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12 Responses to “DMOZ – Free Web Resources”

1. Angela Says:
   
   January 28th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
   

   Wonderful post, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Another thing that you left out is that Dmoz actually maintains an ADULT category with thousands of links to p0rn related websites.

   They hide it from the public view but it is accessible by all the perverts online. it is located as a sub directory of Dmoz in this location /Adult/ .

   Also, Dmoz is notorious of NOT listening to anyone advice or suggestions. And the stories of abuse are abundant.

   The good new:
   There is a new web directory called Nomoz.orgthat is trying to deal with all these disgusting issues at Dmoz. They are offering a universally accessible web directory based on the Dmoz data EXCLUDING the Adult categories and promising to revamp all the existing data.

   
   
   
   
2. admin Says:
   
   January 28th, 2008 at 11:24 pm
   

   Thanks for the info, I did know they had adult sections on their directory.

   Woc

   
   
   
   
3. IamIan Says:
   
   January 29th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
   

   Woc, what mixed messages is the Adult section sending? The DMOZ categorizes site’s on the internet. The internet is full of adult content. Where are the mixed message’s?

   NOMOZ used seed data from DMOZ to start the directory and is now expecting webmaster’s to pay them money in order to fight for listing’s. You can go in and pay and delete your competitors. Anybody that thinks that Google and the like will pay any attention to a directory that is at the start a DMOZ clone and at best a pay-per-listing directory that is so easily abused is not someone I would trust with my SEO work, sorry. The only people that this will do any good is the owner who set up NOMOZ in order to make money off gullible webmaster’s frustrated with DMOZ.

   Ian

   
   
   
   
4. admin Says:
   
   January 29th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
   

   True Ian, having thought about it a bit more, I think my mixed messages comments wasnt thought out properly and i might well amend that comment, it was late last night when I wrote that lol !

   I dont think there is a problem with Dmoz having its own adult section to be honest, so long as the adult content is in its own categorys then its fine, as you said the net is full of adult content anyway.

   So I think its fair enough they have adult categorys so im not sure why i put its sending mixed messages, but im big enough to admit i made a mistake with that comment.

   I have checked out the Nomoz directory, and having had the chance to look over it properly and noticed that you have to PAY, i wont be submitting any sites.

   I have been told that its been set up by an old Disgruntled Dmoz editor, not sure how true that is.

   As you said you can also remove other sites and pay to remove them, which i find rather odd and could well cause chaos.

   It doesnt seem a fair way to run a directory, when really thats all people want, a bit of common sense and fairness, its not fair to get people to pay either.

   Seems you were more clued up about it than me Ian good comments lol !

   Woc

   
   
   
   
5. Angela Says:
   
   January 29th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
   

   Ian,

   The problems with Dmoz are beyond repair. have you heard of the recent Extortion by an editor who requested a $5000 dollars ransom or he will remove a listing of a famous blogger by the name of ShoeMoney (search Google for it). When an honest editor (a rare thing at Dmoz) tried to investigate they disabled his account. I mention this to show that you guys are truly acting like a Mafia crime family and not an “open” project.

   I mention the above to show you that Dmoz has no shame.

   Now for the Nomoz issues. YES Nomoz was started with the Dmoz data. but over a million links in the directory have already been removed. (not by webmasters) but by the Nomoz team. This was the hardest and most time consuming part of the project. Nomoz has also chosen not to peddle in p0rn. You say the Internet is full of p0rn and you are merely indexing it. BUT, You do have the option to set an example and not empower those smut peddlers and in turn become a smut peddlers yourselves.

   Nomoz does charge a small listing fee. The decision to do that was not easy nor was it to make money off of “gullible webmaster” (who you don’t miss a chance to offend and put down) They are smarter than most self-inflating egotistic editors at Dmoz. The main reason is to reduce SPAM, this same spam that causes links to wait in the queue of Dmoz for YEARS sometimes. fee alone takes care of this major problem because Spammer don’t like to pay money.

   The second reason is to make sure the directory has a health and longevity and to also provide for future enhancements (many ideas and suggestions by WEBMASTERS are are being taken into considerations) and most will hopefully be implemented to make the directory better.

   At Dmoz, You have taken an initially good and honest project built purely by volunteers from around the world and turned it into a power-trip for a few editors. Any decent person who visits your (resource-zone) forums would be shocked at how egotistic, self-serving and abusive most of the editors are.

   Lastly, Nomoz has been been received very positively by many of those same webmasters you call “gullible”, our dedicated server is no longer able to keep up with the traffic, and we are working on adding more servers soon.

   
   
   
   
6. Angela Says:
   
   January 29th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
   

   woc,

   I wrote the above before you posted your last message, so here is my replay to your points.

   The reason for the fee is already answered above. The deletion of links was included because
   of the many complaints that the directory was literally stuffed by “questionable” links that belong to editors of the various categories and their business associates. This is a way to clean up the directory from all those links, and a fee was added so that people don’t go crazy abusing this feature.

   It has been proven again and again that the market economy adjusts itself according to the need and benefit derived from anything online and offline.

   Initially the project was supposed to be free and we have wrestled with the fee option, but the long delays at Dmoz and the unbelievable amount of SPAM that exist online would take our focus away from creating a better, fair, accessible, and usable web directory that will prove that Dmoz can be done better.

