I was wondering if someone can shed some light into DMOZ. I submitted my site back in July 2004 and have yet to appear on the directory. I followed the guidelines for submission and was also careful to ensure that I submitted to the correct category. But as of today I can not find my site listed there. I read several posting online indicating that getting onto DMOZ could take some time. I also read a disturbing article that discussed how some of the editors of the categories were actually manipulating inclusions unfairly. It went on to say that it was discovered that some of the editors were players in a specific industry and that they were purposely omitting ligit sites from the categories to eliminate potential competition and threats. I surely hope that my category editor is not such a beast. Can anyone suggest how I can submit my site to DMOZ and get listed? cheers Frank
This should give you a very rough idea of how DMOZ works. http://www.corruptdmozeditor.com/ (It's pretty funny too )
I have always had problems getting into DMOZ - I sure hope that the corruption hasn't been the issue - its horrible to think that that happens.
Every system has its leaks. If there is someone breaking the rules, there is always a higher level editor that you can complain to. If I remember correctly, there are some forums for that purpose, visited often by dmoz editors. Such a behaviour could be seen easily from dmoz editing logs and enough of a reason to ban that editor.
The problem with dmoz is that they seem to view themselves as an elite group who don't like new members. I tried for ages to become an editor, spent forever filling in the forms, submitting them, patiently waiting only to get a rejection with no reason (at least if they'd said "hey, this is why we rejected you" I could have fixed it). When I eventually became an editor I always dealt with new sites fairly quickly, but when I asked for editorship of another relevant category I got turned down again and again. Eventually I just gave up and resigned my editorship because the category I was in charge of rarely got new submissions and they weren't letting me help out anywhere else. If you look at the 'category editors' section at the bottom of each page, you'll see that many categories just don't have an editor. I think links posted to those categories go up a level until they reach a parent category that does have an editor, but I imagine it takes a long time before they actually get seen and reviewed. I personally never changed listings out of malice, and you're not supposed to get editorship where you might have a conflict of interest (e.g. if you work for a company that is or might be listed in the category) but I can see how it could happen. There doesn't seem to be a huge degree of checking or control over the submissions unless someone draws attention to it.
I haven't had too many problems as a DMOZ editor. The EditAll has been very helpful and friendly and has kept my category (and all the other editor's categories) clean and free of corrupt behavior. I know that corrupt editors exist, but luckily my genre hasn't experienced it yet.
Ahahahahhaha *snort* The DMOZ editor system is more corrupt than a customs department in a banana republic. As long as there are vested interests in keeping the system as broken as it is (no status updates, incredibly rude and self-righteous editors, opaque and arbitrary decisions) it's not going to change either. We submitted in Dec 2003 or so for a category with only 5 or so companies in the world that fit, and are still waiting. To add insult to injury there's one or two completely inappropriate links in there too. Frankly, I'm surprised a disgruntled webmaster or 50 hasn't DDOS'd them out of existence by now. But their slow slide into irrelevance is making that point moot anyway
Yeah, it all depends on the editor. If you have bad luck you may never get into DMOZ, regardless of the site quality.
welcome to the forums SDRE. There's plenty of advice on DMOZ, lots of nuggets of information. Not sure where, so you'll have to search for it, but I've seen many gems in these forums.
I have written a DMOZ review with some interesting links. I have read quite a few stories like the "corrupt dmoz editor". The problem is that it is hard to discount these stories because it explains so much about why DMOZ can't get its shit together.
SDRE, the following were all written (at least the initial posts) by ODP editors: Getting your site listed ODP Essay: Beating the odds ODP Essay: Unique Content
DMOZ is a joke, I've been trying to get us listed for a year with no luck. I wish it would die and something better, more organized and professional came along where it's possible to actually get added in a reasonable amount of time. To me it seems like it's run/managed by a bunch of 14 year olds with big egos.
>I've been trying to get us listed for a year with no luck. Maybe if editors did not have to spend so much time deleting all your spammy duplicate submissions they could actually get on with editing.