites accepted by DMOZ in that period. So if your site has not been accepted, you need to consider the possible reasons. Dmoz are not quick, but not usually that slow

1. It may just be stuck in a big queue of spam sites for a popular shopping (or similar) category. Or (less likely) languishing in a section of the directory that few specialist editors venture into, eg serbo-croat widget.

2. It has been zapped accidentally and is no longer in the queue (does happen, but not that often) Or it could be that you did not get a clean submission - submitting can be problematical at DMOZ!

3. It has been zapped because the editor did not feel your site was suitable for inclusion in DMOZ(big topic this, as to why)

4. Someone has looked at it and decided it was not the right category for inclusion, and has moved it to another queue, where another editor will (eventally) assess it for inclusion there. If that editor does not think that that cat is suitable, it is sent to yet another queue for suitability assessment (for those of you in the UK, its a bit like trying to get NHS treatment)

[jalal]

And, for the month of July (and probably August as things go) dmoz will be going through a hardware upgrade, so things will happen slowly, if at all...

[senox]

@Gus_R

Search for 'resource zone' on Google to get the URL, it's the Open Directory Public Forum. The Site Submission Status forum is most probably what you're looking for. Read the forum guidelines, everything you need to know for a status request is explained there.

[Gus_R]

Thank you senox.

[chrisholgate]

Not meaning to sound naive but what's to stop a webmaster such as yourself becoming an editor under a false name just to pass his site through the index. I'm not recommending doing it but it just seems like such a simple idea.

If I’m in a completely different ball-park to the rest of you then please forgive me :-)

[webdevsf]

Tried it. Didn't work. :P

[John_Caius]

New editor submissions are carefully assessed to see whether it looks as though the applicant is going to just list their site and never log in again (maybe deleting their competitors along the way). More senior editors usually keep an eye on the editing history of newly accepted editors anyway and edit logs are saved so that it's reasonably simple to return to the status quo once the editor has been removed. It's pretty obvious most of the time since brand new editors are only allowed very limited power - for this very reason.

Having said that, owning a website in the area where you edit is not a bar to editing, however it is required that you are open and honest about your affiliations and that you show no favouritism to your own site over any others. You are also entitled to list your own site, although many editors choose to leave their own sites to be reviewed by other editors.