europeforvisitors - 1:30 am on Jul 23, 2007 (gmt 0)

As far as the shopping category shrinking..that appears to be true. And with the whole of the ODP growing it is very disconcerting....I have to agree that the main conclusion would be it is monopolized by a group of editors that either are not willing to add just anybody that qualifies or just add those that are not in competition with their interests.

Other possibilities include:

1) The number of editors who are interested in the shopping category could be shrinking;

2) The time that editors are willing to spend in the shopping category could be shrinking;

3) There could be a perception among editors that submissions to the shopping category exist solely for SEO purposes (compared to submissions in less obviously commercial categories).

4) Some editors may feel that the ODP wasn't conceived as a business directory, and maintaining a free version of the Yellow Pages isn't something they want to do.

Whatever the reasons may be for the shrinking of the ODP's shopping category, that shrinkage doesn't prove anything about editors' motives--motives that may vary greatly from editor to editor.

(For what it's worth, I have no bias for or against the ODP; I was an editor for a while but didn't stick with it because I lacked the patience for the job.)