DMOZ Isn't Open

[Chris]

Directories can be quite beneficial for those trying to increase the number of backlinks. If PageRank is important, directory listings can help improve your score. Perhaps the most popular directory is DMOZ, an open directory project that employs human editors for the submission/approval procedure. The use of human editors is founded on furthering the quality of the directory content.

However, human prejudices can factor into the approval process, something that is hard to overcome if you are considering submitting to a competitive category. During the research process, I came across numerous statements about people having to wait months and even years before their site gets accepted into the DMOZ directory.

The following is an example I found on the SitePoint forums offered by Pavel Nedved:

“I know this is largely dependant on who the admin is for your particular category, but approximately how long is the average Submit -> Listing delay? I submitted in early June... should I check back at Christmas?” Pavel’s statement was a humorous look at the wait for DMOZ acceptance. But it begs the question: How long should someone have to wait before they are approved, denied, or contacted about either?

Depending on the amount of submissions a DMOZ category gets, users should expect to hear SOMETHING back from the human editors at some point. Because of the slow response times and rejections for unknown reasons, there has been an increasing amount of vocal displeasure aimed at DMOZ. Some question whether the intentions of a few editors are actually pure.

SitePoint poster Kimberly commented about her experience with DMOZ, “I submitted under a heading only to learn 3 months later that the #3 player in my market was the editor. So I picked another heading… at least I am in now. It is not a fair system.” Judging from Kimberly’s statement, it would appear that she was the victim of another’s ethical shortcomings. If editors allow personal feelings and competitiveness to affect their judgment, obviously they shouldn’t be part of the approval process.

This particular discussion led to one of the more damning posts about DMOZ I’ve read. JakeCop has had some negative experiences with the open directory and lets his frustration out on SitePoint: “Dmoz really is a corrupt system. If the editor in the category has a site in that same category, he'll simply deny any application in the interest of defeating competition… I submitted one of my major sites back in April, and don't expect to ever be listed… I even had one of my sites edited so that it went to a different URL, google bombing my main keyword to a competitor. Dmoz should be burned in the fires it was forged.”

Again, this is a case of personal prejudices and overlapping business interests interfering with a simple approval process; something that doesn’t have to be considered when an automated spider crawls your site. To be fair, every editor that volunteers to DMOZ isn’t going to mistreat your submission, although it may be awhile before it gets approved.

At the Cre8asite forums, Kensplace again gives some really good feedback concerning DMOZ and the approval process. Ken speaks about using DMOZ as a search tool and how the editor’s lack of punctuality and/or the one site - one submission standard can damage the effectiveness of DMOZ: “do you not think you would be even more satisfied if the millions of sites that didn’t make it into dmoz were available for you when you search? Think of all the bargains you are missing, think of all the information, research and technical data that is NOT available on dmoz due to its behavior.”

Granted, not every testimonial I read was negative. A thread on the Digital Point forums spoke of a DMOZ editor assisting a web site owner in the approval process. The poster had waited about 3 months and still no approval, so they decided to email the category editor. After receiving the mailing, the editor “promptly added [the] site to dmoz.” So there is still hope.

The thing I’m left wondering is if all it took was an email to get the approval going, what was going on the 3 months beforehand? Was the editor that busy? Or were they being negligent to their submission queue? Such are the risks when relying on human intervention.

[sfowler]

The way I understood the matter is that DMOZ is not a service for website owners but a service for the searching public. Think of all the sp@m you miss by searching in an edited directory! I agree it is not suitable for all purposes, but it serves well in many cases. I find I am searching more and more in directories and on globalspec for technical matters. I am fed up of being offered Viagra when I am looking for safety glass or something else!

[mawells]

I've pretty much given up on DMOZ. Oh, I make the attempt to submit from time-to-time, but usually the categories I need to submit to don't have editors at all!

I've tried over a dozen times to get one of my client's sites moved to a more appropriate category or even get the description corrected with no success. (Again, no editor for that category.)

My clients are primarily industrial.

[bapster]

I was a site editor for DMOZ for a couple of years until i got tired of the juvenile antics of the next up the ladder site editor who would circumvent my site approvals in favour of his/her own. The way the system works is the higher ups on the root directories have editor priveledges over the lower editors and even if the category editor accepts the listing the next up the ladder can refuse and remove it. DMOZ is one of the biggest jokes going as some snot nose kid who doesnt have a clue can control a whole category just because he/she was first to accept it. There is no screening process for the editors so some 10 year old can be controlling a category that they know nothing about.
As a search engine forget it unless you want totally biased useless sites that promote the site editor.

[Revolution]

snip...
"I submitted under a heading only to learn 3 months later that the #3 player in my market was the editor."

