Bad ODP Submissions: A trend? Is it soccer related?

It's important to read the submission guidlines...

[martinibuster]

Geez Louise,
The last week or so, literally half the submissions I received for my ODP category at best are only Remotely related to the cat.

Another 35-40% seem to contain spammy keyword heavy, promotional jargon laden titles and descriptions.
Ok, so you gotta try, I can dig it. But do you really expect to have your title and description survive the editing process looking like that?

One guy had the nerve to email me about changes to his description and simultaneously insult my integrity (suggested I was personally trying to undermine his business), and called my edit completely erroneous (I lifted half the description off his own site).

Anybody else notice this trend?
<Guidelines>

[Dpeper]

Ive been wanting in to ODP forever and i cant get in! Look at my site is there any thing wrong? Ive submitte twice in the last 4 months but just no luck, i contacted the editor and he said it need more content ive added a few more articles And im hoping this round will be more friendly?

Now enough with my rant and back to your topic my question is to you as an editor would you turn my site down or allow it in?

Im not accusing you but i worry some editors have to high of standards on site categorys.

-Donny

[The Contractor]

Dpeper,

I looked at your site (I am not a DMOZ editor). I would say that they will require more content. Also, I would pull of any blank pages such as FAQ. I would add some content like "tips on finding a job", "researching your profession", "interview process", "tips on resumes for the web" etc etc etc (not that you would want any of the above but you get the idea).

You also need to address the business end with why it is advantageous to them to seek your services and to hire college students etc.

Also - you may want to contact any local universities and try to promote to the students, and businesses the universities work with.

I am not an expert by any means - just my opinion.

EDITED: I JUST WENT TO YOUR SITE AGAIN (Using IE 6.0): I am seeing a whole section on the index page that did not show up in my Opera browser the first time. I just visited again with Opera and was greeted with the following (you need to check this out) I edited to hide your paths:

Warning: Unknown MySQL Server Host 'mysql.jobdoggy.com' (11) in /EDITED TO HIDE YOUR PATHS master.cfg on line 27

Warning: MySQL Connection Failed: Unknown MySQL Server Host 'mysql.jobdoggy.com' (11) in /EDITED TO HIDE YOUR PATHS on line 27

Warning: Cannot add header information - headers already sent by (output started at /EDITED TO HIDE YOUR PATHS master.cfg:27) in /EDITED TO HIDE YOUR PATHS/master.cfg on line 29

Warning: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/EDITED TO HIDE YOUR PATHS /mysql.sock' (111) in /EDITED TO HIDE YOUR PATHS/master.cfg on line 31

Warning: MySQL Connection Failed: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/EDITED TO HIDE YOUR PATHS/mysql.sock' (111) in /EDITED TO HIDE YOUR PATHS/master.cfg on line 31

Warning: MySQL: A link to the server could not be established in /EDITED TO HIDE YOUR PATHS/master.cfg on line 31

Warning: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/EDITED TO HIDE YOUR PATHS/mysql.sock' (111) in /EDITED TO HIDE YOUR PATHS/write_logs.php on line 19

Warning: MySQL Connection Failed: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/EDITED TO HIDE YOUR PATHS/mysql.sock' (111) in /EDITED TO HIDE YOUR PATHS/ write_logs.php on line 19

Warning: MySQL: A link to the server could not be established in /EDITED TO HIDE YOUR PATHS/write_logs.php on line 19

[edited by: The_Contractor at 1:57 am (utc) on June 12, 2002]

[martinibuster]

Dpeper,
It's a great looking site, you've got a lot of talent! It looks a zillion times better than the junk people try to pass on me.

But yeah, it needs more content.

[Dpeper]

Well, then back to MS word to write some more articles... :) Thanks for the tips ill keep adding content and try and resubmit soon.

-Donny

[skibum]

Dpeper - Just MHO. It is not content in the form of articles that is needed (though that is always nice), it is job postings.

Presumably it is being submitted to a job search category where something like Monster would be listed (or maybe a seaonal job category). If I were an editor, I'd just want to see that it was a functioning site (with job postings) where one could submit a resume and search for a job.

Using IE6 it looks like a nice site!

[martinibuster]

Ok - ok. Can we forget about Dpepers site and get back to the topic?

Bad ODP submissions and the editors who cringe at them.

(Sorry, $2 Kentucky vodka kicking in).

[Dpeper]

Im gonna assume my MSQL server went down for a little bit and thats what you saw.

[The Contractor]

Dpeper,

It looks ok today. Your site takes an extremely long time to load - and I use cable-modem :(

[kctipton]

Submitter hooliganism.

[floater]

I also wainting for ODP to put my site on. My problem is that I think I have enough content, but no editor for the category. I check the parent category too, but there is no editor either. So I think I might apply to be an editor. I'm not afaker, I really wanto to submit my page, but I want to do the editor work as well. I worked hard on the site, and this is all my work there. [execept for the menu, but the credit is there]. I have to suggest 2 other sites to the category to became an editor. I don't know any other sites which are not already listed.

I have experience in the caregory. I'm working in the field for 3 years, just want to extend the business to the web. I'm a programmer, not a lawyer. The thing is that few pople could do what they really want. In this case I would be a game programmer. So I'm confused a bit. Do anyone have similar situation?

floter

[The Contractor]

floater,

Go to [resource-zone.com...] for help/questions on your DMOZ submission.