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demoz is the best directory in the web

dmoz has great importance in google rankings. i think, if u r list in dmoz this is pride for your site .

Believe it or not Dmoz demise came at the hands of google.
Google is the modren day Mangolians if they can't buy and make you their's then you are as distroyed!!

Sam
www.brooklyn-guide.com

http://directory.google.com/

After all the pressure put on google to stop using DMOZ as a listing agent...

http://directory.google.com/

*laughs* And a couple of my sites are already in there and I didn't have to do anything. *feels all warm and fuzzy.* To hell with DMOZ and their snobby editors. Every "editor" comment I've seen are whiny simps who only want the title.

Put in some work you editors or someone else will do it for you. Oh, wait... there are reliable sites out there that do. Well, too bad enjoy your cake and your dying website. :D

Over 30 sites submitted and not one accepted. DMOZ is a waste! Apparently, you have to know someone or ---- someone! In any event, not worth my time.

Years ago I was an editor on Dmoz for a couple of local geographic categories. I thought it was useful at the time, especially since back then it took time for websites to appear in Google and Dmoz noticeably boosted them into Google's orbit.

Dmoz seems to have got less and less relevant and I haven't searched it in ages.

I used to submit new websites to Dmoz occasionally and they just disappeared into a black hole. I used Dmoz again today and yes it still looks and behaves exactly like it used to years ago. There's still no way to check whether my URL suggestions might actually be acted on. So why bother?

Dmoz looks old and redundant and I suspect it is.

For the simple Web master DMOZ is unattainable, everyone tried only with DMOZ because of PAGE-Rank to be listed. I wait for 4 months for answer!

look google is the biggest player on the block in the whole internet. and really if they wanted to rely on the dmoz directory so much and thought it was such a great idea, then why don't they hire some decent staff, have the majority still as volunteers, but get someone in there to clear the backlog and see that the place is run responsibly and gets a whole makeover, it can still be fun for the volunteers (but not with all this bellyaching from the webmasters and lack of visitors from the web) add a few hundred thousand new listings in a few months so that the place is actually liked, visited by Everyone again and linked to.....

make the directory useful, google, ya got da bucks!!

Funny - so many comments on a “dead” idea? XD

Hi –I am an ODP editor who is not a native English speaker editing in European categories in DMOZ.

Many do not understand what DMOZ is about, mostly because they see it from the point of view of promoting their website. One big mistake is believing, DMOZ is a business site submission service. It never was, not even 10 years ago, when it started. It’s far from it: It's a volunteer organisation - so people work for free ( unlike you guys). So naturally they edit the sites of personal topic interest first. Can you blame them? Most editors doesn't even like editing user submissions in the commercial area's of the directory.
Why?
- most submissions are SEO boosting mirror's, thus no relevant new content. (hint: submit ONLY your main site you want traffic to. He/she might mistakenly list your mirror and actually delete the main site as a mirror. - let goggle choke in the mirrors or redirs. - not the ODP editor.)
- most submission titles is one vomit of keywords and all written in capital, not just the title.
- most submitters just "drop" their site in top categories (thinking this will boost???), with out even bothering to find the right category. Then editor now has to – makes him irritated even BEFORE looking at your site (hint: Find the right category and avoid getting "passed on" possibly multiple times. Or, an editor might think: Wrong category. I'll have to try to figure out where it belongs.... Later).
- almost all submitted site descriptions is one long bla,bla of search key words using capital and what not, again disrespecting our guidelines. (hint: short and only about the content. Look at the sites descriptions already listed in the category! An editor is human and get negative having to read through all that s***- makes it VERY easy for the editor to skip over it until "later" even before evaluating the actual webpage.

"DMOZ is a collection of dead links"
No! - while our user interface might seem “90’ish”, we do have bots and tools cleaning up dead links ( 404’s etc). It’s not done by hand. Not just by deleting them, as many of you might think, but by taking them out of the directory for a new review by an editor, if they have been off-line on more then one occasion several days apart. So if the site is up later, it get’s eventually re listed by it self through an editor.
So if your site is suddenly not listed anymore, it doesn’t mean it’s deleted by an “evil” editor who hates you or your business personally. Just means our bot ( like if you were unlucky with the goggle, MSN etc bot) came around to your site, just as it was down over a longer period.
When we do delete sites our selves it’s often that the site is different since it was first reviewed. Maybe it's been changed into a doorway or affiliate. (Did you buy an existing DMOZ listed site and then change it?)
One problem here is that it’s very random how often the 100’rds of sites using our data dump, update from us. Most have problems doing that technically, simply because of the huge amount of data our RDF dump contains. Some every week, some every month, some every ½ year. So DMOZ it self, as far as possible (note: no bot algorithm works at a 100% -ours neither), is almost free of dead links, however we can’t guarantee for our users of the RDF dump. They are not “forced” to update frequently. The RDF dump is a totally free service provided for the Internet surfers to use as-is.
Hint: as with any other bot, make sure your site is always online and not down for a longer period

