RJ... i thought everything you posted was pretty much bang on and really did need to be said (asked...), its just that everything they responded with was simply "the way it is" with Dmoz... and there really is little that any of us can do to change it... less we all sign up in mass as volunteers ourselves and stage a mutiny... lol.

There is corruption every where in the real world... from the streets to our institutions and beyond... so i expect there to be a certain level of corruption within dmoz.

Dmoz is edited by volunteers (plain and simple), and as such everything they say is true... in that certain categories will virtually never be kept up to date, there will always be a huge back log of submitted (suggested... lol) sites, and the true value of such a directory for actually locating any current and authoritative information on any particular given topic (when compared to using an "effective" relevant query performed on any quality search engine available today...) will be in question, if for no other reason that the internet is "sooooo" dynamic (what with sites coming and going literally every second)... if they had 14k editors instead of the claimed 7k they still could not keep all 600,000 (claimed) categories up to date...

Sorry man... just figured you were kinda beatin a dead horse by the end of the first page... lol.

sd

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I have to agree with the whines of the posts. Is anybody that counts over at DMOZ listening? You are idiots.
My site is number one for good phrases in Google, Yahoo and MSN. It's content is good, unique, and not copied. It's our own stuff, i.e not afilliate. It's now been two years since we submitted to DMOZ but nothing yet. We're a shopping site and there is just one moderator for a large number of categories.
Listen DMOZ - here's a way to make more money in one week than anyone has ever made in history. Ready? Charge $50 per entry like Yahoo (Yeah - I know they charge much more!) - we'll be happier because we will get service, you'll be happy, believe me. Everyone will be happy, even Google. But you won't do it will you - because you 'pride yourselves on the content of your directory'. Few people manage to get into the directory - but you 'pride yourselves on the content of your directory'. All those volunteers working for the good of the directory, selfless, working for the common good. Only they aren't working DMOZ, and you aren't working anymore either. You're useless.

Just make it a paid directory like Yahoo.

Everybody wins.

End of discussion.

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Matchmaking Service Christian Dating Service Christian Cafe

CBP:
-----------------------------------------

Quote: After several months - I tried submitting the site again.

Quote: I submitted another site we had - under the same categories

Thats called spam... you are putting yourself at a disadvantage.

---------------------------------------------

cbp, YOU ARE AN IDIOT AND typical of DMOZ editors. If one person submits two different websites to a single category YOU CALL THAT SPAMMING?

DMOZ sux, and so do you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrb@w3f.com CBP: ----------------------------------------- Quote: After several months - I tried submitting the site again. Quote: I submitted another site we had - under the same categories Thats called spam... you are putting yourself at a disadvantage. --------------------------------------------- cbp, YOU ARE AN IDIOT AND typical of DMOZ editors. If one person submits two different websites to a single category YOU CALL THAT SPAMMING? DMOZ sux, and so do you.

Let's keep the insults to a minimum.

The fact of the matter is there is rampant corruption in DMOZ. There are child pornography sites that have gotten in DMOZ. There are assisted-suicide sites that made it in. DMOZ even refuses to take them down.

A paid DMOZ would result in
A) Better Management
B) A Risk for Spammers to not submit (non-refundable)
C) Quicker Turn-Around for those who do submit
D) Possible explanation for why refused

Also E) More money for the Netscape/AOL partnership or whatever deamonic circle spawned ODP. So why NOT?!

I say, NOBODY currently in DMOZ has a paid right to be in it. So CLEAN IT OUT, and start up a new one instantly. DMOZ would retain it's importance, and even be respected as a greater authority.

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Matchmaking Service Christian Dating Service Christian Cafe

Sorry, but it frosts me when you made that reply.
DMOZ has serious issues and is only good for
filling up a make-believe search engine to get it started, or as filler... Beyond that, hardly anyone trusts it anymore. I know, I used to be a mirror.

My apologies, but your remark was too-quick without-thinking, maybe?

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Oh, and I'm not the one who said that. I just don't like seeing my forums filled with insults.

