DMOZ editors are corrupt. Maybe not all but probably the majority. Here's my proof.
It's a popular belief by those who can't seem to get their websites on the Online Directory Project that their editors are usually employees of SEO companies that will basically only list their clients.
On May 12th 2005 I posted for help on the ODP forum when my website was denied listing yet again.
You can find my post here: http://www.resource-zone.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38736
The reason given was that we had duplicate corporate websites. At that time we had a rentals website that was separate to our main (sales) website yet our rentals website did have it's own identity. Also, no effort was made to list the rentals site on the ODP. It was perfectly clear to anyone with website knowledge which one our main corporate website was.
It should be noted that other sites that did list in our ODP category at the time also had duplicate corporate websites which were far more similar and had much higher level of duplication.
One of our direct competitors - Scandisol - lists in FOUR DMOZ categories their duplicate corporate pages each having one listing in DMOZ: scandisol-madrid.com, scandisol-costablanca.com, scandisol-costablanca.com and scandisol.com.
http://search.dmoz.org/cgi-bin/search?search=scandisol
And we were denied listing for having 2 websites with different content and requesting the admission of just our main site? Something funny is definitely going on.
Fast forward to 2007... still no listing! Yet a new website that was made mid last year with many duplicate sites is listed in our category!
The perfect example of duplicate content domains and subdomains.
The category is
http://www.dmoz.org/Regional/Europe/Spain/Autonomous_Communities/Andalucia/Malaga/Estepona/Business_and_Economy/Real_Estate/
As you can see, Scandisol is listed which as mentioned before has 4 domains and is listed 4 times in DMOZ. Some people might argue that it is ok since technically they have 4 different offices. Clearly this is against the DMOZ guidelines as stipulated in http://www.dmoz.org/newsletter/2001Sep/spam.html.
There is a clause, however, that states "Note that there is nothing wrong adding two sites from the same company as long as they offer unique content (e.g. different services or products). ". In this case our two sites http://www.palmestates.net and http://www.rentalsestepona.com obviously offered DIFFERENT SERVICES and one or both should have been listed.
Disclaimer: I should take this moment to note that I have no problem with Scandisol being listed multiple times in their directory. In fact, I'm in favour of multiple valid listings. My problem is DMOZ's REFUSAL TO LIST MY SITE and their double standards.
Back to the new site which shows even more duplicate content: The Football Village. I must state that we collaborate closely with The Football Village and I regard their development very highly. I would recommend them as an investment to any one of my clients. For the purposes of this article I am purely naming their websites to make my point - DMOZ editors are biased and don't hold to their own self proclaimed "high standards".
So The Football Village has http://www.thevillageestepona.com which is listed in the above mentioned category as well as 3 other very similar domains, one of which has at least 6 similar subdomains.
The domains are:
www.footballvillages.com/
www.footballvillagespain.co.uk/
www.thevillagespain.com
Subdomains(that I've counted):
whufc.thevillagespain.com
nufc.thevillagespain.com
avfc.thevillagespain.com
safc.thevillagespain.com
lmc.thevillagespain.com
bwfc.thevillagespain.com
celtic.thevillagespain.com
So they get included right away in the directory (Their site was created mid-late 2006 and is already in DMOZ, very quick by DMOZ standards...), while my site which is perfectly valid doesn't get listed for having a "duplicate" site which is actually a completely different site and offers different services... www.palmestates.net and www.rentalsestepona.com
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5 comments:
So based on the reaction to listings you've offered in one small portion of the directory you conclude... "DMOZ editors are corrupt. Maybe not all but probably the majority."
There are thousands of editors, most of whom have one thing in common, they don't edit in the Regional: Spain category.
Even a quick scan of your post indicates you misread the guidelines you quoted, but still if you think you have evidence of abuse, go to the URL on dmoz labeled "report abuse" instead of publicly making moronic over-generalizations.
Maybe you shouldn't quick scan posts if you're going to post a comment?
rob,
Shortly after my post and subsequent DIGG, DMOZ has corrected my category.
I have to say, you were right that I was "over-generalizing" stating that the "majority" of dmoz editors are corrupt. I was exaggerating, however, my cry for attention obviously was heard by the right person at DMOZ.
If you had anything to do with this thank you.
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