Besides, when has DMOZ even made the claim that your site has to be listed to rank in the SEs?

When did DOMZ ever claim to list, edit and maintain the directory for the benefit of the SEs?

I think you'll find the SEs latched on to DMOZ without any prompting from DMOZ. ... because it was, and remains a very good, comprehensive directory. That's why so many SEs, large and small, list certain results directly from DMOZ ... format and all.

Face it. DMOZ is relevant. If it weren't, Google and the other SEs would ignore it, right?