As for the ODP stuff... preaching to the choir.

Does anyone think ODP is better than say, Yahoo Directory? Leave out price as a factor.

Or even Best of the Web (BOTW.org) is only $50 and WAY better run and even MORE selective than ODP in my opinion.

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Matchmaking Service Christian Dating Service Christian Cafe

No, I think Yahoo is much better, it's my second choice, then MSN.

Problem is that people don't know much about the other search engines. Google has spent a fortune in advertising, as did Yahoo a while back. MSN kinda comes with Windows, so many use that without knowing
anything, and get used to it.

DMOZ is a source of listings for many engines, as filler. I think it is valuable in that sense if done properly. Maybe if they did a thorough cleaning of their database as well as their "editors", it could become #4 out there. I think it would take a $50 per year charge to keep better quality listings too.

That is not a cure-all, for sure, but could cut the junk in half.

My peeve about Google is all the links that go to nothing but adwords pages with no content being listed higher than my relevant content pages.

Google needs to divert some of its staff from blue-sky projects on cleaning up their listings.

Automation is one thing, but you have to have people involved. Yahoo needs to compromise a bit too.

They all need to strike a happy medium and reduce the weighting of the popularity factor and try and find a way to judge on content relevance. Content is king.

That would get the searchers back... (IMHO)

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Aother Human Directory being set up:-

http://www.webproworld.com/viewtopic.php?t=64611

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I have submit my website to dmoz 3 times in the past 6 mounths and still I not posted in the directory.
Does any one has an ideea how is the easy way.

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Isn't it a waste of time to be talking about it? As long as Google use's their listings, and everyone keeps using Google, DMOZ will still be around and still be a corrupt directory.

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Michael Desmarais
Supreme Center Hosting
http://www.supremecenterhosting.com

I am pleased to see others echoing my sentiments and experience with DMOZ. Here's an article I published on the subject in August 2005:

It's Time for Google to Fire DMOZ!

How many of you are as frustrated as I am with attempting to get a listed in the Open Project Directory (OPD), aka "DMOZ?" You submit and wait…and wait. But nothing happens. You try to find out if there is any problem, but there is no way to do so. Operating this way, the OPD would be out of business if it were a real company, In fact, the OPD would already be irrelevant if it weren't for the fact that Google and others draw upon its entries for their directories.

The OPD may have started out as a good idea, but it is floundering and hurting the Internet community. Its key weakness is the complete dependence upon volunteer editors to review submissions. Apparently, as Internet growth has exploded, there are not enough volunteers to handle increased submissions. Hence, some submissions wait months – even years - to achieve a OPD listing, if ever. Some OPD insiders hint at a million or more sites in the queue! I suspect it is a lot more, as in several million.

The OPD Website states "it may take several weeks or more before your submission is reviewed." Who wouldn't be happy if that were only the case? In reality, OPD advises to wait six months before making an inquiry about the status of a URL submission. But since they received so many inquiries and were unable to give meaningful answers, the ability to make an inquiry was discontinued (see http://resource-zone.com/forum/). Now, when you submit your Website, you have no means of knowing if it is sitting somewhere in an OPD queue or was rejected (and if so, why?). Yet, they have a whole page dedicated to reporting suspected OPD editor malfeasance.

An arrogant obliqueness permeates many OPD communications. When one person on the OPD Resource Zone forum begged to have someone review his site after patiently waiting for two years, an OPD editor answered, "There is no editing tool that looks at the directory as a whole and determines which sites have been waiting the longest. The entire concept is irrelevant, as the length of time since submission is completely meaningless to us." Later in the thread, the editor exclaims, " It is really quite simple: there is no queue, there is no line, begging won't help. We make no promises as to how long it will take to look at a given suggestion. You've done your part in suggesting the site, at some point an editor will either: discover the site on his/her own, or come across it in the pool of unreviewed sites. When either of those two conditions occurs, it will either be added to the directory or declined -- or, the editor may choose to defer making a decision for an infinite period of time." When the site owner cries, "Come on guys, give us a chance!," the OPD editor responded, "We did in allowing you to suggest the site." Folks, this is not a customer friendly organization.

