Since at least Octomer 25, 2006, Dmoz.org had technicial problems. They have yet to fix the problems. If you read their notice, the pages are static - no new updates are being presented. Of what use is this to other search engines that pull data from dmoz.org? Of what use is this for being updated with new websites?
Dmoz.org has more problems other than technical. They have an ethical problem of not accepting valid websites.
I've been trying for years to get our site listed. Numerous other webmasters report the same problem. I carefully read their policies and abide by them when submitting my website. The site is child-friendly and has nothing offensive in it (we sell outdoor products). There is absolutely no reason for Dmoz.org to decline our listing. I submit to only one category at a time to avoid spamming. A few months later, the site's not listed so I resubmit to another appropriate category.
Years later, we're still not listed. So, I've taken on the challenge to find out why.
Their forum states "How to Submit. Topics related to getting a site listed in (or, in some cases, moved to) the appropriate category. Please note that posting here will NOT speed up the listing of a site."
Well, then how do we get a website listed in dmoz.org or find out why they won't list a website?
Their forum refers you to the Abuse Report system. However, dmoz.org says that
an editor's inaction is NOT abuse. What if your editor is a competitor and the editor doesn't take action to include your site? What is that called? I call that abuse of power by the editor.
The Quality Control section of the dmoz.org forum also states, "No, the absence of a listing is not a quality control issue." They call this a "status request". And, they
don't do status requests anymore. Why give it a name if it doesn't exist?
The ODP Editor's signature is "ODP Editor: donaldb
Please do not contact me directly to ask me the status of your listing, because I will most likely ignore your message. Read the
"Discontinuation of site status checks" thread."
Dmoz.org has no other contact method and no mechanism to find out why a site isn't listed. Even Google has a email form that you can ask to see if your site is banned. I've used it and received a reply from Google within about a week. They even responded to my reply to their email.
Needless to say, I'm giving up on getting submitted to Dmoz.org unless someone can prove to me why I should go into "brute-force" mode to get listed.
I thought that Dmoz.org was a very important place to have your site listed. If you can submit to Google, MSN, and other places, what's the true value with Dmoz.org? The the importance of Dmoz.org is a
perception for historical reasons.
When the Net first started and Dmoz.org was initiated, yes, many important search engines used Dmoz.org and had no easy submission method themselves. They probably found it easier to start with the Dmoz.org listings and crawl from there.
Nowadays, you can get listed in the major search engines without being listed in Dmoz.org. Not many new webmasters really know about Dmoz.org. They're focussing on MSN, Yahoo!, Google, and other important search engines for their launches.
If Dmoz.org is so unreliable that honest websites can't get listed, that they don't reply to abuse reports, they have no contact mechanism, and they have long-term technical problems, how can any reputable search engine even trust their content?
Your thoughts? Is Dmoz.org really that important to get listed in these days? If we can't get our website listed, then what are the true consequences?
Has Dmoz.org in partnership with AOL Died?
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