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DMOZ Scandal of the YEAR

Discussion in 'ODP / DMOZ' started by popotalk, Jun 2, 2007.

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  1. popotalk

    popotalk Notable Member

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    #321
    I don't know frankly how they are so unfriendly especially to YOU. :eek:
     
    popotalk, Jun 14, 2007 IP
  2. jmafonseca

    jmafonseca Peon

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    #322
    Hhiihhiih, yep thaz me! Geez March 2005 and still they are the same grudging nerves...

    I was really pissed off and managed to be polite(I think? Most of the time at least?).

    I just read it all again and I guess if I knew i'd be banned I'd have done it all over again.

    The scoop is : we knew the girl, she was selling position for italy hotels, we knew her lover, is an old former partner of a known person....we knew the whole thing and it was rotten bottom up, top down. She was selling listings, extorting people, etc.

    I'm not in Rome anymore, I don't work there anymore. But my arguments are still valid, I just wish that things had gotten better by now...if you look at our arguments you'll see everything we did to prove we were an honest site then got disqualified by them through some loopy fruity argument that didn't make sense....
     
    jmafonseca, Jun 14, 2007 IP
  3. brizzie

    brizzie Peon

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    #323
    Who knows who is an innocent victim and who is trying to fool people into thinking they are innocent. The problem is the secret trials. Justice must not only be done but be seen to be done. What we see are accusations of injustices - if these people are guilty then expose them with evidence. Otherwise you have the credibility of a kangaroo court. The problem is created by the ODP and it can solve it. It does the credibility of senior ODP editors no favours when they break the forum rules here with multiple accounts.

    Not sure what on earth the stats on editor numbers have to do with this thread.

    No they weren't then and they aren't now. You were talking bollocks. You were given honest if a little blunt feedback. I am still convinced you were gathering personal information for marketing purposes. But who cares now, life is too short. And what this has to do with Annie's removal is beyond me as well as the editor stats.

    Retired (not removed) ODP Editall Oneeye and Official Grumpy Old Git
     
    brizzie, Jun 14, 2007 IP
  4. helleborine

    helleborine Well-Known Member

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    #324
    @brizzie
    I put the stats on editor numbers to highlight the decline, which is caused by (a) restricted entry, (b) editors timing out at a greater rate and (c) a large amount {about 500-700 per month} of editors locked out, or asking to leave. To highlight that canning Annie for no serious reason is shooting themselves in the foot when they really can't afford it.

    ==============

    I am going to take a break from DigitalPoint.

    I am satisfied that as much necessary light has been shed on Annie's cruel and inhumane dimissal, and the rot, paranoia, and lack of perspective that has led to it. I have externalized my outrage, I feel better, and I hope Annie does, too.

    Whatever editors remain at DMOZ deserve their punishment, which is to waste their lives away, chained to the computer, listing websites in a Directory that AOL will soon drop like ballast from a sinking ship. When all the zeroes and ones that make up the ODP vanish with the simple click of AOL's "delete" button, they will look back and regret not having spent more time with their kids, their pets, their significant other, their gardens, their hobbies.

    Annie will win out in the end, because she is now free to do all these things. I am sure she still hurts, but one day she'll look back, and, like me, realize that she was one of the lucky ones.

    When all is said and done, DMOZ is not worth my time cutting them it to size, no matter how richly deserved, and what devilish fun it is.

    I will be blowing glass all weekend, a few weeks from now I am off to a famous and fabulous glassblowing school in Seattle, I have some terrific plans to use glass for garden art; I'll be spending a week in Paris and a week in London at the summer's end; my son is going to garage band camp; he needs a mother, my husband needs a wife, the garden needs a gardener.

    All things infinitely more important than the ODP. It will from now on receive all the attention it deserves, at least from me; which is none.

    When that plague upon the internet known as DMOZ is finally flushed down the toilet, I'll be back for the party.
     
    helleborine, Jun 14, 2007 IP
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  5. jmafonseca

    jmafonseca Peon

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    #325
    Hello all knowing person, didn't see you there. I hope marketing hasn't become illegal in DMOZ? You'd have to delist some folks?

