From reading DMOZ's resource zone forum, I came to believe that if domain expires, they will move it to what they call a "holding area for expired domains" which I believe in other words means it gets deleted from DMOZ. Apart from what I read there, I only have limited data to prove that. Registered an expired DMOZ domain few weeks ago, at the time or expiration as well as registration, it was still listed, now it's out. Feel free to comment if you have same or different (recent) experience.
How did you check that it was listed? If you only checked by search, it is not a good idea, since search is not as updated as often as database. To be sure, you have to actually look in category. If it was still listed in category, how long was it since it was expired? It is always better to buy the one's which are fresh. If you like to avoid this problem, you can always put an ad that you want DMOZ listed domains, in web sites that sell domains. It cost in average between $40-$100.
Yes editors do know when sites are getting ready to expire. The software automatically flags all sites that are about to expire. When they do expire they are automatically moved to the unreviewed list, where editors have to check on the site to make sure nothing has changed. We look at these sites very hard for tricks. People buying listed domains is nothing new, we look for all the little tricks on these expiring domains before we put it back into a category. If you did happen to get an expiring doamin and it is still listed, your lucky for the time being, but more than likely when an editor gets around to the category you might get found (possibly, depending on the editors in that area). Later, Rob
Just if you want to cheat, that's it. The domain that I bought, is and will be left intact including all the content. Btw. I think this must be rather recent DMOZ activity. I know in the past there were lots of problematic domains listed, now it seems all cleared.
I always use category pages. Search is often outdated or doesn't work at all in DMOZ. Freshly expired, but too bad it showed registrars page for few weeks. The best way seems to me to actually buy them before they expire. Which is not realistic in most cases, though.
True. The domains will remain listed as long as the site hasn't changed. So if you bought a listed site and just kept it the way it was or continue to build it keeping the same theme, you will should be totally ok. If you buy the domain and change the content to a different topic you might not get deleted from the directory either. As long as no sneaker tactics are used an editor will usually move the site to a more appropriate category. (But if the editor doesn't have permissions in the other category, the site will sit in unreviewed for ??how long??). Later, Rob
Rob, I have 4 web site in shopping, finance and art category. All are showing different forums discussing DMOZ corruption and unacceptable business methods. When do you think it gets deleted, 1year, 2 year,.....?
I have no idea when or if your sites will get deleted. It all depends on when/if an editor decides to start checking the category for quality control rather than just editing unreviewed sites. I can't give anymore details cause I don't want to get in trouble for possibly publicisizing tactics Dmoz uses to find abuse. Basically if you did things one way you might get away with it for a long time, if you do things another way you might get found out sooner. It all depends on a few things. Sorry I can't be more specific, Rob