This thread has been going on longer than the amount of time that DMOZ was at it's height of popularity or even relevant.
I also think DMOZ is not so relevant anymore. And it is just a broken system. I applied many times with really good high quality websites and never received any reply from them.
It's funny how many people question the DMOZ as an organization because they didn't get their site listed. That's just ridiculous and petty. The real argument should be about it's usefulness on today's web. I don't know anyone (outside of webmasters) who have ever even heard of it, even when it was at it's height in popularity. So the real question is anyone using it to even make it worth while? Or any directory for that matter? I don't see any directory, outside of niche and business directories, being relevant anymore. It's not like the old days when people surfed the web out of curiosity and search engines sucked. Today's web user has purpose and accesses the web in many different ways that DMOZ is just not a part of or even accessible from. So the real question isn't about DMOZ as an organization. What do I care how they run it? It's not as if it costs money to submit. The real question is, what is it for, and what purpose does it serve today? I've had a site listed for 4 years and it hasn't done anything for it. No traffic. No ranking help. To me, it's not such a big deal to even waste time to submit another one so I don't understand people's obsession with it. It's like one of those things that people tell you that you can't have, all the new people on the scene want to be in it, and the people who run the joint act like bouncers at a popular nightclub. That makes a certain kind of person want it even more. That's all I see DMOZ as today. More like some old web legend than anything else. Maybe if someone could explain to me what it's for? Who uses it? What significance it has on today's web? And some actual traffic stats, I may see it's usefulness, but up until now, I have never seen it.
It is worth, but none of my website could make it to the DMOZ. Even some of them were good niche, like churches, But I think a very low percentage of websites are listed there, and still Google shows all other websites in result. So nothing to worry even if you are not listed,