This is actually very similar to what I encountered.

I submitted my site and waited and waited and waited. while do 1=1 {wait();} endwhile

After several months - I tried submitting the site again.

I wrote several a complaints to DMOZ - and after several months... finally received a rejection letter stating my site didn't "fit the category".

After this - I submitted another site we had - under the same categories... but one that no one (in my industry knew about yet) - and the site was accepted - in all categories - within days.

A couple months later... I found out that the Editor for the categories I requested... was the owner of the #1 position website.

I have also had this issue with Yahoo... have since found out a Yahoo Editor (I think that's what they are called in Yahoo also) was a "friend" with the owner of the website in the #1 position - the same website which was listed in the #1 position of DMOZ.

You would think dirty tactics like this could not occur.

[Peter (IMC)]

I have given up on dmoz. I tried to get my SEO website in and after months and months of waiting I asked in their forums and it turned out that my prices were using "," in stead of "." and therefore the site was rejected.

So I changed that, and waited and waited and..... nothing. I then decided that dmoz appearently is more governed by the self proclaimed greatness of the editors rather than by any logical rules. It seems that the editors feel powerful because they can decide for a website if they are in or out.

The whole goal of dmoz was never reached. I find sites with multiple listings as there is appearently no automated check on how many times the same site exists in dmoz. Dmoz is the perfect example of why human intervention without any control doesn't work. It´s close to anarchy.

Many people think that you need to be in dmoz, but it really is just a link. That one link won't make a difference.

[brian mcdonald]

I have a "competitor" who used to work for me and now makes knockoffs of my fork lift ramps. A couple days ago i noticed that DMOZ says that copyright infringement will get you removed from the directory. now since they use part of my sales brochure as the page header on almost every page in their website i figured aha gotcha. i contact dmoz and was told there was nothing i could do to "prove" copyright infringement and as such there was no chance they would remove the offending site from their directory. further they are listed in a half dozen places in dmoz also offending against the terms and conditions to be listed.
while the editor i was talking to seemed a nice enough fellow it really doesn't seem that they make any effort to enforce their own rules.
to add joy to my life while my erstwhile employee has been able to list a number of times in dmoz none of my submissions has been listed in the last year.


Brian McDonald
Export Manager
W M Manufacturing Ltd
Redramps.com

[peakstudios]

I applied for my multimedia company to be in the DMOZ over 1 1/2 years ago. You can go to a message board to see if your accepted http://resource-zone.com/ . I went to that board asnd was told I was accepted over a year ago. I still haveen't been placed into the directory. about half a year ago I applied to become an editor since the editor wasn't doing thier job. I was rejected by the editor of that area. I found it strange that the same person that's not doing the job imediatly rejected me. I have over 20 other companies that I have submitted to them, and none of them have been put in the directory, but all of them have been accepted within a week of submiting. Un fortunatly the people who are listed get much better ratings in google. I think there needs to be a closer look at what is really going on with the DMOZ. Any company who canaccept you but doesn't post you because of competion, shady practices and so on should not be recognized by a company such as google or any other search engine for that matter.

[yellek228]

I joined http://resource-zone.com/forum/ to discuss getting a clients site listed and I was told that they received my submission and I am not to inquire again for 6 months. Now, if these editors are so busy that it will take 8 months to get one site reviewed why isn't this category accepting applications for more editors? Additionally, one of the discussions on the aforementioned forum is how they select editors - seems that not every snot-nosed 10 year old can become an editor. One guy has been rejected multiple times and they won't be specific as to why. Seems like the dmoz is quite the little clique and some of us are just not "cool" enough to join in.

[miss_beth]

I submitted, waited 6 months and then posted as to the status. A rude editor told me that I'd been denied because my site was too much like so many others and not to waste time resubmitting. When so many sites sell the same thing, we're going to have some of the same descriptions and pictures. Why is that any different than any other ecommerce site that sells a popular item???

Another editor told me to resubmit to my local/regional section, so I did. In the nearly a year we were waiting to get listed there, our company decided to switch the PO we were using due to the congested traffic and the amount of time it took to pick up the mail each day. Doing so meant our mailing address was now a different town. We were denied because we listed a different town than the city we submitted to.

The original category I submitted to has not been, as far as I can tell, added to in all the time I've been watching. Granted, I don't have the list memorized but I do check it fairly often and I'm very familiar with the sites that are listed (they are competitors, so I "know" their sites) and I've never noticed any new names listed.

I'm told "we're only human volunteers and we do the best we can". Fine, I respect that, but if someone doesn't have the time or desire to do the job, then why do they volunteer or continue to keep the volunteer position?