on the topic of DMOZ corruption

Hi all,

I have heard numerous accusations of corruption among DMOZ editors. I have never seen proof or substantial evidence. Does anyone have first-hand knowledge of that? That is,

(1) Have you personally bribed a DMOZ editor (successfully or not)? Not expecting too many confessions, but let's see.

(2) How can I find corrupt editors? Obviously they don't advertise themselves in public.

(3) How do you approach an editor regarding bribing them? What do you say?

(4) Lastly, if any corrupt editors are here, how can I become a corrupt editor and earn some money? I wanna hang with you guys

Humourous replies, as well as real-life experience, are both welcome.

 

lol, send some money to my paypal first

 

Let see I was editor for almost two years and never did anyone even attempt to contact me about bribe.

I guess I shouldn't have added all relevant websites that existed to categories I use to maintain before owner even got a chance to discover what the heck DMOZ is and submit his website - that left nobody to bribe me.

 

I was never offered a bribe, but I did receive some threats after justifiably removing some listings. If threats were currency, all ODP editors would be rich.

 

You received threats? Now I'm jealous, I was so hoping to get some when I rejected few junk gambling sites but nothing.

But at lest my beautiful 1800+ pages website got me few sentences to death from extremist morons.

 

Depends where you hang out.

In more than 3 years as an editor I was only offered one bribe, via PM on an external forum. Site banned. Plus the odd beer for helping out a webmaster after the event (never claimed due to distance). And the odd threat too.

Since retiring as an editor I have had a couple of approaches which implied recompense via PM here but without the URLs there isn't much that can be done.

An editor who implies publicly they will accept bribes will be mercilessly hunted down. Most of those you might contact via PM on a forum will wait for you to tell them your URL then report and ban you. It is a big risk.

Be very wary about an "editor" who approaches you rather than the other way around. Most are either not editors at all or are editors of some obscure niche category and cannot give you a listing in the category your site would belong in. Scam merchants.

If the rumours were true, along with the going rate, I would have made at least $800,000 as an editor and some colleagues would be multi-millionaires. But the reality is somewhat different - I made nothing from being an editor. Even had I wanted to the opportunities don't exist - $100 at most had I been tempted. The most common method of an editor abusing the directory corruptly is to tend one's own site and block competitors. Presumably thinking that it will make some difference. But putting the same amount of effort into honest web marketing would probably yield far better results.

 

No, I would certainly never do such a thing. I often visit the DMOZ forum here and complain of the corruption, so it would be nothing short of hypocrisy for me to contribute to the corruption.

That being said, I do know people (friends, not random people) that have told me they have bribed editors to get listed. I have seen the URLs listed. I know one friend who, believe it or not, got an editor to list him in DMOZ for a link exchange!

Ask this question all you want, but no corrupt editor would ever tell you he is corrupt...certainly not in a forum.

LOL! Really, this a bad idea. While there are quite a few honest, corrupt editors, you are just as likely to get scammed out of your money and/or blacklisted from DMOZ. Why risk this over one directory listing?

Wow. Just wow! I can't believe you posted this.

 

Thanks for the replies. Hey, don't take this too seriously, I was mostly joking!

But I am curious about the mechanics of e-bribery: it seems that making a proposal would be dangerous both for the editor and for the webmaster, so how does it happen at all?

 

I'm curious about the mechanics of mostly joking. So how does this work; if you get a serious offer you take it, but if you're called on it by honest people you say it's a joke?

 

What do you want? A Beginner's Guide to DMOZ Corruption? No one is going to tell you how e-bribery may or may not be done. You have really made yourself look very badly for even asking for this information. And don't lie and say you were just joking or are just curious. Most of the people on these forums are not stupid.

 

ROFLMAO at Annie.

 

compostannie, if you're implying that I was seriously trying to bribe or be bribed, by posting in public with a big headline -- you're wrong.

I am (1) trying to get some laughs and (2) since I can't imagine how such a transaction could be started (too risky for both) trying to collect some stories.

As I said in the beginning of this thread, both humour and real-life stories are welcome; insinuations are not.

My appologies if I misunderstood your message.

 

If the extreme naivity of the initial post doesn't clearly show it to be humorous... I don't know what to say. I do hope that at least a few folks got a laugh before this thread gets hijacked by accusations.

 

This statement above I think incriminates you.

 

She (compostannie) didn't acuse you of anything, she simply asked a question....

Guilty conscience?

 

Mostly, as in I *am* interested in how people claim it happens. Because it seems unrealistic to me.

Regardless, please be so kind as to keep accusations out of this thread; if you feel the need to complain, PM me or do whatever else you want.

 

I think the question did have that kind of overtone. But, as I said in the end, my appologies if she didn't mean it that way.

And, of course, welcome to DP!

 

???

I been here since November 2005, but never felt the need to post until i read this stupidty....

and now you've made me do it twice.....

 

Mdalan, sorry to have offended you. There's a website devoted to corrupt editors but it's up to you to judge how reliable the information is. Personally, I think it's a fraud.

But fraud and corrupt kinda go together so I suppose it's legitimately misleading in a twisted sort of way.

 

You will always have an individual editor who lists own sites or delete the competition but in order to join DMOZ gravy train, you must approach your "volunteer" work as a professional and a job, in order to become a "senior" editor.

How do you make money from DMOZ?

1) As a webmaster, you will add all your sites to DMOZ. This is part of marketing of your web sites and you will also get a better price for the site if you decide to sell.

2) You have a SEO company or work as SEO professional, you don't ask for bribe directly but you have a reputation that people who employ you, will get their sites listed. But in order to do this, as mentioned previously, you have to be "senior" editor.