Comments on: Is Dmoz dead or editors active? https://www.macronimous.com/blog/is-dmoz-dead-or-editors-corrupted/ Web design, web programming, Mobile apps, Opensource , SEO etc Fri, 18 Jul 2025 07:32:43 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.3 By: Name withheld https://www.macronimous.com/blog/is-dmoz-dead-or-editors-corrupted/#comment-34776 Wed, 29 Dec 2010 19:19:34 +0000 https://www.macronimous.com/blog/is-dmoz-dead-or-editors-corrupted/#comment-34776 DMOZ is most certainly corrupt; however, it is not clear whether it is truly dead because Google still seems to place a degree of value on websites that are listed in the directory.

My experience with DMOZ.

I am the author of a website that is the highest ranked in its niche. The website has tens of thousands of words of quality, unique content. It enjoys hundreds of visitors a day from most of the english speaking countries around the world. To put it into perspective, it often outranks the corresponding Wikipedia article (they continually jockey between search results 1 and 2 for all relevant keywords).

I submitted my website to the corresponding DMOZ category over two years ago and the website has still not been included in the DMOZ category. I have two theories to explain this: 1) the category is not being looked after by an editor, 2) the editor has ulterior motives.

Given the fact that an increasing number of online stores that are somewhat related to the category have been added, whereas my free resource (that does not monetize its content) has not been added, I am inclined to believe that the latter is at play here.

My story is not unique; it is also endemic of the problems that plague DMOZ.

The problem I have illustrated is emblematic of the corruption at the heart of DMOZ. Giving editors the power to add or remove websites at will is inherently problematic because it plays a huge degree of control in the hands of an (often) unqualified minority. It also violates many of the principles of an open internet because it puts the power of DMOZ in the hands of an oligarchical editorship.

The real problem, however, is not DMOZ. DMOZ is systemically corrupt because it is a closed-source enterprise that governs a wide-range of content. The real problem is that Google still places some measure of value on DMOZ. Google ought to both devalue DMOZ listings in its ranking algorithm and disincentivize webmasters from using the service.

]]> By: Katie @ Women Magazie https://www.macronimous.com/blog/is-dmoz-dead-or-editors-corrupted/#comment-34759 Tue, 28 Dec 2010 07:11:17 +0000 https://www.macronimous.com/blog/is-dmoz-dead-or-editors-corrupted/#comment-34759 DMOZ is dead long back and they have every excuse of spreading the myth that they are still alive. Which are the latest non big site they have added recently?

]]> By: Shad V https://www.macronimous.com/blog/is-dmoz-dead-or-editors-corrupted/#comment-17748 Thu, 23 Sep 2010 16:07:59 +0000 https://www.macronimous.com/blog/is-dmoz-dead-or-editors-corrupted/#comment-17748 I used to be an editor of DMOZ. My very puny niche directory really had so few submissions – that I would only go there about once every 6 months. Often nothing new – so eventually I was removed as an editor for not logging in frequently enough. No one else wanted to edit the category I had because it was so small of a category in the world. So they loose a good editor because of policy requirements. In addition – there was an elitist attitude amongst senior editors. As if they could control your success or failure from a simple link. I don’t think so. DMOZ links aren’t that important anymore.

]]> By: Jon https://www.macronimous.com/blog/is-dmoz-dead-or-editors-corrupted/#comment-5470 Wed, 14 Apr 2010 05:13:11 +0000 https://www.macronimous.com/blog/is-dmoz-dead-or-editors-corrupted/#comment-5470 I’m completely thrown by the good’ol boy system that is now dmoz. My hope is that they become obsolete in the near future.

]]> By: StevenH https://www.macronimous.com/blog/is-dmoz-dead-or-editors-corrupted/#comment-3261 Fri, 23 Oct 2009 06:15:05 +0000 https://www.macronimous.com/blog/is-dmoz-dead-or-editors-corrupted/#comment-3261 Agreed, and to top it off the majority of the editors carry an elitist attitude that’s beyond belief. I’ve yet to see any of them post an acceptable excuse for the state of utter shambles the directory is in. What is really sad is that you can find posts dating back to 1999 asking questions about why sites aren’t being added and dead links being pruned… 10 years of marginal management. Astonishing that Google still associates themselves with it.

Here’s an interesting post if anyone is interested:
http://www.seome.com/about-seome/blog/13-blog/61-getting-listed-on-dmoz

Cheers

]]> By: Mike Toronto https://www.macronimous.com/blog/is-dmoz-dead-or-editors-corrupted/#comment-2577 Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:26:04 +0000 https://www.macronimous.com/blog/is-dmoz-dead-or-editors-corrupted/#comment-2577 That is what I was wondering also!
Tried so many times to get my sites added to DmoZ – no results…silence…dead silence. I have never received any paid addition offers though I have to admit I would consider paying to make sure my sites will be added to Dmoz directories).

and after all – is Dmoz THAT important? I receive good results without being added to its dir’s so maybe it is overrated? used to be good once but useless now? obsolete? =) RIP

Mike

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