   As for the Adult section, you have complained earlier about the tremendous amount of online p0rn that usually lead to abuse of children and contributes a great deal to the break down society as we see it. Do I want to ban p0rn (I personally would not mind it) but I understand that people have the freedom to do what they like, but that freedom should not be shoved down my throat and big respectable companies and business entity should not help nor encouraged the smut industry (which needs no help from anyone). Dmoz can as I said set an example and REFUSE to deal in smut. But that is only a small factor in their already destroyed image problem

   As for the “Disgruntled Dmoz editor” why does everyone like to brand all those who object to questionable behavior as disgruntled? Is the editor who was sacked for questioning the Extortion at Dmoz also disgruntled? You my friend are getting only one side of the story, most editors KNOW of all the abuse and borderline criminal behavior that goes on inside the ODP. I don’t want to get into that at this point, enough has been said about it.

   
   
   
   
7. admin Says:
   
   January 29th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
   

   Hi angela.

   I dont think anyone would have a problem paying to get into your directory and the fact you have removed the adult categorys is commendable.

   But for me your not really tackling the issues i had with Dmoz, I put a list of chat sites i felt shouldnt be listed on Dmoz, as there was no safety information, if i was to remove them from your directory, it would cost me $100 + that isnt really fair is it, and whats to stop people delisting sites because they are competators ? or even deslisting mine if i added it to your directory ?

   It just seems to be a way to abuse your directory and quite rightfully puts people off, if you are going to beat Dmoz then you need to do what they dont ?

   Listen to people and let responsible people contribute and not hit them in the pocket to do so !

   Dmoz is stiff and doesnt allow anyone to query anything, they also stick strictly to their guidelines and you cant query anything, so why dont you let your directory do all these things and beat Dmoz ?

   Woc

   
   
   
   
8. Angela Says:
   
   January 29th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
   

   Woc, as I said before we do listen. The deletion of links was added to remove competitors for the reasons above.
   And YES our ultimate goal is to change every single link in the directory. even those that are already listed we request that when people “lock” them that they change the title and description to reflect the current status of their sites.

   Every link is removable except those that are “locked” (which means that they were paid for). Those links can never be deleted except by their owners, or if the site goes offline for a period of 3 consecutive months, or if reported to have been drastically changed it will be temporarily disabled the owner notified to list it under a new more relevant category. They will not lose their right to have a link they already paid for.

   As for questionable links like the ones mentioned above, I personally am doing marketing and online promotion of the directory. But as I also mentioned before, should you send a message through the online form, I guarantee you that this will be taken care of. We have people who’s only job is removing questionable links and we have already removed over a million links as I said before.

   At this very moment as I write this we are experiencing a very heavy load due to unexpected (but welcomed) traffic. We are working adding more resources, but please do send a message and I assure you that you will be surprised.

   The links that you report will be investigated of course before they are removed and you will be sent a report of which ones were removed and why the other’s weren’t.

   Also, We are currently adding the functionality to make link reporting easier (a button beside each link was suggested). Those links that are offline, or those who peddle in questionable conduct will be promptly removed.

   Also, You are very welcomed to send any other (even un-related to the above) suggestions that may make the directory better from your perspective, We have only officialy rolled out the directory about 2 weeks ago, so we are hard at work fixing things and adding features.

   Your input is very welcome and please keep in touch with the directoy

   
   
   
   
9. admin Says:
   
   January 29th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
   

   ok angela I will give it a try, i assume you mean the contact us form when you say our online form.

   If i give you the site name and the site problem, will you look into the information i submit ? they are in different categorys in ur site, seem to be spread out a bit not sure why

   Woc

   
   
   
   
10. IamIan Says:
    
    January 30th, 2008 at 3:44 am
    

    Fact is that this directory is available to be manipulated by webmaster’s as they see fit. You want the keyword’s you need to try to spam Google? Sure, pay for it, you can have them. You have some competitor’s who haven’t ponied up there “protection” money yet? Gone! You get someone with a strong opinion against some charitable organization – BOOM – all their site’s are gone.

    While DMOZ has load’s of problems, I just can’t see this being any better, just different.

    And someone is making money off it.

    Me? I’m going to save my money, thanks.

    
    
    
    
11. Angela Says:
    
    January 30th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
    

    Woc,
    Yes the site’s contact form…
    Please include the category, url, and reason for each questionable link and if proven to be true they will be removed.

    Ian,
    The charity sites? No such thing has ever happened and we will not allow the delete to go through, We are working on identifying and locking such link as they come to our attention. In addition we clearly state on the delete request pages that ONLY commercial links can be removed, all requests to remove non-commercial links will be rejected.
    And we will soon (within a few a week) be adding a free submission option for non-profit websites.

    We respect your views, if Dmoz is where you would like to get listed, then by all means enjoy the average wait time of a year or two. And as a friendly advice, don’t dare ask them for the status of your submission or offend an editor by showing concern or questioning their editing habits. Unless you are one of them who is trying to defend a directory that has provided you with a monopoly on listing your sites but not others.

    
    
    
    
12. IamIan Says:
    
    February 1st, 2008 at 6:32 pm
    

    Sooo, Angela, you’re saying that if someone comes in and pays you the money to have all their competitor’s site’s blown away you think that will make your directory better?

    Listen, DMOZ has problem’s up the waz, everyone can see that. I just don’t think that this is any better. The way NOMOZ is being publicised makes it look like NOMOZ is a way to slam DMOZ and make some cash off it’s back.

    If your going to be better than DMOZ you shouldn’t have to compare yourself to it, you should just be better on your own merit’s. So why keep harping on about it?

    
    
    
    

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