Are sites even being listed in DMOZ now?
Ohhhhhhh yes, 1000'nds each day….. especially if you look outside the Business and Shopping areas. Why there? Most people become editors out of interest for an area or a topic. For me it's home and gardening. I have added approx. 1.500 such ( non commercial) sites to the directory just in my own native language. For others it's everything from motorcycle clubs, kite flying ( and 1000'nd of other hobbies), interest in politics all the way to just being interesting in building the regional category in the area they live. People become editors out of interest for a topic and find sites them selves within that topic making that part of the directory content rich. For example - we have many student editors, who study an specific topic ( science, health ..... ) and therefore have great insight there. They are "natural born" editors within that topic. When they finished their education – they stay on out of interest and connection to the ODP community, to pass their knowledge on.

So who edit the commercial submissions, you guys are so interested in?
Once you excel within your topic of interest and master the editing tools and understanding of the ontology of the directory (experience), you are given more privileges and can access larger areas of the directory. Amongst others the commercial areas. With privileges comes responsibility – also to the ODP community over all. So yes, I do take my part of the commercial sites submitted (though I hate it), simply out of interest in keeping DMOZ relevant to the Internet surfers, who we aim to please. Now and then we also join up in an editor “task” group to clean out a specific category in submitted commercial sites, simply to "clean house".
But if you ask me, what I like as an ODP editor: For all the reasons mentioned above, I'd rather spend 3 hours in my topic of interest, hunting down sites my self, then ½ an hour in the commercial area, reviewing submissions (mostly SEO “spam”).
But it’s actually quite simple math, why commercial submissions take so long within the DMOZ. If I have to spend 2/3 of my (note: volunteer, unpaid, hobby) time in the commercial area cleaning out submissions that are mirrors/SEO spam, duplets and what not – I can only spend 1/3 on serious submissions, right? It’s very tempting for me just to leave the commercial area, if the first 20 sites, I review follow the above mentioned pattern and go edit/find new sites in my topic of interest instead. Much more surfing fun ;-)
So it's actually your own eager to promote you own sites and mirrors, disregarding guidelines, that makes the commercial part of DMOZ so unappealing to edit in for an editor. Remember he’s/she’s a volunteer, that doesn’t HAVE to use submissions to build his/her categories. It’s his/her choice, therefore: work with him/her following the guidelines - not against him/her, trying to cheat the system.

Impossible to become an editor!
Let me guess? – most of you who were rejected, applied in the commercial area and specific /shopping or /business ?? Well yes, EXACTLY to AVOID misuse (eg: bribe, listing own sites, deleting competitors and what else we are accused of in the public) it’s harder to get accepted in those areas as a brand new editor. Especially if the candidate screening process finds, that you are affiliated with a business and have NOT disclosed that in your application (The top one reason new editors get rejected or later banned within the community, if they only follow their commercial goals!). Therefore mostly experienced and already proven editors work in the commercial area for the reasons mentioned – and known loyalty to the concept of DMOZ.
… and let me guess again: you applied to an area with 1000 or more so sites, thinking “that’s a piece of cake to do!”? No newbie is allowed that responsibility to begin with. We don’t want our content destroyed or misplaced or sites reviewed as “click through editing” – the term we use for bad editing quality.
A newbie has to know the guidelines by heart and their meaning and when they have proven their editor skills within the community, they can edit larger categories. EG: no submission can be deleted, without an editor note as to why that submission didn’t follow the guidelines. None of us delete submissions without a very good reason! Any surfer ( even webmasters/SEO people) can contest the credibility of any edit/delete through the http://report-abuse.dmoz.org/ process in all categories ( see link in any cat. -top) - and that would end any editors ODP carrier really fast, if found to be true.
READ THE “Become an editor guidelines” !!! – it’s all there
It’s easy becoming an editor as long as you follow your heart and not your wallet:
Say boats interest you, specific racing boats, because you have one ( don’t forget to mention that in your reasons for applying). Well, find 3 sites not already listed, go to http://www.dmoz.org/Recreation/Boating/Sailing/Racing/ and apply. It’s actually free and needs an editor If you do a good job following the guidelines and find interesting site your self, you can take on http://www.dmoz.org/Recreation/Boating/ later on (the whole boating category). Even follow your topic of interest into the commercial area e.g. http://www.dmoz.org/Shopping/Vehicles/Watercraft/
That’s how some editors end up getting approved for editing the commercial areas ( hard and loyal work). Don't be fooled - DMOZ doesn't hate webmasters - Some of our finest editors ARE or were webmasters, but for obvious reasons (conflict of interest), most of them didn’t start off in the commercial area of the directory. But don’t forget – most experienced editors actually doesn’t even want to edit there. They do so out of loyalty to the surfers ( note: not webmasters/SEO people), we serve, next to our personal interested in a specific topic or area.

