Complain to AOL about Adult

May I suggest that those who are unhappy about Dmoz listing Adult sites should complain to AOL about the policy. Complaining here about it will achieve precisely zero. I cannot guarantee that complaining to AOL will achieve anything either, but it is the only way to register public disquiet that has any hope of being heeded.

 

Someone give me the phone number, email address or contact form where I can send my complaint of that and many other problems I have with dmoz and I will be glad to. Even more than happy to link to the one thread here with thousands of replies

 

I believe that this is the corporate contact information for AOL http://www.corp.aol.com/contactus.shtml or maybe you want Time Warner instead? http://www.timewarner.com/corp/contacts_support.html

 

If you truly want to lodge a complain, do your own damn search, find the addresses/phone numbers push the keys on the phone or click on the send button.
Search for them...it only takes 5 seconds

 

A thought to ponder, Isn’t the ODP simply an experiment? It seems that website submitters, editors, DMOZ users and forum posters are purely participating in the results.

 

How very random of you.

A thought to ponder. Stay on topic.

 

BamaStangGuy - I was not referring to specific complaints about a select few sites formerly listed in the Open Directory's Adult section. There certainly was a lengthy thread here on that topic, not surprisingly, since many people inside and outside the directory feel very strongly on the topic of sexualising children in any way. That issue is basically resolved.

In amongst the discussion on that thread were calls for the entire Adult section to be removed. That is a different matter entirely. So I started a new thread for it. Let's not get the two issues mixed up. Not listing Adult sites at all would be a big change. It would be highly controversial. Some editors would support it. Others very definitely would not.

So, as I said, those members of the public who feel disquiet about the Adult section really should complain to AOL. Not to individual editors.

 

To Genie
Forget about BSGuy. He's ignorant of the topic.

He's so random that his location are.... Another disgruntled list me webmaster.

 

Just removing the deep links (doorway affiliate) pages from adult will be a big deal but maybe there is a hope since some editors more and more discovering the joys of affiliate programs for casino and pharmacies.

 

Complaining about listing adult sites will most likely accomplish a reply of the right to free speech.

 

Numerous people have been registering their disquiet about one small part of the Adult listing section in various public forums, blog entries, letters to some members of the media, letters to some members of Congress and the U.S. Senate, and attempted press releases.

But, these complaints are not going to be taken seriously until those people feel there is a groundswell of opposition to those parts of the DMOZ and Google's rendering of DMOZ.

Part of the problem is this involves companies with substantial influence in the media and in Washington -- Time-Warner, AOL and Google. But, there is no such thing as people or organizations which are too powerful to battle.

If people want to effect change, registering complaints here and, for DMOZ editors, in that organization's forums, is not going to work. And, simply sending a vile email or letter to AOL is not going to work.

Years ago I neeeded to get a government department to change a policy which was hurting my company. I worked hard at keeping my tone reasonable and I sent copies of the letter to my local member of parliament, the minister responsible, and the department. After several letters, I was able to work out an option, which they had not considered.

If you believe parts of the DMOZ go beyond what should be considered free speech and you believe they may even bridge on the criminal, then you need to take a reasoned approach, carefully expressing the issue and the concern you have, and copy that letter to all relevent elected and government officials.

Wait for a response and repeat, expanding the CC list to include you local media. Try writing a ketter to the editor of your local newspaper and copying the printed version to elected officials and the companies involved. Repeat until you start to see action.

Do everything in the open.

One person doing this will have little impact. A hundred or a thousand people in different communities doing it will have more impact. Given time they may affect a policy change at DMOZ and Google.

Do nothing more than complain in this forum and nothing will every change at DMOZ and Google.

And if you believe something truly terrible is being allowed to persist, inaction beyond comments in these forums is the same as agreeing with what is/has happened and shows that you do not have the conviction of your words.

 

You're missing the point - posts about the issue here in this forum alone have generated a great deal of attentikon and in fact HAS nudged DMOZ Admins into some initial steps toward a remedy, or a partial remedy.

I do agree spreading the word as far and as wide as possible is essential. But don't underestimate the power of a sizeable forum like DigitalPoint.

 

Minstrel I know that you would love to believe that agitation here has had an effect on Dmoz Admins, but that is simply not the case. The Admins showed no interest in what was going on here. They certainly weren't hurried into a decision by it!

Their decision was a foregone conclusion. Dmoz has had a tough stance against child porn and related material all along - with good reason. Since this was the first time the issue of related material had cropped up since the Admins took over, I suppose it was to be expected that they would want to thrash the whole thing out at length for themselves. Which takes time. That's the downside of rule by committee. But it certainly provides proof that they aren't playing to the gallery.

 

You are mistaken. they were hoping that this will go away and that was the reason behind the delay tactics but when it didn't stop, they acted.

 

I can understand why you might imagine that 'ignore it, it may go away' was in operation. That is a common enough human reaction. But there is no evidence of it here. The Admins were well aware of the strong feelings within the directory and provided periodic reassurance to concerned editors that they were in discussion.

 

I don't imagine it.

Look at many other questions that they never respond too.

If people forget about this, I won't be surprised that similar listing will have a come back but under category pedophilia instead of affirmative view which was more easily detectable.

 

I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt and say simply that you are naive and mistaken, Genie.

They showed no interest in responding to the complaints about those sites until the heat was turned on.

To their shame, that is true. But they would had not even acknowledged the need for a decision previously.

Please... There was absolutely NO evidence that they were concerned at all about these "strong feelings" previously or even that they were at all aware previously that there were any "strong feelings" requiring their attention.

And why is that? If they knew and did nothing until the heat was turned on, that is evidence of either incompetence or complicity. If they were not aware there was a problem before, why not? That is evidence of incompetence and a significant problem with the DMOZ infrastructure. The length of time it took them to react AFTER they were made aware of the problem is simply incomprehensible and again speaks to either incompetence or complicity.

 

Minstrel - What previous complaints about those specific sites?

I personally spoke to two Admins about Adult fairly soon after the system of Admins came in. I did not make any protests about anything looking like child porn, because I was not aware that there was any such stuff listed. The Open Directory has a clear guideline that we do not list child porn. Plus there has been guidance from founders and staff since 1999 to avoid anything that looks like it. So naturally I assumed that we had that issue pretty well covered.

But it so happened that in that discussion one Admin praised a particular editor for being very careful in training other editors to avoid listing dubious sites. The abhorrence felt by both of these Admins for child porn was very clear. They do not need to be told that there are strong feelings in the directory about it. They share them!

It would be fair to say that someone here drew attention to problem sites. As you know that was swiftly reported internally. From that point on it has been handled as an internal matter. And the result was consistent with previous decisions in the chidren+sex area.

 

And they still needed so much pressure and time to delete those listings.
They wouldn't even let sidjf to move the sites to test during that time.
What is the purpose of your postings, fool yourself, fool us or just score some points with admins for defending DMOZ?

 

GWorld - I fully share your irritation over some aspects of the way this issue was handled. I felt that it was so obvious that the listings in question should be removed (on the basis of previous staff advice on similar grey-area issues) that they could have been unreviewed from the start. However it didn't seem so obvious to some other editors. I was very surprised by that. However I am one to face facts. There was confusion/disagreement. So I fully accept that Admins needed to get involved as a body and sort it out. Which takes time.

PS What I did express concern about in my meeting with Admins was the deep linking in Adult that you mention above.