SEO & operations · Submission operations playbook

Run a directory moderation workflow reviewers can finish

A decision-ready review sequence aligned with Directoryz's actual approve-or-reject states and paid rejection refund behavior.

INTAKE → DECISION
01Check02Approve03Reject
Direct answer

The practical answer first

A reliable submission moderation workflow verifies intake and payment state, checks duplicate identity, eligibility, required fields, source evidence, public claims, category and privacy, then records an approve-or-reject decision. Rejected paid submissions should complete the supported refund path before the rejection is finalized.

Who this is for

For directory owners, editors, and support teams reviewing free or paid public submissions under a shared standard.

When to use it

Use this workflow to train reviewers, reduce inconsistent decisions, and make submission forms collect enough information for the product's actual decision states.

01

Triage intake and payment state

Confirm the submission belongs to the directory, required data is present, the submitter contact is available, and any one-time payment has a valid confirmed state. Identify duplicates and obvious abuse before substantive review. Do not publish or refund based only on an unverified browser return.

  • Separate free, paid, and featured-requested context.
  • Check listing identity against existing records.
  • Escalate payment anomalies before editorial action.
02

Review eligibility and public content

Apply scope, required evidence, legal and safety rules, source rights, category, shared field validation, promotional claim limits, and private-data checks. Compare card and detail presentation. Because Directoryz does not have a request-changes decision, forms and policies should support a complete approve-or-reject choice.

  • Use the published policy and internal checklist together.
  • Do not claim credential verification without evidence.
  • Apply the same quality standard to paid submissions.
03

Execute the decision atomically

On approval, publish or preserve the configured publication state, record reviewer, timestamp, note, and featured treatment. On rejection, keep the listing from publication and, for a paid record, attempt the Stripe refund first. If refunding fails, surface the issue rather than silently completing rejection.

  • Record actor, decision, note, and time.
  • Keep payment and review states understandable.
  • Send accurate transactional communication.
04

Review patterns and improve intake

Track rejection reasons, duplicate rate, incomplete fields, refund failures, review time, policy ambiguity, and support questions. Improve field help, controlled values, examples, eligibility copy, or reviewer training. Do not add a shadow state that the product and notifications cannot represent reliably.

  • Use reason categories without exposing private notes.
  • Audit reviewer consistency on sample decisions.
  • Remove form fields that do not aid decisions.
workflow

Approve-or-reject review queue

Use this ordered queue for each submission. Stop and escalate when payment or safety state is uncertain rather than forcing an editorial decision.

  1. 01
    1. Intake

    directory; submitter; free or paid; confirmed payment; featured request; abuse check; duplicate signals.

  2. 02
    2. Eligibility

    scope; identity; source; rights; prohibited content; required fields; public privacy; category fit.

  3. 03
    3. Quality

    summary; claims; custom values; URLs; card display; detail display; minimum completeness; evidence.

  4. 04
    4. Decision

    approve or reject; reviewer; note; publication state; featured treatment; audit record; message.

  5. 05
    5. Money

    for paid rejection: payment-intent availability; refund success; failed-refund escalation; final status.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What moderation decisions does Directoryz support?

Current submission review supports approve or reject. It does not provide a built-in request-changes state, so intake should collect decision-ready information and policies should use accurate language.

Can paid submissions auto-publish?

Directory settings can control publication behavior, but review-first is the safer model for curated directories. Payment confirmation should never replace eligibility and quality checks when review is promised.

What happens if a paid refund fails?

The rejection should not be completed silently. Directoryz surfaces the refund failure so the operator can retry or resolve it in Stripe before finalizing the submission state.

Make every decision auditable

Review free and paid submissions in one focused workflow

Directoryz keeps listing content, payment context, featured request, approve-or-reject action, refund handling, notifications, and audit history together for authorized staff.

Set up the review workflow