Building a new web directory

Hi,

This post is a fishing expedition for me. I am building a web directory for a traffic sharing system I own. I am considering making it a public directory but want to be sure there is enough interest before I bury myself in debt.
I have spent time reading all the scams and shams of DMOZ and similar directories. I would certainly love to replace DMOZ, but so would countless others...

For the sake of a starting point, I am starting with blogs. Here's the policies I plan on using. EVERYTHING at this point is in a draft state.

1. Site must be a blog or a forum.

2. Relatively family safe. Relatively best describes blogs like mine that are 99% safe with the 1% not safe (but with warnings if needed)

3. No pop-ups, pop-unders

4. No auto-playing music or videos

5. No nudity. Important note: some sites, like those dealing with abuse, may have adult oriented discussions not suitable for children. These blogs are forced to Class 2.

6. No porn, hate, or racism

7. The site can NOT break frames. This is considered and treated as page hijacking.

8. Nothing illegal (no warez, virus, guns, drugs, etc...)

9. No Ads only blogs

10. No MLM (multi-level marketing), pyramid, ponzi or such type schemes

11. Blogs/forums must be updated at least once a week (every 7 days). Blogs that go over this limit will automatically, but temporarily, be removed from the listing until the content is updated. This is done to keep the content fresh. I don't want this turning into a graveyard for dead blogs.

12. Blogs over 90 days with no new articles will be considered abandoned and removed without warning. Email addresses that are undeliverable will also be considered abandoned.

13. RSS feed with date of last update. Description or article contents are NOT required, only the date of the last article or when you last updated the blog. This is used to verify that only blogs updated in the last 7 days are in the rotation. See previous rule.

14. All member sites must have the web directory javascript code on the page. See above note about temporary removal.

15. At least 12 articles/posts on the blog or forum

16. All blogs must be in English. The only exception to this is if the blog uses Google Translator and translation is easily and readily available on all pages.

I despise the "vote up/down" methodology for ranking, so I'll be developing another method that can't be gamed or hijacked by "click exchange" groups. My goal for this directory is to eliminate the scam/sham holes that DMOZ and other fraudulent directories have created.

This is just a starting point. Let me know what you think and share your ideas.

Thanks.

 

I love the idea of listing only active sites that are updated. If you can find a good way to do that, I could imagine it being quite a hit.

 

Hitler would approve of this, but,...to be practical, this can be a failure on your part. Nice that you wish this and that about what you want it to be, what you're going to get is another thing.

Just how in the world are you going to keep watch on those sites that has not been updated in 90 days?

You want to end fraudulent? Bad news, you can't. Best to be on top of things, not to stop things because it wont. I think your plan is not practical enough, but hey, good luck!

 

Well - number one is that DMOZ isn't a sham or scam. It is a very long lived directory with over 4 million listings. Good luck with reaching that figure - You'll have to delete 90 million spam submissions along the way.

Secondly I have a blog directory that I bought. Never made 1 cent for the previous owner and the same for me. Can't get a paid listing even for $2.00.

But, good luck anyway - why not try.

 

Thanks.

I have a small traffic sharing service that is about 3 years old and does just that. My idea is to apply the same methodology to a web directory and in essence merge my traffic sharing service with a web directory. It'll probably fall under a niche category.

 

I have a working method that I've developed and have been testing for the last three years that does very well at keeping track of the age of blogs, it would be just a matter of applying the concept to the directory spider once a blog was approved.

 

If you go by the corruption of the editors, it is... I don't plan on even going in that direction :LOL

Sorry to here about your blog directory not doing well. I think my advantage will be my approach and what I offer that stand out.

All I can do is fall flat on my face :LOL

 

Directories are a failed system..
some how gogole is not giving them due respect..

It is time consuming to run the directory and the returns are not that good.

 

Just curious. No ads on the blogs or no ads on the traffic sharing system?

 

The idea of listing only active sites its good but if you can find a good way to do that with an easy way then tell it...

 

I'm leaning toward a hybrid system that encompasses both a search engine and a web directory. It will center around my web traffic system.

 

:LOL I can't give out all my secrets just yet....

 

You're so 1998 my friend, it is now 2011 going on 2012 just a reminder in case you were under a rock for a decade.

 

:LOL perhaps, but sometimes the best ideas and methods are the most proven...