Directory content reviews - how does it work?

Changing a listed site to spam

[TheVisitor]

Hi

I was just wondering - what's stopping an individual from getting a paid listing in Y!'s directory and a free one in DMOZ (say), and then changing the pages to be spam (overtly keyword rich, or any of those techniques).

Are the listings regularly reviewed? I was curious as I see that the directories usually have a backlog of new sites to review, thus presumably making diverting resouces to exisitng listings rather tricky.

Thanks for any info.

J

[skibum]

Sites periodically get re-reviewed (Y! at least once per year) but as far as I know there is nothing to stop someone from doing it, just the possibility of the loss of $299.00 or probably a permanent loss of an ODP listing which may have taken a year to get reviewed and listed.

[rfgdxm1]

In the case of the ODP, there is no fixed interval. However, it occurs to me that it is unlikely that many would do this unless the site was in a commercially competitive category. In such a case, if someone tried such a switcheroo after getting listed, it seems reasonable to think their competition would rat them out. Thus if with Y! the editors normally check once a year, your competition may clue them in before the editors find it on their own.

[TheVisitor]

I see.

That makes sense!

Thanks for the input

J

[hutcheson]

This is called "bait and switch." If (i.e. "when") noticed, it tends to get a reaction -- we remove the site and all the sites nearby, and sow the server with radioactive salts.

There is no such thing as a permanent ban on the site, the submitter, the webmaster, and all his relatives to the tenth generation -- but we'll do our dead level best to implement something as close to that as possible.

[TheVisitor]

Just wondering, I assure you. I'm not going to risk a client's site with that kind of thing.

Does a free directory invite a lot of problems with this kind of thing? Seems that certain sites that could 'shift brand' easily might get awy with it; although they'd have to wait all over again for the relevant parties to update their indexes from DMOZ, I suppose.

[hutcheson]

>Does a free directory invite a lot of problems with this kind of thing?

It's just another one of the challenges. Hey, if you don't like mucking out Aegean stables, just don't look a Greek horse in the mouth.

>Seems that certain sites that could 'shift brand' easily might get awy with it; although they'd have to wait all over again for the relevant parties to update their indexes from DMOZ, I suppose.

You have different kinds of site promotion, just as there are different kinds of roof repair firms. Some of them try to make a quick buck but have to move from town to town before their customers (and the police) catch on; others try to build a reputation.

Directories (including the ODP) "favor large, stable sites." The grab-the-money-and-run types create the opposite. Hence, it's not a critical problem. But eternal vigilance is the cost of freedom from spam.