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Would anyone be interested in starting a rival to DMOZ?

Discussion in 'ODP / DMOZ' started by earthasdf, Mar 5, 2016.

  1. #1
    DMOZ has clearly failed. High quality sites wait for years to get approved while spammy ones stay in. It hasn't kept up with the web. Look at the design of the site - it looks like its from 1997. I read in a thread they recently moved to using a database. Before they were using text files (LOL).

    Lets start a rival to DMOZ. We can learn from its mistakes. There is no reason why #1 has to stay #1, especially considering the missteps of DMOZ.

    I am a programmer.
     
    earthasdf, Mar 5, 2016 IP
  2. Agent000

    Agent000 Prominent Member

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    #2
    Good luck with that. >100 people working full time for a few yrs is probably what you need just to get started.
     
    Agent000, Mar 5, 2016 IP
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  3. snooks

    snooks Well-Known Member

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    #3
    Dream On :) When you can even comprehend having 4,000,000 sites and then 10,000 suggested EVERY month, it may be worth attempting.

    Remember DMOZ Editors are Volunteers and are building the directory as a hobby. They ARE NOT building it for webmasters to improve their SEO, they do not guarantee a review and you are saying DMOZ has failed? Where are Yahoo and all the other "big directories" from years gone by????
    Do you always believe everything that you read?
     
    snooks, Mar 5, 2016 IP
  4. earthasdf

    earthasdf Peon

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    #4
    There's no reason why we couldn't start small. And there's no reason why hobbyists can't join in as well.
     
    earthasdf, Mar 6, 2016 IP
  5. Agent000

    Agent000 Prominent Member

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    #5
    No one will
     
    Agent000, Mar 6, 2016 IP
  6. earthasdf

    earthasdf Peon

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    #6
    There's always a #2. Does dmoz accept 100% of its editor applications? Digitalpoint is the largest webmaster forum but there are plenty of others.
     
    earthasdf, Mar 6, 2016 IP
  7. Agent000

    Agent000 Prominent Member

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    #7
    no
    WHta does that have to do with it?
     
    Agent000, Mar 6, 2016 IP
  8. earthasdf

    earthasdf Peon

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    #8
    I'm basically saying that there is room for competition. There isn't just one webaster forum on the web. There are several. Likewise, there can be several volunteer-led directories existing at the same time and each one thriving.
     
    earthasdf, Mar 6, 2016 IP
  9. Agent000

    Agent000 Prominent Member

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    #9
    Notice that no one is jumping up to help you?
     
    Agent000, Mar 6, 2016 IP
  10. Hans van der Graaf

    Hans van der Graaf Greenhorn

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    #10
    Hi all,

    I hope that I have created a rival to DMOZ. It is called ZOMDir (.com) which is reverse of re-inventing DMOZ. It is a directory in combination with an open wiki. Everyone is able to add, edit, promote, demote or remove a link.

    It took me years to build the software. Now the biggest problem is to get relevant.

    Therefor you need a lot of quality links, I agree with Agent000 and snooks that it will take a long long time to collect all those links. In the last three years mainly two people have added 20,000 links to the directory. You will not notice this because the most links are at the Dutch part of ZOMDir.

    The main problem is that a lot of people don't want to volunteer to create a great directory. The most people want to add a link in the hope they get a higher ranking in the search results. Hence the most important features of ZOMDir are the list of new links and the option to remove a link. Often people add a link to the homepage. When I spot such a link, I remove it in seconds.

    I also agree with earthasdf that there is room for competition.

    Feel free to make ZOMDir the #2 behind DMOZ ;-)

    Best regards,
    Hans

    BTW I welcome every suggestion to improve the software behind ZOMDir.com
     
    Hans van der Graaf, Mar 6, 2016 IP
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  11. earthasdf

    earthasdf Peon

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    #11
    Back in the day there was a directory run by volunteers called zeal, but it was professionally run by looksmart so its costs were too high.

    Good luck Hans :)
     
    earthasdf, Mar 6, 2016 IP
  12. sarahk

    sarahk iTamer Staff

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    #12
    Does that really matter?
    My daughter just did a 5 week business entrepreneurial course. There was a day spent on IT issues and I was stunned by the emphasis on NoSQL and text-based data storage. Maybe DMOZ was so old school they were retro?
    Do people care enough about directories these days to care who is #1?
    Unless you are planning to pay editors you need to be actively recruiting those hobbyists rather than treating them like an after-thought.
    Back in the pioneering days of the web people formed bonds based on shared objectives. This far down the track we have seen enough scams and time wasters to know that we need to take a bit more care about who we pitch in with. @earthasdf is an unknown entity to me and I'd want to spend some time understanding his motivations, funding etc
     
    sarahk, Mar 6, 2016 IP
  13. JoeyJtr

    JoeyJtr Greenhorn

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    #13
    i agree with you!
    It was inevitable, I can not deny
    good luck
     
    JoeyJtr, Mar 6, 2016 IP
  14. Kaas

    Kaas Member

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    #14
    DMOZ has clearly not failed, it has played an important on the web and still does today.
     
    Kaas, May 10, 2016 IP
  15. Anonymously

    Anonymously Notable Member

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    #15
    There are other directories and many have tried to build small niche ones, but it takes time and money to do the editing required. I think the #2 slot is already taken by Best of the Web https://botw.org.uk/ and where did the editors learn their skills, why on DMOZ ofcourse, but now they get paid on BOTW.

    But by all means try, you have already spent a good deal of time and patience and reached 20,000 links. I am sure you spend a lot of time tending those, imagine as it grows what will be required and imagine what DMOZ has to do with nearly 4 million sites. Let alone the structure to service editors who want to work at DMOZ. You ask if we accept 100% of applications for editing, I wish we could just accept everyone, but we heavily screen for self serving, potentially abusive editors and some who want to join to damage the directory, those who cannot follow guidelines, those who cannot see which site fits where (we have over 1 million categories), those who cannot spell or cannot write a sentence, do I need to go any further....... so categorically we do NOT accept all applications. I have just been given some new areas of work and some of that is looking at new applications and it is soooooooooo time consuming.

    Please come back in another 2 years and let us know how you get on.
     
    Anonymously, May 13, 2016 IP
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