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Is it just me?

Discussion in 'ODP / DMOZ' started by stevenh, Aug 21, 2010.

  1. #1
    Obviously you got here from this link. Did you stroll through the pages a bit, and do you notice a theme running through the topics?

    http://forums.digitalpoint.com/forumdisplay.php?f=66

    It would serve Jim Noble and the army of so called "volunteers" from DMOZ to take note of just how bad their reputation has become. You can't rest on your laurels any longer and that if this self entitled ODP / DMOZ forum is 80% full of negative or confused posts regarding the submission process (or lack there of), then it should serve notice. It seems that the train has derailed.

    So many others feel exactly the same way but will not voice their thoughts simply because DMOZ has a history of wiping out dissenters listings like Hiroshima. Unlike them I've come to the conclusion that its better to lose a little PR and keep my self respect and opinion.

    But that's just my thoughts on the matter... oh wait, no it isnt.
     
    Last edited: Aug 21, 2010
    stevenh, Aug 21, 2010 IP
  2. Agent000

    Agent000 Prominent Member

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    #2
    Do you think anyone at DMOZ cares? DMOZ is not there to serve the "SEO industry" ...
    Have you not noticed that the only ones complaining about DMOZ are whingers who can't get a service from DMOZ? (and they not even paying anything for that service).

    DMOZ lists over 3000 new sites a month (>10 000 in July) ... that is an awesome achievement. No other diectory comes remotely close to that kind of growth rate!
     
    Agent000, Aug 21, 2010 IP
  3. Qryztufre

    Qryztufre Prominent Member

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    #3
    Its only there to serve the Editors it seems.

    If the webmasters are any indication of what the end user is experiencing, then what does that say?

    Surely you are not implying that the average websurfer is treated ANY better then this are you?
    Funny... I complain all the time, and not about my sites that have not been listed, I've not asked that most of them be listed... and please note, over half of them are!

    No, I am complaining about things much deeper then my own greed... I complain about editors with 20k deep links that nearly all of which break the guidelines.... so if one guy can have 20K pages listed that don't fit the guidelines, what is really wrong with all these other webmasters that are just trying to get one page that does not met the criteria? Come on... equal treatment? Not by a freaken loooooong shot.

    Then I complained about the over 10k listings of the CNN pages that were all 404. Know what kind of reply I got for WEEKS? I got editors, yes, actual honest to goodness editors! telling me I didnt know what I was talking about! I even gave links!!!!! After dozens of complaints to the ODP and on various forums with ODP editors, Jim finally took notice and cleaned them up. Still, I was just trolling some how *boggle*

    Then there are the other complaints that have NOTHING to do with my own sites... shall I go on about them? No, the trouble is NOT with the webmasters here on DP that can not get their crappy MFA site listed... it's far deeper then that.

    Blind numbers... that mean jack. What would be inpressive is if they removed 3000 dead links, or better yet stopped tooting their own horns about QUANTITY and started tooting their horns about QUALITY. Remember, there are 20k deep links to a SINGLE site that do NOT conform to the guidelines. Are you really trying to impress me that they just added another 3k links last month? To what? To where? Editor owned sites?

    Ya know, there are several editors with dozens or more deep links to their sites.

    Topix, luckymojo to name two of them... do I need to actually go on? Isn't two enough to show there is something wrong with the big picture?

    The ODP would seriously do well to take a month off on adding sites and simply reflect on what has already been added. They (and you) may find there are some serious issues with that alone.

    Screw the webmaster, ignore their sites... seriously, if they did, ya know what would be added? NOTHING! NOT A SINGLE GOD DAMNED SITE BECAUSE WEBMASTERS OWN WEBSITES, IN FACT, YOU CAN NOT HAVE A WEBSITE WITHOUT BEING A WEBMASTER! Then look at the ODP itself... it's ran by webmasters *gasp* they must be spammers! In fact, I know they are, I've seen their directory!
     
