DMOZ's worst nightmare!

Well we have one of our most respected members here who goes by the handle Minstrel that has become a vocal critic of DMOZ and for good reason.

Minstrel has provided a lot of insight and even great entertainment on the subject of DMOZ and their forum where they provide guidance and help to those who have questions on the submission process at DMOZ.

Minstrel and I have discussed in many threads here on Digital Point the finer aspects of dealing with DMOZ and I have given my opinion on what should be done also in these same threads.

My theory is that all editors should be fired, then AOL who is the owner of Netscape brands and DMOZ should automate the submission process and actually communicate the status of submissions by email instead of forcing folks to go to their forum and be told to re-submit then don't ask for 30 days later on the forum about your submission.

Well, the bottom line is this, in this thread I want to know what you guys think should be done at DMOZ to improve the database.

Minstrel, your soap box is ready man

 

Stop google treating it as anything special will do. It should have the same value as any other directory - Although i see G. are using it in their SERPS..

You cant just fire everyone, there will be some good ones in their..I know of a famous one who seems alright to me

 

Well Rounde, that is why so many are pissed off, because it is used as a base to pull results in many search engines, even meta search engines use it a a base to return results along with other engines feeds.

That is why we are fighting for more fairness in the first place Rounde.

 

lol....here we go again

 

I agree, Google puts too much weight on it and it's nothing but corrupt. Most will say that negetive comments come from those not listed yet, well that may be true. However, there are many categories locked up by editors that list crap and monopolize categories. That is a fact. Disgreuntledness is subjective.

 

Yep I am well aware, I have sites listed in their by acronyms and have been untouched for years..this makes the directory useless or fairly. So many people copy it to their sites that it is a very powerful backlink to have.as it multiplies by the number of people that copy / update their directory.
Let alone if you choose the right category.

I am considering signing up as an editor, might fix a small part of it. If the engines haven't dropped it yet they are not likely to are they ?
So there is no real solution, personally I submit all sites once or twice and then give up..at the moment.
Going to the resource zone etc is just a bit much + 1/2 the time dmoz is not actually working.
So for now I'm waiting to see what they do, I doubt my personal opinion matters that much to them.

I thought I heard ST running towards the thread...

 

even worse news dmoz have been knocked of top spot for term "kids & teens directory" in msn search by me

 

That's wonderful. I bet there are at least on person a day that seach on that phrase! :/

I better go out, I have nothing nice to say today. Lata.

 

Last year I had a site which I'd call an authority in its field. Over 10.000 daily unique visitors, very fresh content, almost 100 volunteers writing content and supporting forums other than regulars and usual visitors. Couple of topics from our site were featured on USA Today, and Wall Street Journal. I've submitted my site to dmoz, and it's over a year, never heard back. I believe I did all the submission process right. URL is my title also, nice and short description with no marketing (I don't need one), and it can ONLY fit in one category.
I go back and look at the new sites added since last year. I don't want to blame anybody specifically but I believe there's something wrong going on. There are some obvious sites built only for affiliate purposes, and they are listed in my category, and my 10.000/day visitor, CSS/XHTML designed, very active information and community site is not valuable enough to be listed in dmoz ?
So I decided not to submit to dmoz any more. It may not sound great, but if they're not fair, I won't be dealing with them.
With all the junk sites listed, and low quality, DMOZ will lose its value slowly but for sure.

 

I'm watching

 

They will fail due to their corruption, neglect and arrogance. They are engendering a lot of resentment -- the vast majority of it warranted.

Yes, they attach so much value/weight to it -- but there is no reason for this value as we all know, no intrinsic value, other than THEY HAVE DECREED IT BE SO. Classic corruption, and a *huge* conflict of interest.

Which, naturally, is a breeding ground for neglect and arrogance: I volunteered to be an editor, and explained that the (small) category I was volunteering for was mostly sites that didn't even exist anymore, and that the ones that did still exist had changed so much the content simply no longer reflected the category. I also listed relevant sites that should be in as part of the process.

So what do the oh-sooooo-clever rat-faced gnomes over there do? They scuffle to work fixing the category by using sites that I listed should be included and deleting the ones that should be deleted, and tell me that, sorry, but they can't use me as an editor. Um...ok...I mean, what do you _say_ in the face of that? Nothing you can say, and there's nothing they want to hear -- it is their ship, let them sink it -- I will step lively the day it hits bottom.

 

Remember guys, this thread is about how they can improve DMOZ, not a bashing thread, I understand that your opinions may seem like bashing to some, but I don't consider opinions or experiences that you have had with DMOZ to be such. So don't hesitate to post those, but also post your opinions on how they could do better and administrate the database correctly in the future.

 

Anthony, you started this thread ... this was bound to happen

 

THAT IS THE POINT: They do not care to become "better" -- that is the entire reason there is this thread to begin with. They simply _do not care_ -- they are corrupt, neglectful, fat and happy. And arrogant. It is a classic case -- in all fields, times, places in history, it's a really familiar scenario of hubris, the technology is just the sword weilded. You can wax all you wish about a better DMOZ -- it is not going to happen...
Repeat:
It is not going to happen.
It is not going to happen.
It is not going to happen.
It is not going to happen.
It is not going to happen.....

 

How DMOZ can approve itself, and prevent being a history?
They have two choices.
1) They keep volunteer editors, and implement a system to rank the editors. Either they could hire a staff who will regulary check the accepted listings, and rate/warn editors to be fair, or they could implement a rating system to the submitted sites by visitors. Therefore editors would be responsible, and very careful before rejecting an authority site (just because it's competition to their own). There are some more ideas to be able to control all the editors and take out the bad apples from the basket, while not hurting the good ones. A good brainstorming can bring many solutions.
2) They fire all the volunteers (as suggested before) and start doing a smart automation + staff acceptance process. IMHO instead of doing it free, and not being fair, they can charge a small fee to be able to control and improve the submission process.

Rumor is everywhere, people even name some editors who gladly accept donations for fast approval. This may even become a business for some, but not a long term one.

How can webmasters REACT to this unfairness?
Think about this way, you go to a local restaurant, and if they don't treat you good, you don't go there anymore. This is all about customer service. If we all stop submitting our sites, what would they do???
As webmasters, we have to unite and make our voice heard sometimes (in ideal world).

peace

 

AOL is the owner of this organization, they are investing heavy into search technology and local search specifically.

This database could be an excellent source of local search data if it was automated, why do you feel that they will never progress and improve this major asset?

 

The issue is really Google. As long as DMOZ is impacting the rankings the way it is, they will hold a lot of power. If Google stops using their results, it will crumble. In an idealistic world, DMOZ is a great idea but realistically speaking it does not work.
Human nature is in the way.
Where is aol/Time Warner ... they must not even care

 

Google could discount them completely tomorrow ST, but many meta engines pull from DMOZ & Looksmart & Wisenut so they would not disappear as you suggest, plus AOL would still use it to pull results from.

 

I have gotten myself into another resource zone thread. One of my forum members asked about getting my forum into DMOZ and I responded as well (remember, they unbanned me) ... first thing the editors do is go to the DMOZ section of my forum where we were trashing them lol

http://www.resource-zone.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35315&page=1
This is so funny, I just have to laugh

 

Looks like a waste of time thread to me ST