I am responding to only this comment - and absolutely nothing else in this thread. Is pornography right or wrong? Is abortion right or wrong? Is allowing women to vote right or wrong? Is allowing women to parade in public without wearing a burka right or wrong? Is Christianity right or wrong? Is prejudice right or wrong? Is harnessing a horse to a wagon right or wrong? Is testing cosmetics on animals right or wrong? Who decides? You will find people on both sides of each one of these fences - DMOZ has publicly stated that there is no fence in any of these issues, as far as listing goes. The fence for DMOZ is stated in the guidelines - right or wrong.
Is spanking pre-teens right or wrong? Is sex with dead people right or wrong? Is using language that promotes sex with boys right or wrong? Is doing all this for profit in a directory that is based on a non-profit model right or wrong? Your logic is flawed.
Never having ventured anywhere near the Adult section of Dmoz, until this thread, well personally I'm absolutely appaulled at some of the listings in there and those that have been pointed out during the duration of this discussion. I'm all for freedom of speech and all that, but I honestly do feel personally that Dmoz should cut this section of the directory off completely. There also seems to be no rhyme or reason behind the premise that in all other sections of the directory it is impressed upon editors that in the majority of cases only one listing per site is the norm. Whereas in Adult it almost seems the reverse !! I don't see any reason for it whatsoever, especially when the submission guidelines are so adamant that only one url be submitted per site. I'm very confused by this.
And keep in mind the existence of this section, and listings therin... is a testament to the very nature of DMOZ. The problems run far deeper than this, especially in the areas of corruption and profit, or shall we call it spin?
If DMOZ closes down, what will happen to all of the power hungry editors? How will they get their power fix?
AOL is owned by Time Warner, Google just purchased 5% of AOL for a Billion dollars and I would think they have options on taking control of AOL written into the contract should they choose to buy majority control of the unit. Steve Case the co-founder of AOL and a large Time Warner shareholder came out and has called for Time Warner (the world's largest media company) to be split into four new units, separate from one another. With all the changes happening at AOL (AOL owns Netscape-DMOZ is part of Netscape) today, there is no way to know what is going to happen to DMOZ at this point. But I am sure that changes will be made to DMOZ and the threads here at DP will have a major impact on the future direction of DMOZ So to all the members here, keep the ideas and comments coming, AOL and Google are both reading them, bet on it!
I love how they find sites about grown men who wear diapers, pretending to be a baby, piss and shit in the daipers, and have their significant other change them....that's quality content. Sites specifically telling people thinking of suicide how to do it. That's gold! What is wrong with these people. Obviously someone contemplating suicide is sick and needs to speak to a mental health professional. They don't need to go to Billy Joe's Site of Gnarly Suicide Methods.
I just submitted a writeup of this thread to slashdot - let's see if they accept it... It would be good to get the word out there about this blatant promotion of illegal and inethical activities!
Minstrel, I completely agree with you on this one. If I could make or change the DMOZ rules on my own I would immedialitely remove these sites. But I can't. I'm trying to show fellow editors what is "right" in this case. I suspect much of my fellow editors will feel the same but are just unaware of this situation just as I was until until 2 days ago.
It depends on the situation and what is called spanking. In the country I live hitting in any way children is prohibited by law. But in combination with any hint of sexual activity it is completely wrong I don't know but it certainly is sick. If you mean underage people with 'boys' it is wrong. I haven't found any indication that the listings done within DMOZ are done for profit by the editor.
That is because dvduval made an error in the link. It should be http://dmoz.org/Adult/Society/Sexuality/Activities_and_Practices/Necrophilia/
Don't criticize it because it is not useful for you. DMOZ is certainly a useful resource for pedophiles, necrophilia and other problems with difficult names.