DMOZ Scandal of the YEAR

For the record I still don't believe that widespread corruption exists outside Adult branch. I also think that the vast majority of editor removals are clear cases of low level corruption and quite right. But I know enough to lack confidence and trust that this is correct in every case. Hence the need for transparency and accountability. Sometimes I do wonder whether I made the right decision and whether I should have stayed and plugged away from within but felt that internal debate was more and more stomped on and I am not one to stay quiet. 18 months on with no visible change except further decline and more instances of gross incompetence and mismanagement the decision was the right one. And I am losing interest in even discussing ODP these days.

BTW, the issues with Adult that I raised and were prompted by DP were not the reason for my resignation, merely confirmation of that decision.

 

Not yet soon.

 

Don't you even wonder why Admins outside adult branch support the corruption? Is it consistant with their "supposed" description of themselves to support illegal and underground porn?
How about pharmacy and gambling? Are you going to tell us that outside of porn, gambling, drugs and real estate, ODP is clean?

 

Watch it there, someone is trying to learn to fly..... ...


@ this thread, will this thread lead to AOL actually fixing the corruption at Dmoz or will this be just another thread resulting in odp loosing its editors, thus giving more room for the evil editors to take over odp, anyone thought of that ? Resigning and removal just gets those evil metas one step closer to monoply.

How do you fight an infection/disease(for example motsa)? From outside or from inside out ? I think its from inside out. So, if someone wants to fight against corruption, it should start from within odp itself and not from outside. Resigning is not going to help anyone or anything, situation will just get worse cause AOL gives crap about how odp is being worked upon.

What is required is get aol somehow to do an audit of the editors working, their behavior and overall acceptance of the same by the public, cause they say its an open directory right? Where is the openness in the darn thing?

Anyways thats my todays or this hrs. rant

 

They are certainly high risks. Add travel agencies to that too. Of course there are instances of corruption elsewhere but when spotted and evidence provided (via the secret logs) my own experience was that it was dealt with via editor removal quite effectively. I also saw lots of false accusations made against editors based on circumstantial evidence that was not backed up by the secret logs. An open system would also protect the innocent from false accusations. I prefer to judge anything else with the benefit of viewing the evidence for myself and hearing the arguments, including those of the accused no matter how guilty the evidence might make them appear on the surface.

 

With exception of porn, drugs, real estate, travels and gambling, ODP is clean.

I am surprised that "senior" editors have not found a way to get involved in money laundry yet, or did I just miss it?

 

Isn't incompetence, maladministration, behaviour and systems befitting a totalitarian regime, intolerance of dissent, tolerance of abusive editing in Adult, the Topix scandal, listing paedophile sites and refusing to immediately remove them, etc. enough condemnation without inventing other stuff based on speculation and thereby undermining the real issues? They are just boring distractions.

 

No. DMOZ will not change, and therefore nothing will ever be fixed. Not the way it looks, not its organization, not the corruption, not the cliques, not the vendettas... nothing.

A monopoly of what? The tedium of classifying and listing links for nothing? Links that no one sees or uses? If they want the monopoly, they can have it. And what about the nice editors that follow their conscience and leave? It's win-win for them. They stop wasting their time on a worthless pursuit, their married lives improve, their children's IQs increase from spending more time with their parents, etc. And they are in a better mood for not having to squabble over futile DMOZ business.

It is worth spending years listing tens of thousands of links, trying not to step over people's toes, turning a blind eye on the vendettas that lead to Annie's dismissal, the child porn, for the sole privilege of becoming a meta oneself to be able to argue with motsa one on one??? Yuk... this is no reward, it's a punishment!

Life is too short. If the directory had any value to visitors, and was a little more than an antiquated link farm that reeks of 2002, maybe. But since the whole project is hopelessly passé and serves no purpose whatsoever anymore, I think editors-link-approvers are wise to re-align their priorities and spend more time with their family or at their paying jobs. We only live once.

