More accurately, Google has a 5% share in AOL which owns DMOZ. More importantly, I don't think Google has ever been or will continue to be very happy about an association with a directory over which they have little or no control. They may indeed put pressure on the parent company to clean up DMOZ and make the whole thing more open and consistent. Or they may just start their own directory and retain full control. I suspect they'll do the latter.
So does the vast majority of 500 or so active editors. I can think about may be less than 100 that will be left.
Gworld if what you're saying turns out to be true the editors who are left will be the ones who are there for all the right reasons. Either way, dmoz will be fine, possibly improved.
A large proportion of the most active editors, most of which have no commercial web interests, would welcome the ties being cut as it would substantially reduce the spamming that has made large areas of the directory unmanageable from the editor side but unfortunately I don't see that happening. Yep, Google only has a minority stake in DMOZ but they are unlikely to want to throw it away for a long time yet - it is the biggest directory and the labour is free - it will take years to build up anything anywhere near comparable. If it no longer fits into the AOL/Google portfolio most likely it would be sold to someone else rather than abandoned.
brizzie, I didn't say Google would dismantle DMOZ. I said they would simply sever ties with it. I'm not sure Google even has a need for a directory. But if they do, I suspect they strongly prefer one they have total control over.
1- The new directory is labor free, it is run by volunteers that add sites for what ever subject they are interested in. 2- There is no limit on number of volunteers, so the quantity will increase very fast. DMOZ will not be biggest for long. 3- It is owned 100% by Google and their software will include or exclude sites instead of editors "personal interest" like DMOZ. 4- Editors are already seeing the writing on the wall and trying to find solutions to include their present listings in DMOZ in the new directory. I suppose you are right that the 100 or less people left in the end will be happy that there is no spam but it also shows that DMOZ is no longer of any interest to anyone, except this handful of people.
Agreed. Google is wedded to algorithms. Search engines aimed to replace directories. The ODP may be useful in various ways to Google (mainly perhaps as a body of data for research), but if the ODP closed down tomorrow, Google would bowl merrily on. The idea of Google creating its own directory, which would be pay-for-placement and give listed sites a boost in Google's SERPs is nothing but wishful thinking on the part of commercial webmasters and SEOs who would love such a system. The Google culture is opposed to any such development. It would happen over the dead bodies of Larry and Sergey.
It looks to me as though that would be difficult to do. Admittedly Google thought that PageRank couldn't be manipulated and how wrong they were, but at first glance anyway, I'd say this is a weapon against spam.
However you want to term the job. I will use your term then. It is a hobby that several editors will lose a nice living from and then be required to either get a real job or seek a paycheck from uncle sam since their money pit will disappear.
(sigh) If you have any proof that any editor is making money from editing (other than those who are actually employed by AOL) then please put in an abuse report. No-one could be more eager to throw abusing editors out than we are. They give us all a bad name.
It is a very good idea. It is still in the beginning phase and editor section is not really ready (too complicated for most people) but I suppose Google will fix it soon.
I have given the Google Coop a shot. It is NOT user-friendly. There is not much of an interface to speak of, it's a bit like hand-coding html, only it's not html... In a way, editors are selected out because of the learning curve. I will persevere. I have created topics, and will begin to "annotate" sites next rainy afternoon.