    Anyway, Italy does require that stuff or we'd have increased conversion rates by 400% not asking for personal info. And I wish you went to any of the 200 italy hotel sites listed there and showed me one that did not require user information to make a hotel booking....

    Let me tell you one curious fact: someone had made that whole thread private or invisible on the RZ site. It came back after the big crash....and popotalk here found it... I protested a long time why they took it out of the public forum, they never replied.

    I know why : they did arbitrary judgement with that site, they were wrong and their whole argument was "bollocks" to justify a stalinist trial.

    I don't work there anymore. Now, I would not want to be these people, they must have one heck of a negative load on them for such long history of justifying the unjustifiable.
     
    jmafonseca, Jun 14, 2007 IP
  6. brizzie

    brizzie Peon

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    #326
    At the risk of staying off topic I just revisited that travel booking site and couldn't get it to return any hotels whatsoever anywhere. So had it been listed in 2005 there would now be yet another completely useless travel booking site clogging up the categories. Proof the editors were right to reject it. ;)
     
    brizzie, Jun 14, 2007 IP
  7. brizzie

    brizzie Peon

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    #327
    Travel agency site listings in DMOZ are a scandal, of that there is no doubt. Not saying you didn't need to gather information at some point in the process but it was at far too early a stage. It wasn't by any means an arbitrary judgement.

    Not me my friend - you missed the bit where it said "retired" ;) But it would be nice to rid the project of some of the more blatent high level abuse.

    I don't visit RZ any more because it is frankly rendered completely useless by extreme moderation and rules that don't allow anyone to ask any question that anyone would be interested in knowing the answer to.

    Fair enough but I felt the thread is straying well off topic. And I'm contributing to that... :(

    Too right! :D
     
    brizzie, Jun 14, 2007 IP
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  8. jmafonseca

    jmafonseca Peon

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    #328
    Yes and no and maybe....

    Yes : I know they had a massive hard disk failure 1 month ago, and that their owners(3 friends of mine) are putting together a brand new system soon.

    No: I don't work as their IT Chief anymore....

    Maybe: maybe if I were still the one making and keeping the backups that site would still be one of the largest reservation sites in Italy.
     
    jmafonseca, Jun 14, 2007 IP
  9. minstrel

    minstrel Illustrious Member

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    #329
    minstrel, Jun 19, 2007 IP
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  10. Qryztufre

    Qryztufre Prominent Member

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    #330

    I I dugg it ;) Then I stumbled over it. Though those are the only two social bookmarking sites I've ever bothered joining. I guess that there are many ways we could promote this thread, though in a way I think there needs to be more then just this thread.

    Are there other resources out there where we can share this news at? Other Social sites, other related (ODP) forums that would care to listen?

    I think I'll blog about it again, maybe get a few of my readers to hop over to ad their weight to the social bookmarking scene... though, heh, don't expect much, my reader base could seriously care less about webmastering, social bookmarks or anything remotely related... but I'll try :D
     
    Qryztufre, Jun 20, 2007 IP
  11. Mia

    Mia R.I.P. STEVE JOBS

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    #331
    I dugg it too btw..
     
    Mia, Jun 20, 2007 IP
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  12. minstrel

    minstrel Illustrious Member

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    #332
    Thanks, guys. Those DMOZ scum are counting on this to fade away so they can go back to business as usual. We can't let that happen this time.
     
    minstrel, Jun 20, 2007 IP
  13. paladin2

    paladin2 Banned

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    #333
    Mmmm...there are too many rules, hierarchy, hundreds of thousands of sites not approved for obscure reasons. I think DMOZ died long time ago, when webmasters realised that it is worthless the hassle to even submit a website into DMOZ.

