That would be a new DMOZ with a link exchange policy and an eye on the profit margin would it? No thanks. The idea of DMOZ was to create a resource completely uninfluenced by web marketing techniques in order to give unbiased and unique listings to surfers. The weaknesses in the systems, including the technical infrastructure it appears, don't mean that the concept itself was in any way flawed, only the execution. So any future DMOZ-like project I participate in had better be getting lots of complaints from webmasters who can't get listed or it is likely failing in its objectives.
I disagree. First, no one needs to kill the old one. It is dying a natural death. Second, no one needs to start a new one - its time has come and gone. The net is expanding far too quickly for a structure like DMOZ to keep up. Indeed, I have little hope for any general directory these days but if one is to have any utility at all it will be something along the lines of Google Coop. The useful directories in today's internet are niche directories.
I'll second that. We dont need another directory that people feel a need to trip over just to get listed.
Might I suggest the solution for Dmoz is to move to a wiki solution like Wikipedia where everyone can contribute and there is never a backlog. A rival to Dmoz based on the wiki model has existed for a few months, and is called Chainki.org.
Ain't gonna happen. The DMOZ upper echelons have no interest in change - only in maintaining the status quo and hanging on in utter desperation to their perceived power while the floor around them crumbles into dust. So why would DMOZ want to compete in any arena where there is a real competitor?
Thanks, finally listed friends photo site Goran Katić photography which never got in DMOZ, not much but it feels nice.
And equally important is why would dmoz try and compete with a competitor that is built off of dmoz data in the first place? Would it not suffer from exactly the same short comings that dmoz does (with the exception that anyone can spam it)? The two categories I looked at were just mirrors of the corresponding dmoz categories. A wiki-modeled directory is nothing new. It has its pros and cons just like all the other 'types' of directories do. So it really just depends on the circumstances that each individual using it sees as important.
Chainki.org is interesting. I agree with copperdrum that it would be silly to compete with them since they use our data, but it's nice that they've given proper attribution to DMOZ. It's unique, we need to make sure they're listed when editing comes back.
chainki.org - yep interesting. But ouch, you don't need to even register to edit, which is a vandal's and a spammer's delight. Plus because it uses DMOZ data it will have the same level of out of date and affiliate content. Worth keeping an eye on.