With so many problems going on. Lack of being able to find editors. Submission process very exploitable. Mis-management. Corrupt editors mainly trying to profit from being an editor. ...... ... I was just wondering how much longer dmoz will last? I think it's lost alot of credibility over the past couple of years. I wonder what it's future looks like.
Well, as far as I understand, it's been around for quite a while (at least in the website world). I think it will continue to be around, it just has to adapt to address those issues you mentioned. But, given its reputation and history, I'm relatively confident that it will successfully adapt.
And the new things being planned and backed by support and staff. Looks good in the past present and particularly the future.
With all of it's flaws there are still webmaster blogs out there as well as other sources that still give the ODP a fair amount of Clout. With that, I'd assume that it'll be up for a couple more years at least. I will assume that they will run through some major changes, then some more changes, then it'll be OK or it'll be dropped (rather then it's current 'forgotten'). Though, from all indication, it is not going anyplace anytime soon. Not as long as people still place it on the pedestal that it's been placed. The average webmaster likely has no clues of it's flaws, and even many that are in the know simply do not care. The blogs they read to base their sites off of still say that submission is key or that it's PR matters. So while DMOZ may be down the creek without a paddle, they are still keeping afloat and are likely to remain so.
I wish Google would get around to updating it's FAQ *sigh* Or at least actually show it's support and backing by updating it's blog (EDIT: erm, I mean Directory) .
Apart from the internal DMOZ problems, the Search Engines are getting better and better in guiding the user to the specific page meeting their query, whereas the Directory requires a long traversal. Even then the user lands on the homepage and has to find his way further. The layperson is likely to only use the SEs and maynot even have heard of DMOZ. From the SEO viewpoint, sooner or later, Google is likely to target the paid directories. Since DMOZ is a free directory, its importance is likely to grow rather than diminish.
There is an update in progress at the moment, although it's only visible on a few datacentres so far (mostly the European ones). See http://gfe-bu.google.com/Top/ and http://gfe-fk.google.com/Top/ for example.
Wait and see what AOL have up their sleeve. After such a long time of not updating the Google directory, it is not chance timing, IMO, that a new AOL input coincides with an update.
I think that the converse is true. The vast majority of paid directories are little more than pay for inclusion SEO tools and google is recognizing them as such. Google did not get to where they are today by being stupid, and to give too much significance to such sites would be playing into the hands of those who seek to manipulate SERPs in their favor. If you don't believe me consider the google advice to webmasters. The vast majority of these pay for inclusion directories exist for only one purpose and a link in one can only be called natural at a stretch. This would include the directory of the guy 2 posts ago (loved your charming comment with the red rep btw pctec.) Remember the old days. Webmasters found that you could get SE traffic by putting any old crap in your meta tags and titles. The vast majority of directories simply provide a service which is a variation of that theme by placing sites in appropriately named categories. You will notice among the self appointed SEO experts the ones who are advising listing in these pay for inclusion directories are those with a vested interest in the directory industry. These folk are crawling all over DP like a rash. V7n seems to be another hangout for them. As far as the ODP goes I have no idea what effect the do have and will have on SE engine results. One thing overlooked in this discussion is that there has never been any real intention to drive traffic toward the ODP, it has been expected that the majority of data users will be downstream via the RDF dump. Maybe that is changing.
Neither is it a concern of DMOZ. We seek to build the best directory we can, as an editor I select the best sites I find or are offered to me, given that I cannot search the whole of the internet or search at all if I only deal with submissions, 404's and updates. So I try to use a mixture of both. We build the directory for users, if that affects page rank or SE then so be it, if it does not affect page rank or SE so be it, it is not our objective, building the best directory we can is our objective.
Is it irony that editors use search engines that revolve around SEO to build a directory that in every case but DMOZ is an SEO tool? DMOZ is listed in my AWSTATS as a search engine, and DMOZ has a search engine (granted a pretty crappy one) ... it really does seem that the only people that don't think it's an SEO tool are editors. And while it being a tool is not the concern of the average editor, the average editor may be wise to know that without directories, the tools they use to build their category rely on many levels to other directories and in some cases DMOZ itself. You are in denial. Though, honestly, if you want to build the BEST directory, petition to have the filth removed... some directories out there actually have standards that go beyond simply having unique content.
I might know if I could understand what you were trying to say. Perhaps I will just reierate that we use submissions and search engines to find and select what our editors think are the best sites, with unique content from all the jumble that gets submitted or that you find when Googling or anything else. But what we are not interested in is how sites on the directory benefit or otherwsie for page rank or anything else. The question is, does the site and the category help the surfer? Not did this get so and so's site near the top of any search engine or further up the Google ladder, that may be any webmasters concern, but not DMOZ editors.
Using SE will barely scrape the surface when searching for website worthy of listing, unless editor is familiar with topic many excellent websites will be missed simply because they have absolute zero SEO in them, many have been created years ago and are often maintained by people who have no knowledge of SEO and don't even care about it. Some of the best websites I have listed I got by asking the public to give me links which are missing from categories I've created or maintained and I got surprised on how many great websites are there which you would never have found in Google since they buried deep in SERP. Another bunch I have found by visiting community forums relevant for the category topic - there are many great websites which are completely unknown to anyone not visiting these forums. So being editor who is using SE to find websites to list isn't really something to brag about.