But the OPD doesn't consider Webmasters as their customers. In fact, they exhibit a disdain for today's entrepreneur and tend to ignore the reality of the mushrooming Internet market. Their concern in online forums often seems to focus on countering spammers while ignoring the fact that the majority of new sites reflect a growing paradigm shift from "brick and mortar" to virtual stores.

In my case, I launched my content-laden website in mid-2004 and submitted it to the OPD shortly thereafter. When I check my desired category on DMOZ, I always see a "help wanted" sign soliciting an editor. Hmmm. Worse, I now have no means available for even making a status inquiry. Meanwhile, my site is excluded from the Google Directory even though it has achieved a Google ranking of five! And my story is unfortunately a typical one.

I have no argument with the concept of the OPD. It is a good one. But it is time for the OPD to fess up and admit that its operations are insufficient. The Internet has matured, and the OPD cannot handle today's volume of website submissions. They can no longer claim to be a "directory of web sites that contain useful content for the users" when millions of quality Websites never show up in the Open Project Directory. Yet the OPD leadership fails to take obvious steps to turn the situation around and it continues to deteriorate.

The OPD dilemma would not matter were it not in the legacy position of being the gatekeeper to several important directories and portals. Otherwise, everyone would be content to let OPD editors wrap themselves in their priestly robes, take their secret scrolls and ride off into obscurity.

Instead of promoting the Internet, the OPD has become a detriment to its progress. Its antiquated methods are clearly compounded by a reluctance to take advantage of technology to assist in scrutinizing submissions, or to charge a small fee to pay for full-time editors. By their own admission, they don't even assign editors to be responsible for specific categories. By emphatically embracing a purest attitude that ignores the exponential growth in the number of Websites, the OPD is fast becoming the "blacksmith" of the Internet age, watching progress pass it by.

The question is, "What is Google doing about this?" Apparently nothing. This is strange, considering that it would be to Google's advantage to capture the entire inventory of worthy sites in its directory. Certainly, there is an enormous profit opportunity for Google that is being missed because of its dependence on DMOZ. Surely Google could allow direct submissions and accept those that have passed its own muster, say with a minimum page rank, and then present them in that order. Why Google and other entities that rely on the OPD haven't taken any action is one of the industry's eternal mysteries.

I know I speak for thousands – probably millions - of frustrated Web marketers when I urge Google to step in and either assist the OPD in cleaning up its mess or else abandon DMOZ as the sole gateway to its coveted directory. Maybe if we create a flood of emails to Google, it would have a positive impact. Altogether now, everyone shout "GOOGLE – IT IS TIME TO FIRE DMOZ!"

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www.smallbizsmartmarketing.com

akernek

I am for one of my websites! I was told in the forum - when asking what I could do and when I might expect to see it listed, some jerky editor wrote "NEVER!!!" in some giant font size and color. I was floored at the childishness to a simple inquiry.

This and other info you've supplied makes the case for why a listing in DMOZ has the allure and weight that it does. No one controls them - Google certainly isn't going to police them - nor should they IMO.

I disagree that they hate webmasters. I do concede that anything can be quicker and more automated but that's not what the Project is about and that has been why scoring a listing there gets us all worked up. They only put what they care to put up based on their criteria. They seem to have a high editor turnover or "quit" rate due to all of the sections that are hiring. That has always been their way.

Like it or not - Learn to love it!...."Nature Boy" Ric Flair

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Defense Systems | Security Products | Crime Information

I posted a site on Dmoz about 3 times and it still has not come up so gave up on it, after reading the posts above it looks like i am not the only person to have this happen. Empire ID #96410
www.gamestotal.com

Yeah I think submit your site once and be prepared to wait. If nothing eventuates there's little you can do. Just get over it and move on. Promote your site elsewhere.

Edited by Mod Webnauts. Signature is not allow in the post box. Link deleted.

