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The search function rarely works, and I am getting more and more timeouts when using the directory itself. If it wasn't for the fact that I need to submit sites, I would never use dmoz, it is just too painful.
As for submissions... I don't remember the last time that I got both the initial submission page and the acceptance page to come up. Do the submissions even get through when add2.cgi fails to load, as it seems to do every single time now?
The whole quality of the directory must be dropping as webmasters just give up trying to submit.
They have a million or so in the unreviewed queue, editors have plenty to get on with even if webmasters cannot submit!
If you merely want to use the directory use Google directory or [ch.dmoz.org...] which is a mirror (though you cannot use the mirror to submit sites)
The fact that users cannot access DMOZ will make very little difference, to your web traffic as DMOZ volume is (very) low even at the best of times.
If you want to submit a site, then I concede you have a (big) problem :(
It took 4 or 5 months to fix the RDF dump IIRC :(
Hmm...interesting idea. Perhaps I should suggest to the ODP they block all new submissions until the there are no more sites in the backlogged queue. ;)
Wot, no more submissions for at least another year ;)
If the spammers and clueless submitters would give up, _then_ the directory would improve. The rest of you can keep on submitting.
I guess the question is which group gives up the quickest? I can easily see the clueless submitters throwing in the towel quick. However, given the nature of spammers they may be the most tenacious. :(
Not the quality of the directory more the delivery. The response times are down considerably and the search function is out of action too often.
The worry that I have is that this response time problem may cause the SE's such as Google which use DMOZ information to give up using the info and choose an alternative. (Not that I see a decent alternative available - other than perhaps Yahoo)
<edit>Hmmm. 500 posts!</edit>
I don't think that the ODP is taken seriously by its owners; otherwise the RDF dump down time would have been fixed much faster. And the load problems could be easily fixed with some more hardware and a couple of technical bods working on it for a week.
I feel that they are letting all those volunteer editors down badly.
g1smd, what is there to say about it when it is working? Yes, it is a great resource for so many web sites to include.
Bear in mind too that us volunteer editors have to work with the same slow servers as submitters and searchers. There's been plenty of times lately when I've just given up trying to edit because its so painfully slow.
Bring on those promised new servers!
So we lost a lot of links from DMOZ because of this.
Since I have tried to submit from three different countries (HK, Sin, and Thailand) through 5 different ISP's and have now for the past six months not been able to get a successful submission through.
And this is the worlds leading directory?! mmmmm?
Fast becoming the world’s best joke!
Craig
Heck, I would buy it if it was available. Maybe I should put in an offer. What do you think it is valued at?
IIRC, the mirror site at ch.dmoz.org currently eats up around 40Gb/month and it's not as well known as the main site, doesn't run search, doesn't have any editors editing, and doesn't run Robozilla (the link checker).
>So we lost a lot of links from DMOZ because of this.
Your conclusion is invalid (look up "post hoc, propter hoc" in your favorite reference for logical fallacies) and almost certainly wrong.
"we lost a lot of links" is almost invariably a result of a quality assurance review, and THAT is _usually_ a result of aggressive submittals or outraged complaints.
If the ODP is really not better off without those links (conceivable, whether or not likely), then you can probably get some status at the resource zone.
