DMOZ editor advertises guaranteed inclusion

Is this a conflict of interest?

[treeline]

A category I watch on DMOZ has seen a few curious entries (though not completely inappropriate) over time. I'd wondered about this, especially the choice of link text. Most get their business name listed. A few, usually related, have titles like keyword information. This is not a real competitive area. While browsing one of these sites that is optimized more than others, and sells advertising, I came across an interesting incentive to purchase their advertising:

They offer to list your [business type] website in the ODP, which is described and why it's so great. Then it's explained that since they're the editor for these categories and already have your info they'll just add you into DMOZ without the need for any effort on your part (other than paying for the advertising on the site). This is all publicly stated on the "advertise with us" page, and concludes by saying it will all be done within DMOZ guidelines.

From DMOZ page on conflicts of interest:

Editors found to be accepting or soliciting bribes in exchange for listing sites or unfairly promoting these sites over others will be removed from the directory.

So.... is this type of behavior by dmoz editors considered cool? Should I just smile and accept that this is the way the world works, or is there something else to be done?

Thanks for your thoughts.

[cbpayne]

Fill out an abuse report and they will most likely be booted.

[treeline]

Well, that sounds like a good idea. I'm probably blind, but I just can't find where to do that on DMOZ. The only abuse report I can find requires you to be an editor with a password just to see the form. How do you report abuse?

[gimmster]

¦ report abuse/spam ¦ should appear at the top right of the category screen when browsing. If you use it from the category, the appropriate category will auto populate to the form, however you can use it directly from [report-abuse.dmoz.org...] (I assume posting this url is permitted).

[rfgdxm1]

>Fill out an abuse report and they will most likely be booted.

Yep. Note this may be a scammer who is lying he is an ODP editor.

[MarkHutch]

The only way to find out for sure, is to send that message to DMOZ.

[zeoncitizen]

google and dmoz are bringing us to seo wars :-( but themself play unfairly :-(((

[consul]

Greetings!

This topic makes me feel uneasy. I've got a strange feeling that those are just Editor wannabes. Nevertheless it is wise to report the abuse.

Getting into the DMOZ listing now is really difficult. It used to be very easy before. It's a good thing we submitted our website early way back in 2001.

Take care all!

:)