europeforvisitors - 3:10 am on Dec 23, 2004 (gmt 0)

If you remove all directory sites from the Internet, you will cut the size of the Internet by 50% or more.

Nobody's talking about removing directory sites from the Internet; the issue being discussed here is whether "made for AdSense" directory sites--and especially "scraper" sites--are having a negative impact on AdSense, advertisers, and users. I don't think there's any question that they are, and I also think that Google needs to be careful about letting machine-generated directory pages and DMOZ clone pages clutter up its index.

Most people who are searching for information don't want to be sent from a SERP to a directory page and possibly onto another directory page from there. That's like going to the library to ask for a book and being sent to another library. It doesn't make for a good user experience.

Also, why should Google split AdSense earnings with directory and scraper sites that offer little or no original information but merely drain users and revenues from Google's SERPs? It makes no sense at all for Google to hand traffic over to buddy-scumbags-scraper-directory.com when Buddy is competing with Google.