ha, ha – but who am I talking to? Your community and ours have SO different perspectives. You aim to hit 1’st page in a search result, we aim to make a category or a topic content rich over all. You guys work professionally to SEO boost/built your sites, we spend our free time (non paid hobby) carrying for a directory, it’s community and our personal topic of interest. It’s two conflicting goals. Guess that’s why communication between the two communities continues to fail with massive misunderstandings in blogs like this. You don’t understand how our organisation works or why we are so motivated. We can’t relate to your goals as they are not the purpose, nor intentions of the DMOZ directory or the individual editor.
Hint, once more: we are NOT A BUSINESS LISTING SERVICE, nor is that the goal or purpose of the funds backing up our organisation!!!
No editor is ( or can be, even from within the organisation) forced to review submissions - some totally ignore them and only hunt sites them selves, which they are entitled to – infarct encouraged to.

Arrogant attitude towards the SEO/webmaster community????
You might think so – but people doesn’t edit web pages unpaid unless they are personally highly motivated (topic) or progressing a personal or common goal (The ODP community). DMOZ Editors goal and motivation is building a unique Internet directory that excels within each editors own personal interest, topic, or area of knowledge. Exactly why DMOZ in it’s self and their community of editors is so unique– no search engine algorithm can do that … yet ;-)
Editors build DMOZ – not submissions, they are “just” one source of web sites for the editor to choose from within his/her category and/or topic. Remember: You have a Boss and are paid for documented results – we don’t have both and do this as a hobby. Arrogant attitude – yes, but we are just volunteers following an interest and a hobby.
Arrogant attitude from the SEO/webmaster community????
I don’t hate webmasters or SEOs, but it’s arrogant to think that they're my reason for getting up in the morning, and they have some 'right' to demand I list their site and list it NOW! I’m a volunteer, so I choose where and how, I want to contribute to our directory within my topic of interest. Every webmasters or SEOs thinks his site is the most important in the world. That’s why we ignore site status requests send directly to us. Some of them are actually quite hateful and that is uncalled for. I don’t work for the webmasters or SEO community!

Is submitting sites to DMOZ then a waste of time?
Certainly not. In the non commercial areas of the directory, I often find submissions ( in my topic of interest), that I have overlooked – I’m also only human. I surf and review them with great interest – most get listed!
Even in the commercial area, now and then someone DID make a title and a description, that followed the guidelines - and even took the time to find the perfectly right category, his site belongs to. What a treat! – now I can focus on the web site alone – my hobby. If the site also has unique content( not a mirror, affiliated etc), that makes it so much easier for me just to hit “Accept” ;-)

Despite these differences, we could at least try to respect each others work, so:
Help us, help you – continue to submit sites (ONLY the main site, ONLY once) and READ and follow the guidelines. Makes me and my fellow editors happy and wanting to continue reviewing commercial sites (your goal) and not drop them in “SEO Spam” frustration, for our personal topic and hobby interest instead.

… maybe we actually can help each other out after all, despite our different goals? ;-)

We have had two websites submitted a number of times over the years and like it said it's a black hole. There is no response and the sites are considered the tops in this area for quality of content.

In contrast sites that are listed are low on quality of content.
I've volunteered to act as an editor with no respones.

I suspect a competitor is the local area editor for these subjects as any communcation are never answered and disappear into the ether.

I'm glad to hear that google is divorcing themselves from this site for accessing the value of websites as I don't see any resembalance to the quality of editng at wikipedia, or real input by the users.