Site Ratings

[el_jentel1]

Site Ratings

All sites that submit to Katz Downloads are rated between 1 star and 5 stars.

5 star sites are of the best quality and 1 star, the worst.

5 star sites are sent the most amount of traffic and the traffic amounts reduce as a site's rating gets lower. In other words, the higher a site's rating, the greater number of hits they receive from Katz Downloads.

Sites that we have rated 5 stars have reported anywhere from 30% to 90% of their traffic originating from Katz Downloads.

Technical Summary:

We accept 1 star submissions first... then work our way up to 5 star submissions. Thus the lower the site rating, the further back the submissions are pushed in the database. So 5 star submissions end up on Page 1 -- of course, we can only fit 50 on each page, so the rest just get listed on the following pages.

A site's rating is decided by one of the staff members at Katz Downloads. No one apart from staff members have influence on a site's rating.

A site's compliance with our Best Practices plays a role in the rating it is assigned.

FYI: There is no such thing as "zero rating".

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If you're unaware of your site's rating, you can find out by visiting
http://katz.cd/site/domain.com, where domain.com is obviously your site's domain.

A colored star with a digit to the right-hand side of your site's name in the first row denotes your site's rating.

This will not work if you've only recently submitted and your site is awaiting review.

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All new websites start off with low ratings (1-2 stars). Websites have to earn their stars over time. Please read part 2 of Site Ratings.

FYI: Do not expect to jump stars. For instance, if your site is rated 1 star, it will only be promoted to 2 stars, not 3 or 4. After being re-rated, wait a full month before emailing us again in regards to your site's rating.

When responding to your emails, there's nothing more annoying than for us to have to state the obvious reasons why your site was assigned the rating it was. For example, don't ask me why your site can't be 5 stars when you've got a big fuck off banner in the header of your site.

Look at sites whose submissions are listed on Page 1 and work out the differences between theirs and yours -- quality of content, amount of advertising, design, usability, etc.

[el_jentel1]

A few points of interest regarding webmasters, their sites, and our rating system.

KD = Katz Downloads

The rating system:

• KD Staff initially rate sites while reviewing sites for acceptance.
• KD Staff base their decision generally on 1st impressions of site.
• KD Staff decision on site ratings are not final, however usually will stand.
• KD Staff take several factors into consideration while rating:
  • Advertising content.
  • Site content.
  • Site maturity.
  • Site's compliance with Best Practices.
  • Site uniqueness - does it offer something other sites don't?
  • Are there pop-ups/unders, ad/spyware, malware, hidden iframes?
  • Site navigation, clean style, etc.
  • The site Theme (as a whole - it must generally be nice).
  • Other items we may take into consideration not in this list.

Site Rating: Where does your site fall?

• 5 stars will be extremly hard to achieve.
• 4 stars will also be hard to achieve, although not as difficult as 5 star sites.
• 3 stars is the average - if your site has this, you're doing fine.
• 2 stars is below average.
• 1 star is a very poor site, and fails to meet several conditions.

Contacting us about site ratings:

• You are more then welcome to email us about site ratings.
• Read Best Practices, ask members how they think your site ranks.
• Is it clean, free from adverts, pop-ups, unique?
• When emailing us, inquire - do not constantly ask to be re-rated.
• When emailing us, do not always expect us to give "advice" on how to improve your site.
• We will not always re-rate your site. Unless significant improvements or changes have been made.

But, this 5 star (or 4 star) site has ads, and mine does not - why are they higher?

• 5 star sites should be virtually ad-free.
• 4 star sites should also be virtually ad-free.
• Blog-style sites (ie: data-life engine, wordpress etc..) will rarely see anything above 3 stars.
  • There are certain circumstances that will result in a site being rated 5 or 4 stars where they may have an ad. Usually these sites offer something significant to the community they serve. They are mature, offer clean content, maintain their site, offer something unique, etc. Sometimes, large sites who own their own dedicated server need to pay for costs through advertising. Generally, 95% of the warez/porn sites out there use shared hosting, and do not need ads to pay for their site -- they are looking to make a profit.
  • Blog-style sites will rarely see anything above 3 stars. Many will see 2 stars or less when being rated. Whilst blog-style sites are easy to maintain, they are very impersonal. They do not contain a community feel, and many of them are of poor quality, ad-ridden, and leech content using leech scripts.

We have hundreds of sites to deal with. We receive many inquiries about ratings and re-ratings. As a whole, and generally speaking, when we rate a site, we rate it on the basis of what we see and feel when we initially visit your site. Whilst you can inquire at any time, do not always expect a re-rate, or to receive advice on how to improve your site. Our first impressions are usually pretty accurate the 1st time around.

When asking for a re-rate, and you receive a reply to the effect of "We feel your site has the appropriate rating at this time." Do not reply back asking why, for advice to improve your site, or reply begging for an increase.

Also, due to the increase in sites we serve we're forced to start enforcing mandatory "re-rates." This means that while we are accepting submissions we will additionally be checking a site for it's consistency and ability to follow the rules. For instance, if you're a 4 star site and violate a basic rule or fail to follow simple best practices your site will be demoted - and you will have to wait the normal 3 month re-rating period.

Do not expect to throw together some crap site that's ad-ridden and expect to be accepted.

This really goes for all sites, but blog-style sites in particular.

Thank you.

[el_jentel1]

Changes / Additions: Important "At a Glance" Information: This section has been updated with the most important factors regarding re-rates for your site. This section has had a few new elements added, and/or reiteration of previous guidelines that are now being more strictly enforced.

Rating Information & Updates:

• All new websites start off with low ratings (1-2 stars). Websites have to earn their stars over time.
• A site's rating is decided by one of the staff members at Katz Downloads.
• A site's compliance with our Best Practices plays a role in the rating it is assigned.
• KD Staff decision on site ratings are not final, however usually will stand.
• Do not always expect a re-rate, or to receive advice on how to improve your site.
• If you receive a reply to the effect of "We feel your site has the appropriate rating at this time." Do not reply back asking why, for advice to improve your site, or reply begging for an increase.
• Also, due to the increase in sites we serve we're forced to start enforcing mandatory "re-rates." This means that while we are accepting submissions we will additionally be checking a site for its consistency and ability to follow the rules. For instance, if your site is rated 4 stars and violates a basic rule or fails to follow simple Best Practices, your site will get demoted - and you will have to wait the normal 6 month re-rating period.
• There is a mandatory 3 month waiting period to be re-rated from 3 star to 4 star.
• There is a mandatory 3 month waiting period to be re-rated from 4 star to 5 star.

FYI: Do not expect to jump stars. For instance, if your site is rated 1 star, it will only be promoted to 2 stars, not 3 or 4. After being re-rated, wait a full month before emailing us again in regards to your site's rating.

FYI: The amount of submissions a site sends us, the amount of time they've gone without being banned, or a new theme will no longer be sole determining factors on re-rates or rate increases.

Due to the shear amount of sites we deal with at this point in time we have no choice but to be more strict while considering a sites rating.