    Qryztufre, Aug 21, 2010 IP
  4. stevenh

    stevenh Peon

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    #4
    Did I say one thing about the SEO industry? Funny how people who want to portray an incorrect stance will do so with an equally incorrect comment. No, DMOZ isnt there to serve the SEO community yet a large percentage of the key players are SEO specialists (go figure). And you are absolutely correct when you exclaim "Do you think anyone at DMOZ cares?", absolutely not. That wasn't what inspired my post. I wouldn't sleep at night if my sleep was based on how much DMOZ cared what I thought. Please bring the DMOZ-centric bandwagon down a notch. I merely pointed out how many of the hundreds of topics were not about best practices, or I can't find this, or what category should I post to or is best for my site... NO, it's 80% why dont they respond, why don't they approve listings anymore and on and on.

    I think it's a shame they can approve 3000 new listings a month yet can't seem to prune the 100K 404s, parked pages, porn sites, viagra sites, dating sites and general garbage they've had for years. All they did was add more clutter to the mess making it harder to clean up, if what you say is correct. Also, I've witnessed outright arrogance from many of the management in their forums and the way they treat each other is horrid. They spend more time arguing than working to make the thing work better. Crasy times in DMOZville.
     
    stevenh, Aug 21, 2010 IP
  5. snooks

    snooks Well-Known Member

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    #5
    The unhappy webmasters are always more vocal than the happy ones. They always seem to turn up on forums and complain, scream about abuse, editors being lazy, nothing being done etc. They claim their site is the best, they submitted once, guidline compliant description etc.

    So meanwhile, we sit here, we see the url in the suggestion pool.....we see 10-20 submissions from them, we see the keyword stuffing, we see it is low content and MFA.

    The truth is not always portrayed, no matter what we do. We will never make everyone happy, someone will always complain, the truth of the matter being that we are not here to appease webmasters anyway. SO it really isnt an issue.

    I wouldnt call that arrogance.....I would call that a fact :)
     
    snooks, Aug 21, 2010 IP
  6. helleborine

    helleborine Well-Known Member

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    #6
    The laurels have long decayed into a thin layer of compost. The laurels are no more. No one needs to care what happens or doesn't happen at DMOZ since it's completely irrelevant to surfers and SEO's alike.

    Of course some "SEO's" are still stuck in 2002. The world, however, has clearly moved forward and away from the ODP at the speed of light.
     
    helleborine, Aug 21, 2010 IP
  7. Gniuz

    Gniuz Peon

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    #7
    I had a website with with 10ks of visits a day and millions of inbound links from websites around the world, without any intervention from me. The only 2 directories I submitted to are Yahoo (I paid for it, and listed within 2 weeks) and DMOZ. DMOZ submission was never approved after 3 years. Eventually moved on, and I never bother about DMOZ anymore.

    You want to talk about quality? My site was many times better than those sites listed on DMOZ.
     
    Gniuz, Aug 21, 2010 IP
  8. stevenh

    stevenh Peon

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    #8
    I'd point out that maybe we in the west are beyond stuck in 2002, however India, Pakistan, Bangladesh seem to be humming along just fine somewhere near it. Oh look, they've become the top 3 in ranking countries for the Moz. :p Kidding aside, it is (with caveats) and could still be a great directory. Maybe it's more seeing where it's gone from where it was that erks me. I'm pretty sure I had my first site in there around 97 so I've dated myself yet again... good times, good times.

    I have to admit that the quality excuse is getting a bit long in the tooth as well. I've also seen plenty of retribution deletions of really good high traffic sites as well. So there is some truth to complaints in those regards.

    HAH, this is rich. Best of the Web (BOTW) is using the title "Still Waiting for DMOZ?" in their Googleads... oh man
     
    Last edited: Aug 21, 2010
    stevenh, Aug 21, 2010 IP
  9. helleborine

    helleborine Well-Known Member

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    #9
    That could very well be true; but to expect a handful of link-listers that list about 3K sites per month to keep up with everything that is born, and everything that dies on the web is not realistic.
     
    helleborine, Aug 21, 2010 IP
  10. CReed

    CReed Prominent Member

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    #10
    Not to get off topic, but paid submission to Yahoo are normally reviewed within 7 days are they not?
     
