hutcheson - 3:55 am on Jul 21, 2007 (gmt 0)

>if Company X's competitor benefits from being in DMOZ, but Company X which is a quality company with a quality site can't get listed for love nor money nor all the tea in China, that's not a self-promotion issue, it's a JUSTICE issue.

The ethical state is "nobody can get listed for love or money." So long as company Y got listed for a legitimate reason, it is not a justice issue: it doesn't matter that company X can't get listed for any illegitimate reason.

Another way of looking at it is, so long as the purpose is NOT to benefit company Y (but to benefit surfers), then it is not a justice issue, whether or not company "Y" is benefited. So long as it didn't matter to the editor, it doesn't matter.

So long as neither company X nor its competitor ("Y") can get listed for love or money, then, necessarily, justice is served. And that remains necessarily true, whether or not either company X or its competitor has been listed. All that is required is that neither site is listed for love or money -- either site that is listed has some legitimate reason for being listed (and of course, the benefit to either company is an absolutely INJUST reason for using ODP resources.

So, even THINKING about the benefit to the company, makes it impossible to judge justice.

So, go back and take out all reference to company benefits out of your post. Is there still any conceivable injustice that is of concern to you?