Comments on: What I Wish DMOZ Was Like

By: Ross Devine

Ross Devine — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:24:16 +0000

Great article, I have been getting my feet wet with SEO for the first time and thought I was doing something wrong on DMOZ as was getting no response from them.

Glad I’m not on my own.

By: seo-dsoft

seo-dsoft — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:29:41 +0000

DMOZ works like a black box and NO ONE knows what’s happening to your requests. They leave everyone in the dark. It does not matter if you follow the guidelines, you are still subject to the will of an editor who thinks differently from another and don’t follow any type of guidelines.
I wonder why Google still trust this directory. The future of DMOZ depends on their will to become a normal directory. I think it will disappear.

By: Adam

Adam — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:41:10 +0000

@James Green: That’s a really good guess, but totally wrong

By: seoborg

seoborg — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:48:58 +0000

I totally and mentally agreed with minstrel. Bytheway thanks for the NOODP meta tag info. We don’t need DMOZ. Three options for DMOZ sickness:
1- Make DMOZ paid directory like Yahoo Dir. So people can get a great customer service.
2- DMOZ should be closed.

By: James Green

James Green — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 05:48:52 +0000

Guess what the following terms all have in common SEO, Jobs, Careers, Linkbuilding: They are all about making connections. Connecting sites and users. Connecting emplyees to one another. Services and products to consumers, and quality content to consumers of that content.

By: UltimaHosts

UltimaHosts — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:53:18 +0000

How many people do you know who use DMOZ as a search source? Personally I’ve never used it.

By: minstrel

minstrel — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:57:53 +0000

Damien wrote, “@minstrel and dmoz editors should change and be more “comprehensive” while seo people shouldn’t? As James said it’s a vicious circle where nobody wants to do the first step. And I won’t be the one to do it, sorry.”

What is this in response to? And why are you so focused on the us vs. them mentality?

Damien also wrote, “Particularly when we *are* doing efforts. Two years ago, we were not communicating at all. Now we have an official blog with regular updates for example.”

Uh-huh. I’ve read it. It has no substance. It’s just editors patting themselves on the back for a good job. And your use of the term regular updates is laughable.

The Damien wrote, “But that doesn’t changes anything because anyway no seo people seems to read it. You’re stuck in the “My website isn’t listed. So I hate it”.”

No. I rarely read it because it has no content worth reading. And I am listed, by the way. I hate DMOZ because it’s an inefficient dinosaur of a bureaucracy that exists as an old boys club and to promote its own editors, and because too many of its editors, metas, and admins are have and promote the same adversarial and insulting relationship that you espouse with anyone outside DMOZ.

By: minstrel

minstrel — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:29:08 +0000

Kevin wrote, “We don’t *pretend* to take submissions — I only speak for myself here, but the majority of submissions to my category are a) spam sites b) sites that add nothing to the category c) sites submitted in the totally wrong category or d) “business card” sites that add little value to the category as a whole. ”

Yes, you only speak for yourself and my guess is you don’t edit a major category. This is far from my first debate about DMOZ policies. I think you’ll find that many editors all but ignore the so-called “submission queue”. Even those who don’t complain about it. To my mind, it makes no sense to continue to invite submissions if those submissions are going to remain in the queue for months or years.

Kevin also wrote, “However, you have to understand the mentality of an editor. Our objective is to make our category the best that it can possibly be — not necessarily the most inclusive. Sometimes, less is more.”

You are an editor at DMOZ. DMOZ is one directory out of hundreds or thousands, and there are probably a dozen or so major directories with editors. Don’t assume that because you are at DMOZ no one but another DMOZ editor can understand the mentality of an editor. But most of those other major directories function far more efficently than DMOZ, a fact that DMOZ editors and administrators generally try to ignore.

By: Damien

Damien — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:26:41 +0000

Particularly when we *are* doing efforts. Two years ago, we were not communicating at all.
Now we have an official blog with regular updates for example.

But that doesn’t changes anything because anyway no seo people seems to read it. You’re stuck in the “My website isn’t listed. So I hate it”.

By: Damien

Damien — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:25:02 +0000

@minstrel and dmoz editors should change and be more “comprehensive” while seo people shouldn’t ?
As James said it’s a vicious circle where nobody wants to do the first step. And I won’t be the one to do it, sorry.