dmoz , google directory, other directories

[infana]

Years ago I got a site into Yahoos directory (I think it started in yahoo) I dont remember exactly how. By directory i mean the browseable categories, not search. Over time it syndicated the sites link and poorly written description to other sites. I count 62 links. This has really helped its PR, and since I am now working on a new site I wanted to see if i could duplicate this effect.
Now my impression is that all these sites are getting their content from DMOZ , like googles directory. My concern is that I think other sites I have tried to suggest to the DMOZ site came up with nothing. Can anyone point me to some tips on this? Im avoiding submitting my site for now as I assume theres only one chance...

[victor]

For DMOZ inclusion guidelines:
[dmoz.org...]

Your only chance to get into DMOZ is to designed sites that meet these guidelines.

WMW does not offer site reviews, so discussion of whether particular sites meet the guidelines or not are not possible here.

If you believe your site does, ask at the OPD Public forum. (No URL, sorry. The WMW adminisrators do not allow people to tell you where that it).

[infana]

thank you.
I dont think its simply "if you meet the guidlines", there is probably some way which they use to decide if something is "worthy". I was wondering if other people could tell about factors that did well or poorly but maybe they arn't allowed to.

[sullen]

Infana - no, it really is a question of whether or not you meet the guidelines. But some categories in the ODP are not updated very often. I have been waiting over a year for some sites.

[blaze]

Interestingly, I bet the majority of rejections are because they do not fit the directory. If you spend some time on the dmoz forums, and the dmoz site, you'll see that it is actually a pretty good catalog.

Unfortunately, the frustration you are experiencing is because the process doesn't let you see this at all. So you just come off thinking that it's a problem with DMOZ and not yours.

You tell your friends that, they tell their friends, and so on.

No one seems to care that this is happening. I can only guess that AOL or someone at DMOZ doesn't don't deem that the submitters are the least bit important.

Or maybe they just don't care about the directory at all, and the editors have taken that up as an explicit policy on their part. Whatever the case may be, the editors certainly don't seem to care what submitters think about their directory.

In fact, they regularly and proudly declare this. This seems to be a bizarre direction to go in strategically. In reality, submitters are probably the only people that are even aware that DMOZ exists, so why alienate the only group that you actually interact with? I think this attitude really isn't necessary and is really just generating a lot of ill will and undermining the effectiveness and importance of DMOZ.

[hutcheson]

>In reality, submitters are probably the only people that are even aware that DMOZ exists, so why alienate the only group that you actually interact with?

Because ... you don't want to interact with them? Because it is extremely important that you not interact with them?

The ODP isn't a way to look for dates. It's a community building a directory.

Interaction with frustrated submitters is, in reality, based on community experience, literally, personally dangerous for editors. (Any editor who has actually been in contact with several dozen submitters will know from PERSONAL experience that this is so.)

And so it is strongly disrecommended.

[blaze]

By interaction I refer to the software engineering concept of a users interacting with an interface. The only users (outside of editors) interacting with the dmoz.org interface are generally submitters.

In fact, I recommend there should be less human interaction. Having to go to the dmoz forums to ask human editors why your submissions didn't work seems rather silly and yes is kinda asking for trouble.

As for dating? Yaa-ikes.

[BillytheKid]

Actually, the primary users of DMOZ are other directories and search engines that download the database.

Submissions are really not needed as they are the worst source of quality sites. Reviewing them is not a top priority which is why submitters should take the time to read the guidelines, make an appropriate submission and forget about it for at least six months.

[blaze]

This forget and submit thing is quite the risky proposition considering the dmoz engineers can't even get search to work properly.

[ettore]

The more I read "submission threads", the more I think that we should start blocking all submissions. Thousands of editors can search and find quality sites, building up a quality directory, without having to wade (and lose valuable time) through all kinds of spam in the unreviewed queue. This way, submitters won't be hurted anymore by "rejections", and we all can get along.

Thinking about it. Uhmmm... really.

[blaze]

I suggested that on the dmoz forums as well. Very politely. It got deleted.

However, marketing is very important and you will lose a channel to a large subset of your users. That connection, while frustrating, does at least keep you guys somewhat relevant in their eyes.

Better is to have a submittal process which is more intelligent and gives people reasonable recourse.