Quadrille - 9:19 am on Oct 18, 2002 (gmt 0)

I think engines like Google may automatically ignore you for being a duplicate of another site

You'd think so, but Google doesn't - search for something unusual, and often the first ten results are ODP clones; Search for a (recently) closed site, and you'll get pages and pages of them!

You need to think carefully about what you hope to get out of it, and, whether it's fame, cash or simply satisfaction, I'd suggest going for a niche; in a small area, even starting with the ODP dump, you can soon create a useful and up-to-date directory, with the possibility of ads / sponsorship / affiliations; you'll also get plenty of visitors to pass on to any commercial sites you might have.

Good Luck with it ...