Where Are the Editors?

No. Not just the DP forums but several other forums.

And as much as I think you know I respect you, Alucard, that's not anectdotal evidence -- that's "I heard about a guy who...". Now if some of those people would actually show up here themselves I MIGHT be persuaded, although even then by your own statement these are people who you told about DMOZ and who probably would never have heard about it were it not for knowing you.

 

Oh absolutely. I will very freely admit that almost noone outside of the editor, webmaster, and SEO world has even hear of the ODP unless they were told about it by one of that group. Absolutely.

All I am saying is that for those people who I *have* pointed in that direction, they have found it to be a useful resource IN ADDITION to Google, because it gave them a small number of very relevant links to what they were looking for. They didn't CARE that not every site was in there. They were looking for a few sites that would give them the information they needed, and found it quicker than using Google.

 

Yes, it is, isn't it. Some would see that bias as a plus.

Well, messianic editors aside, I don't think that anyone really believes that the ODP is preaching that it knows what is best for the internet - it is a collection of bookmarks which the editors have thought were worthy of a listing. Even the editing guidelines put restrictions on what can and can't be listed which some strongly disagree with. I don't see how the ODP could ever be the right thing for everyone....

Count me in the column against that statement.

 

Alucard as you know I have nothing against you. You have been one of a few editors that answer back and not degrade or insult even when you have been. I can tell you that we shall soon see the bias. As you know I own a real estate company. We are about to launch the MOST comprehensive real estate website OUT THERE...this site is as large as Realtor.com and more informative and useful. Lets see what happens to it in relation to DMOZ....I can say that if this site doesnt get included in ODP then there will be a lot of light shed on about ODP practices. This site has taken almost a year to complete and program by some of the industries top internet professionals...I can honestly say there is nothing out there in real estate like this...so in time we shall soon see.

I honestly dont care if it does get in to DMOZ, but if it doesnt this gives me the tools to expose DMOZ through the media and internet. We are planning after the first of the year to hold a launch party for the site, in which we will be inviting local media, staff from NAR and other businesses.

This site was not built for this purpose but I believe it now gives us a tool to maybe expose ODP for what a lot of the internet community feels it has become.

 

I don't think that it takes the example of your site to show that the ODP has a bias, for sure.

What is open for debate is what that bias is, and whether than bias improves of degrades the quality of the directory.

 

I was thinking about this last night, and I would guess if you had access to the real stats for the directory that their conversion rate of visitors to people who become actual users of the directory as a resource of finding sites is horrible. IE any other webmaster would run crying with the kind of return they likely get.

They get a huge amount of exposure from Google and that alone is going to mean SOME people use them. It is unlikely that number is any significant portion of people exposed to the site though.

I also wonder how much of this alleged and real editor corruption would disappear if Google dropped any affiliation with the directory at all. My guess is almost all of it. I would also guess the directory would cease to exist.

As I mentioned before, I have been on the internet since 1994. I ran and operated ISPs from 1994 to 2001. I never heard of the DMOZ directory until I fell into the rabbit hole that is SEO.

I know for areas I am interested in the directory is mostly entirely useless.. In some cases it is harmful. From my exposure to the directory, I would never recommend it to anyone as a resource for finding websites. People complain about Google keeping out new sites because of a sandbox, it appears that some categories in DMOZ are stuck in a vast desert wasteland where updates to some categories have not been made in a year plus.

I know Google's infatuation with the directory stems from its competition with Yahoo, but the reality is it is not a terribly good fit, and as yahoo spends every day trying to become more like Google, I don't see the point.

A human-edited directory is only worthwhile as long as humans edit it. I know some of you defend the directory at every turn, but you really need to go investigate some general niches and see what is going on. The functional value of the directory is minimal.

 

Excellent post, aeiouy. Very well summarized.