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www.giftsthatthrill.com.au

I dont beleive anyone can honestly today recommend DMOZ. Today, it is a pure waste of your time, and it has been so for quite a long time already. DMOZ was still ok in the late 90's. - Today no point at all!
In one category I did try to submit a url, nothing has changed for 2 years, nothing! - And that category has an "editor". The only way to get in to DMOZ is to submit your site to an "closely related" but not "spot-on" category, thus the "self-interest oriented DMOZ editor (the majority today), might still allow your site, since it will not actually compete with his own one". The most likely is however that you will not get included in this way either, with an arrogant "submitted to wrong category" reply. You might however start to receive "payed-inclusion" spam e-mails instead.
This has no impact on the good search engines like MSN and Yahoo, you can get ranked no 1 for almost any keyword/keyphrase without DMOZ. The today corrupt Google is however still likely to give extra points for DMOZ at least as an indound link.
In short forget DMOZ! Every book you see that suggest submitting to DMOZ should be burnt as useless outdated crap!

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Robert Greenbucks

If DMOZ is not so good, is the Yahoo Directory any better? Its got a big price. Is there any evidence that it helps Google ranking?

Also, is Yahoo Directory any good for an established site with poor rankings?

Answers on a postcard :)

Edited by Mod Webnauts. Signature is not allow in the post box. Link deleted.

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www.giftsthatthrill.com.au

philwill4U: If DMOZ is not so good, is the Yahoo Directory any better? Its got a big price. Is there any evidence that it helps Google ranking? Also, is Yahoo Directory any good for an established site with poor rankings?

You can still get included for Yahoo Search within a quite reasonable time, without getting "sandboxed to force new smallbusinesses into PPC programmes (AdWords)as Googles unethical strategy is nowadays. I do agree that 299$/annually is "salty", but Yahoo is still fair and open with this strategy. Compare this to AdWords on Google and 299 $ might almost do for a month, if you like 5 visitors a day.. - Google does not offer payed inclusions. This might sound good, but they are infact trying to force new site owners to AdWords. Yahoo is still ethical and open compared to what Google is today! I would not pay 299$ to Yahoo to acheive Google ranks, but I do certainly consider it to improve results on Yahoo Search for very competetive keywords/keyphrases, but it depends what you are selling online (profit margins).

I think of many smaller search engines, and metasearch engines, providing directions and checkers of your code, if you follow their directions you are listed almost instantly. The technology is there, so it is a question about will.

Google does not have this will. DMOZ has prooved itself worthless for years already. DMOZ editors main job seems to be doing nothing, or just reply to say "no". Compare your to "quality" sites they have in their registry, and I have hard to see how these are supposed to be any better than mine. Yes DMOZ and (Google)they used to be good. I do not beleive in an improvement on either, rather the opposite!
Google Cashes in as long as they can. They will become very unpopular, put some people are filling their pockets for the rest of their life and will not care. Their reputation will be gone for a very, very long time. It will be hard to gain the trust again when they realise they will need it, it will be too late.
I do natural optimization and I do rank high on Yahoo without paying a single cent, same on MSN. My point is here only whitehat SEO strategies, no stupid linkbuilding for the sake of Google alone. Infact i make links only for the real sake of the content.
On MSN and Yahoo you can still get hundreds of top1 and top2 ranks without a cent, with pure quality content (pages not only optimised for robots or spiders but) for human-readers (...and spiders).
What kind of "Quality registry" is DMOZ? They do have pretty crappy sites in their directory without allowing pages of similar or better quality to get listed. That is a historical registry. The value of the registry is therefore also decreasing day by day.
All who have seen their sites rejected of "no reason whatsoever" will certainly stop using DMOZ for anything. Honsetly who uses DMOZ to find anything on the web today?
My favourites are MSN and Yahoo. MSN seems to be the quickest updating and most accurate search engine today. I really start to love Bill Gates again...

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Robert Greenbucks

You are funny.
Even google says they use it heavily.

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