Hello - For the past 3 years I have tried to be listed in the Open
Directory Project but my attempts are unsuccessful. At the time of
submitting my URL I have been careful to enter it in the correct
category (I have only attempted this once each year).  I have never
received any acknowledgement of acceptance or rejection.  One of my
websites is www.fishershops.com  I built this website using website
builder.  Can you please give me some hint as to why I have not been
able to be accepted into the directory?  I am in the Google Search
results with some of my keywords. I am afraid to submit my url more
than once each year as the verbage on the open directory page
indicates one can be penalized for submitting the same url multiple
times.

Cordially - Janet

Hello

The  'about dmoz' page
http://dmoz.org/about.html

says:
" the Open Directory provides the means for the Internet to organize
itself. As the Internet grows, so do the number of net-citizens. These
citizens can each organize a small portion of the web and present it
back to the rest of the population, culling out the bad and useless
and keeping only the best content"

In this goal, DMOZ differs from directories such as (for example) Froogle
://www.google.com/frghp
which is a cumulative listing of commercial catalogs.

The site you gave as an example appears to be just a product catalog.
 It may be useful in commerce, but does not contribute (at least in
the view of a  dmoz editor) to the mankind's store of knowledge. The
category itself
http://dmoz.org/Business/Healthcare/Products_and_Services/Hygiene_Disposables/Manufactured_Products/
 is not  very interesting (as you can see does not have a dedicated
editor) and it lists manufacturers, not shops.

So, in brief: site you mentioned has as much chance to be listed in DMOZ 
as it has a place in (let's say) Encyclopedia Britanica. DMOZ is a
a branch  of the Open Software Movement, a not-for-profit movement,
which is not selling products but organizing store of human knowledge,
the part which is presented on the web.

 DMOZ editors usually do not write back to explain why they delete a
submission. They certainly would not argue about it. In rare cases
they may
suggest changes - if they feel a website 'should be listed' but has a
small correctable problem.
There is no need for a internet shop to be listed there,
 but if you do want to have a site listed in DMOZ, try this:
1) provide useful info about an interesting area 
2) See what other sites, listed in that category did, 
   (and do not replicate that, but add to it, or explain it better)
3) study web design e.g.
http://www.users.nac.net/falken/annoying/main.html

 If you look at DMOZ category for webdesign
http://dmoz.org/Computers/Data_Formats/Markup_Languages/HTML/Tutorials/
 you will find free tutorials e.g.
http://echoecho.com/htmlbackgrounds.htm
 compare that with what you get when your enter 'web design' into a search engine:
://www.google.com/search?q=website+design

The  difference speaks for itself: DMOZ is more selective than search engines.

Hedgie

Hedgie

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Request for Answer Clarification by health123-ga on 23 May 2005 08:55 PDT

Thank you for you quick response.  To clarify, using Website Builder
does not in any way affect the Open Directory acceptance of a website?

---

Clarification of Answer by hedgie-ga on 23 May 2005 11:44 PDT

Hi again, Janet

"  using Website Builder  .."  or any other tool has no effect on acceptance.
 
 The result, impression of your site, counts.

 But your site is not bad looking - it serves its purpose. 
 It may be category you picked for submission.

I am now looking at 
http://www.rpromise.com/
which is listed in
http://dmoz.org/Shopping/Health/Conditions_and_Diseases/Incontinence/
and it does not differ that much from what you have.

Perhaps you may add some graphics, few pages of general info and links, 
(e.g selected from 
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%2FIncontinence%2F&btnG=Search
)
and submit again to this category.

There are some public blogs, which can give you some insights into the
inner working of DMOZ
http://dmoz.theblob.org/dmoz/journal.cgi

but the bottom line is : content

 I happen to be DMOZ editor (different category) and that is what I
care about. Of course, editors are all different, but one point of
having a 'human edited directory' is that tricks and gimmicks do not
count much. Be skeptical
of claims of the type 'I can get you listed  in.. ', 'drive traffic to...'

Provide  useful content in your area of expertise, content which goes beyond
purely commercial purpose, and chances are you will get listed.

Hedgie 
So far, DMOX seems to operate as advertised (may be one of the few
organisations which do)