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I think there is some problem in dmoz. I have seen a number of sites belongs to the same company listed in number of cat in Dmoz. And Also dmoz editors are just submitting their own sites in categories and new submission of the same cat or same industry use to avoid. Even personally i had submitted sites to dmoz those are really having good content & PR and all and did not receive any response since 3 years or so.
I believe existing editors are not following the rules and submiting their own sites and rejecting the others.
Any idea on this.
Experienced
This post is the first time you've mentioned that in this thread, and it's the ONLY thing you've mentioned that would tend to give a cheddar flavor to the whole situation.
Everything else is innocuous. A business site doesn't become ineligible for listing simply because they didn't pay for a separate domain name. Setting up the website on someone else's domain is a standard practice: i.e., Ruby Lane, which hosts all kind of antique and craft stores under one domain.
So, from now everybody, all you seo's out there...new way to get multiple listings in the odp.
You've always struck me as a reasonable guy (from your posts here and at the Dmoz public forums) but now you are being just a tad unresonable, I think. If what you say up there were the case, it would be a problem as far as the ODP is concerned. If you are convinced that the abuse report wasn't handled correctly, submit another one. What you do whenever you submit an abuse report is that you call upon the attention of a whole group of people with very varying backgrounds, tempers and dispositions; you'll have several people who are all devoted to the cause of removing spammy entries from the directory looking into it.
As I understand it (and I may be missing something here) John runs a website development business, with at sebsite at john-doe.com ; he develops a website for Richard's termite spraying company, which can be accessed through john-doe.com/richard-roe/ and also through richard-roe.com .
The ODP editor chose to list richard's website as john-doe.com/richard-roe/ , although the "home" link on that page goes to richard-roe.com .
Nobody has actually described HOW John set up the domain name -- that is, whether it actually fully resolves to his own server, or whether it goes through some level of indirection.
Does that capture the situation?
If so, it may be (I don't know the URLs but don't mind checking) that the fact that was not specified is the only fact that matters. If richard-roe.com is using meta redirection or hidden frames or the like to go back to the john-doe.com subdirectory, then of course the ODP listing is as it should be. But ... nobody even looked at that before spreading the news that the sky is falling?
The sky may be falling. I don't know. Nobody can possibly know, based on your knowledge insofar as you have so far divulged it and I have so far comprehended it.
What's the rest of the story?
You're completely missing the point that people have been making here. The fact that the home page link on a site goes to client1.com is meaningless if client1.com is just a frame over abc.com/client1 and every other link on the site still goes to abc.com/client1/.The ODP editor chose to list richard's website as john-doe.com/richard-roe/ , although the "home" link on that page goes to richard-roe.com .
Why in the world would an editor want to list the seo company/client when the client has his own url?
A domain that is a frame over another URL (the "real" URL) will generally resolve to a different server according to whois. Doesn't mean we should be listing that domain.Nobody has actually described HOW John set up the domain name -- that is, whether it actually fully resolves to his own server, or whether it goes through some level of indirection.
It resolves to another server according to whois.
Would you be good enough to explain why my home page in my profile has not changed whatsoever in the year I have been looking?
You guessed it - I submitted mysite there a year ago. Mysite has not been reviewed and not a single link in that whole section has changed in over a year. This industry is huge in the internet. The sites in this OPD section are completely useless and irrelevant for web surfers.
Perhaps you, or one of your editor colleagues, can explain this - or perhaps you can just admit that the OPD is not working theses days.
PS, I am not winging or Directory bashing – this is a legitimate problem that I humbly submit to you, just like I humbly submit mysite and humbly apply for editorship.
DMOZ is a community. A community of good and bad editors who volunteer their time for different reasons. DMOZ doesn't owe sites anything, and they've proven that. They don't have to review your submission, they don't have to add your site.
I think people need to stop taking DMOZ so serious. Most search engines have :-)
Let's say, I don't have that information, but I would like to answer the question. Since I do have access to other editors, how (in your perception of the ODP) would it be possible for me to go about collecting that information?
There are people that dont like what the ODP is doing... there are people that like what the ODP is doing and neither agree who is right... then there are people that just seem to chime in to either defend or complain about the ODP with no actual facts other than what they perceive to be the truth...
As in all things there will be problems... every company has their issues whether it be a paid employee or volunteers, someone is going to do something that will ultimately hurt the reputation of the company... of course on the flip side, there will be successes, people that overachieve and do nothing but good things.
What I have learned from this, if it upsets you that much then do something to change it, and not just complain to someone, actually apply to be an editor, I applied a few months ago and was accepted without too much trouble at all. I like what the ODP does, I like what it is trying to achieve... Of course there are problems, some of which are more difficult to resolve than just dropping the directory or replacing a few editors.
You do have to understand a few things
1. The directory is a service not a tool of exploitation.
2. It is run by volunteers, some good some have their own agendas, most have the interest of the ODP in mind.
3. All the volunteers have many other things to worry about and spend as much time as we can on the project but that isnt always ideal for people trying to make money or even draw interest to their website, we are doing the best we can with the resources we have, so sorry.. if you can contribute more than please apply.
4. As the world grows, and the technology increases and more and more people use the internet, more and more websites will be contributed and therefore many good sites get lost in the endless clutter of bad sites.. and there are a lot of bad sites out there.
5. The categories that most people complain about are the categories that most people want listed to, so if their are several thousand listed sites in one particular category and 100-200 in each subcategory and only a handful of editors what do we do when a handful of people hate mail us, we defend our work since the other thousand sites have no complaints... some people get upset when they receive hate mail and take it personally, I cant really blame them... many are working really hard to improve the directory.
6. Why use the ODP if you feel the way that you do, I heard one person say that it contributes nothing to the web, so then why even bother, there are many people that use the directory and like it... its not that we dont care, its that we do the best we can, no its not failing, its a lot of work, and many people are happy about what goes on. Please by all means use Google instead, nobody is profiting from this resource, there is no advertising revenue that can fund the big servers that is needed for a resource like google.
7. The resources available to editors is incredible, I have been part of the directory for a few months and I have been treated with complete respect, and everyone is extremely helpful from what I have seen... sure like I said there are always going to be the bad ones, but we cant always weed those out.
8. Just an FYI, I am affiliated with 9 different websites, am a member on countless more and only one has made it into the directory, while I would like my sites to be listed, I did not join to add my own sites.. I am sure that this happens, and hopefully we can catch this, it is not the norm.
You dont have to agree with me, just think about what I have said, I am not defending the ODP against all the accusations that I have read, just adding my feelings about why I think it is a good thing.
-Huck
I joined and am happy with the result, I had no problem joining and it seems there are new editors added everyday so I am not sure how it can be considered a closed community... also the higher ups are all seeking suggestions and opinions...
I do agree with you that the ODP editors seem to react quickly and fiercely but many people are also quick to criticize what they dont understand...
These types of roundtable discussions are important but you do have to remember that no matter how we feel there are others that may not feel the same way... that was the real point of my post.