DMOZ's rdf dump

[tedster]

One of my client's was recently set up in a new DMOZ category with a new title and description. Now I notice that many small feeder directories have picked up the new category and title just fine, but they still display the old description.

Is this a common practice - taking just part of the ODP info for an update? Or is there a chance that the RDF dump contains the old description by accident? Is there an easy way for me to find out?

[EliteWeb]

Depends on what the person decided to update. If they do a full update it should replace everything. On our RDF dumped site we do not do full updates just additional items that were not there prior.

[g1smd]

It can take ages for new RDF data to find its way to other sites. Google seems to take a copy about once per month. Some other sites haven't been back for an update in three or four years. What other sites do with the data in the RDF dump is up to them. I would suggest contacting them directly, not the ODP.

[heini]

Those sites mirroring parts of the odp often don't even use the dump. There are dedicated scripts for obtaining ODP data and feeding them into those odp mirors. I have looked into those a while ago, and I seem to remember the way the scripts updated data was configurable.
A real test for the correctness of the official dump would probably be the data reflected by the Google directory.

[tedster]

Thanks, heini. I should have thought of that - Google Directory has the wrong description, too. In fact, I can't find one mirror that actually mirrors the ODP.

[g1smd]

Bear in mind that Google took their new RDF copy only a few weeks ago, and that was the first time that they had had one in over 6 months.

I have heard it said the Google was showing new results last week, but has now reverted back to the older listings. I cannot verify this, and, if true, nor can I explain why.

[tedster]

This site just re-appeared in the ODP this past month, under a new category after an 8 month absence. For the last 6 months, it did not appear in the Google Directory, either.

As of one minute ago, it shows in the Google Directory. So at least in this area, the Google Directory does reflect the new RDF dump.

However, the description still doesn't mirror its new listing at dmoz.org. Instead it shows a description that I proposed somewhere along the way during my struggles with ODP. I just realized that this particular description NEVER appeared online in the ODP - not under the "old" category where the site was listed for many years, nor under this new listing.

It's not such a bad description - so maybe I'll just let this thing shake out for a few months. I'm now getting the strong feeling that the RDF dump has a different source than the online directory at ODP, and somehow the two are not currently synched.