 

Interesting thread.

Just a question about the pedophile sites. I saw an earlier thread on here that listed the ones on DMOZ. It seemed like they were just research sites, not sites that promote pedophilia. Those aren't allowed?

Anyways, I've always wondered about DMOZ and why it was held in such high esteem on the net. Hopefully this stuff coming to light will change that.

 

You'd think so, wouldn't you? And it's not like that's all there is on the list of DMOZ misdemeanors and reprehensible or irresponsible acts...

 

Everything depends on the point of view. What you see as incompetence, maladministaration,.... from the other side, can be viewed as very competent administration that has effectively been using the directory for their own personal and financial gains while effectively and ruthlessly getting rid of any opposition and critics.

You are assuming that the goal should be what is best for the directory while other people have chosen what is best for them as the goal.

 

Indeed. There is enough verifiable evidence to sink our teeth into.

Sure - there might be more. But what we don't know could be a million things, without evidence to guide us to the right place.

 

Meh, I am more inclined to think they are self-selected sheeps and toadies, and RL misfits of some kind or another. There will be exceptions, but from what I've seen - largely people that are not succesful at life, but found some satisfaction in tedious, repetitive tasks, and the memory of the influence they once had... in 2002 of course. Many do live in houses with wheels, if not outright cars; some survive on disability benefits, perhaps obtained honestly, perhaps fraudulently; some like to have multiple accounts at digitalpoint.

Yep. Self-selected misfits of every kind. They are articulate, they write well, but they're something not quite right. They're not comfortable with change, which is often a sign of not being too bright. Very rigid and unyielding and their thinking. I don't think they are capable of sound judgment if they tried.

The smart ones are the first to leave, as paidhosting points out indirectly, leaving the worst behind. It's a good thing they are sailing a ghost ship already, very little harm they can do at this point. Except to each other, and Annie.

 

It hasn't been held in high esteem for the longest time, and this is borne out by Google dropping the Directory link from its front page years ago, and not updating it for a year and a half. No one but editors and a few webmasters stuck in a time warp think the ODP is any use.

There is another thread if you want to discuss this disgusting topic:
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=198591

This is the thread about the shameful dismissal of Annie. Please do not derail it by bringing up such a distasteful topic as pedophilia.

And forgive me for thinking you might be an editor.

 

Argh! Its the The Flying Dutchman and Davy Jones! Run for your lives! No, wait its just DMOZ link farm...

 

"Many do live in houses with wheels, if not outright cars; some survive on disability benefits, perhaps obtained honestly, perhaps fraudulently; some like to have multiple accounts at digitalpoint."

"And forgive me for thinking you might be an editor."

No my house is firmly planted on a concrete foundation.

 

So are you an editor?

If you are then are you editor who just registered or one of the old ones that has been banned for multiple account and registered under new name?

 

Nope not an editor. Just someone that stumbled onto this thread. Always been curious about DMOZ.

 

Good, you can certainly learn a lot about DMOZ in DP even if you were an editor. The honest ones tend to leave DMOZ after they learn about all the facts.

 

Source: shadow575.blogspot.com

Her "rest" is over, and unfortunately, it's made her none the wiser. Her conclusion what that it would be best for her to go back and list websites that no one is going to see and that Google doesn't care about.

minstrel - I am not a professional, but I see a woman who has become so engrossed in this pointless acitivty of listing websites, that it has become her entire identity. Could approving websites in a directory be her most brilliant lieftime achievement? Reading between the lines, she can barely contain the ego swelling in her brain, amidst the vehement denials of being on an ego-trip.

The blog is highly recommended for anyone curious to see beyond the cult mob bunked at RZ. Here you can peer into the ODP-cult psychosis of an isolated individual.

We should kidnap her, force her to smell the flowers, acknowledge her children and husband, telephone her mom at last... she needs urgent deprogramming.