rfgdxm1 - 10:52 pm on Mar 27, 2004 (gmt 0)

>The fact that DMOZ mirrors (especially Google's own) end up multiplying the weight of that initial link is one of the more compelling points among the list of reasons why Google should not continue its special relationship with the ODP/DMOZ.

Google has no special relationship with the ODP. Google does use ODP data for its own directory, but this isn't due to any "special relationship". I can download a copy of the latest RDF dump from dmoz.org and put up an ODP clone on my website if I want to. A site may get a small PR boost from the link from the Google directory, but this isn't really all that material.

>The whole idea of a good search engine is that it makes directories obsolete. Despite what you think about the quality of today's search engines, its clear that the ODP became obsolete long ago.

My sites do extremely well in search engines, yet my main site has got over 60 hits from dmoz.org and clones. Thus as there are people using the ODP and clones to find sites, it isn't obsolete.