    CReed, Aug 21, 2010 IP
  11. Anonymously

    Anonymously Notable Member

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    #11
    Trust you reported the ones you found to justify that statement, we aree always grateful that the public help us to keep sites down that shouild not belisted because they have changed over time. There is a button on every page. As I say thanks for your help in reporting.
     
    Anonymously, Aug 22, 2010 IP
  12. BB-OM

    BB-OM Member

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    #12
    From my experience with DMOZ, I can say that the editors approve/disapprove listings randomly. May be they decide that one day they'll be approving all the odd numbered listings irrespective of the quality that they keep bragging about and the other day the even ones (or some other trend that might they have come up with).
    My opinion is that instead of wasting time for approval in DMOZ for 6-8 months, one can filter out the best free & paid directories on the web and continue regular SEO practice keeping in mind the quality and carefully linking their sites to good sites, they can rank quite well.
    You don't need a "DMOZ" to do that for you.
     
    BB-OM, Aug 25, 2010 IP
  13. Agent000

    Agent000 Prominent Member

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    #13
    What evidence do you have that its random? I think you are making up a lie.
     
    Agent000, Aug 25, 2010 IP
  14. BB-OM

    BB-OM Member

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    #14
    It is just from my personal experience.There are many sites in the ODP that defy the set guidelines. But they still do exist. One of them is that there are many sites listed in multiple categories. Many sites with sub-domains too are listed.

    It is not that only the editors at DMOZ understand quality and we have to take lessons on quality from them. Even we do have a bit of an idea of what 'QUALITY' is.
     
    BB-OM, Aug 25, 2010 IP
  15. Agent000

    Agent000 Prominent Member

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    #15
    Thats not random. You need to look up the meaning of random in a dictionary
     
    Agent000, Aug 25, 2010 IP
  16. snooks

    snooks Well-Known Member

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    #16
    You are partially correct, sites are certainly reviewed in the suggestion pools, at random. But they are approved or dissaproved according to strict guidelines, very consistent guidelines and nothing about the guidelines is "random".

    There is no order as such and when i look through a suggestion pool, i look for sites that i feel may be worth looking at. These are sites where the title is not stuffed with keywords and the suggested description has what appears to be an effort, at suggesting a guideline compliant description. The spammy, keyword stuffed ones.....i dont even investigate them any further, i leave them for someone else to review, if they feel like doing so.

    I also dont know in which cat i will be looking for sites, it just depends what i feel like doing on that day.
     
    snooks, Aug 25, 2010 IP
  17. Anonymously

    Anonymously Notable Member

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    #17
    Did you rport the matter on the button provided on every page, or did you just pass them by and come here and complain?
    Which of these guidelines are broken
    http://www.dmoz.org/docs/en/add.html

    Please point out which guidelines you think are broken if you believe the link above does not cover any of the situations you have listed. Did you read those guidelines for suggesting a URL before posting here?
     
    Anonymously, Aug 25, 2010 IP
  18. Qryztufre

    Qryztufre Prominent Member

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    #18

    I think it's this one: Please understand that an editor's exercise of discretion may not always treat all submissions equally
     
    Qryztufre, Aug 25, 2010 IP
  19. helleborine

    helleborine Well-Known Member

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    #19
    Luckily, there is no need to worry about this. DMOZ has stopped mattering way back in 2002.
     
    helleborine, Aug 25, 2010 IP
  20. stevenh

    stevenh Peon

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    #20
    So what you are saying is that I should work at pointing out dead listings, yet I (and many others), don't rate consideration for being listed ourselves? I see... We can help DMOZ, just as long as we don't expect anything in return. :confused:

    Let me give you an example of a site that exceeds anything you have listed in the category:

    http://teddybearspersonalized.com

    It's been submitted for over 18 months without so much as an inquiry. State of the art ground up website with features found on no other site like it. Heading to top 100k with a PR3. Now if Teddy Bears doesn't meet DMOZ editorial guidelines then I don't know what would. Somehow I'm sure this site will now be on the never list- list.
     
    Last edited: Jan 26, 2011
    stevenh, Jan 26, 2011 IP