    I saw unique content, very informative sites not included, or, a few months ago when I had a chat with an editor, thousands of submissions in the pending module.
    Knowing this why should I bother? My time is much more important.
     
    paladin2, Jun 24, 2007 IP
  14. brizzie

    brizzie Peon

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    #334
    Sites are not approved because there are insufficient resources and too much spam. Therefore most sensible editors get their sites to list elsewhere than the submission queues. Many webmasters have always misunderstood where DMOZ was coming from - it never was a webmaster marketing tool; the idea was for ordinary surfers to become editors and list the great sites they found and for other ordinary surfers to suggest great sites they found.

    So not bothering suits DMOZ and its objectives to be honest.

    Of course, somewhere along the line it all went horribly wrong but the concept remains valid - an objective directory of unique and original sites that cannot be influenced by marketing hype is not a bad thing for the surfing public.
     
    brizzie, Jun 24, 2007 IP
  15. music_city_bound!!

    music_city_bound!! Peon

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    #335
    Wait!

    I unfortunately jsut learned that DMOZ even existed last night, and heard nothing but good things about the site.

    Is that not true?

    From what I've read here they sound very unfair & just down right irresponsible, am I correct?
     
    music_city_bound!!, Jun 24, 2007 IP
  16. music_city_bound!!

    music_city_bound!! Peon

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    #336
    Hi,

    I have a question for everyone here.

    I keep reading about someone named Annie & how bad she was wronged by I guess DMOZ/ODP, is that correct?

    And could someone explain to me who Annie is, and what she has to do with DMOZ?

    From what I'm reading, it sounds like she used to have asite listed with them or something, and they took advantage of her!

    Thanks,
     
    music_city_bound!!, Jun 24, 2007 IP
  17. Qryztufre

    Qryztufre Prominent Member

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    #337
    Most of the things I hear that are good about the place are from SEO people trying to make money with top ten lists on their blogs. If I see "submit to dmoz" like that I tend to skip the rest of their article as it's clear they are giving old news. (If they say submit to top directories, Aviva, DMOZ, Yahoo, etc. I'll let it slide...)

    DMOZ is set up by levels of ranked editors. The most basic editor can only change things in one little corner of the directory. Annie had greater freedoms and could pretty much add anything anywhere...which is what she did. She was one of those loony fanatics that ate drank and breathed so that the ODP could be the best place it could be.

    She was critical of the sites that she included in the directory, and would tell people if they were posting crap.

    She was an active member here and a few other forums and would help people get their sites listed by pointing out what was needed.

    She would do clean up jobs in the directory to help get ride of the messes left behind by other editors (She is the one that cleaned up the pedifile issues, some of the adult areas, and the news feeds fiasco). She did things that NO ONE would touch, and now that she's gone no one will get to the other nasty bits.

    She was also just a super (and sweet) person and did much much more then that.

    She was canned because some meta decided that Digital Point wasn't a place for editors to hang out or other such nonsense.

    She was fired without a warning or even the slightest clue ~ by an archaic system which those in power say is fine and where everyone else in existence wants some accountability and a bit of transparency.
     
    Qryztufre, Jun 25, 2007 IP
  18. popotalk

    popotalk Notable Member

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    #338
    DMOZ Internal Forum is dead and not too many actions these days. This means not a lot of activity since they are trying to figure out where's the leak coming from. Ahhh the good thing of disgusted old time members. :D

    Heres for you Chantal after you left.

    Thats all for now and enjoy the read. ;)
     
    popotalk, Jun 26, 2007 IP
  19. minstrel

    minstrel Illustrious Member

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    #339
    Aww, popo.... You've blown our cover... they thought they'd plugged the leaks... :D


    Addendum: Gotta love the intelligence of a red-rep comment like this:

    :rolleyes:
     
    minstrel, Jun 26, 2007 IP
  20. syed123

    syed123 Well-Known Member

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    #340
    No wonder its going down from past couple of months.
    pretty steep fall for a biggie.
    [​IMG]
     
    syed123, Jun 26, 2007 IP
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