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Am I the only one who is getting 403's for the whole of DMOZ!?
edit: sorry.. didn't notice the very similar thread right in front of me! being a bit 'offline' myself today ;)
"Forbidden
You don't have permission to access / on this server.
Additionally, a 403 Forbidden error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request."
Want good traffic from Google? Step 1 - get a listing in DMOZ.
This is a real problem. I have a few sites which either have been declined, or have been in a queue for months without a review.
The "system" for getting traffic is broken.
-Pete
PS - I ran into this problem this morning as well.
If you are having any problems with your site not being listed after two or three weeks then head on over to resource-zone (read their TOS) and ask in the URL submission forum, a meta will take a look and see if the site has been declined or if it is still in the que.
Craig
Very true, however a site of DMOZ's stature should be able to manage better than the industry average for downtime.
Even you would have to admit that downtime is worse that other major sites, and that today has been particularly bad for DMOZ.
It has not been possible for anyone to get entrance vis the public conduit for virtually the whole of today.
I am frankly surprised that you even try to defend that!
If you are having any problems with your site not being listed after two or three weeks then head on over to resource-zone (read their TOS) and ask in the URL submission forum, a meta will take a look and see if the site has been declined or if it is still in the que.
Anyone who believes the above is clueless. Step 1 should be to get some decent PR links from sites where this is easy for you. Ask your cousin Kim for a link from her PR6 personal site. I have just today been in a private mail exchange where we were discussing how trivial it is for anyone who is reasonably active online to get good PR by all sorts of numerous, honest ways. He mentioned knowing a teenage girl with a PR6 blog, and some amateur sites he was familiar with who managed to get a PR7. Put bluntly, if an ODP listing is material for your site to do well in Google, that means you just don't really understand how to do well in Google.
I have to agree. Every site has downtime, and yes I remember Google's as well. If memory serves me, there were a ton of posts in regards to it.
However, DMOZ is positively horrid about server problems lately (past couple of months). Virtually every time I visit DMOZ it takes 4 or 5 attempts before I actually get the page to load. The other attempts I get the generic "cannot find server" error. For a site of DMOZ's stature, this should never happen.
I know. :( I think the problem is that AOL just considers the ODP some mistake Netscape made years ago. However, they aren't willing to kill it off because they think the bad will this would cause them would be even worse then paying to keep it going. Thus, AOL gives Netscape as little resources as possible.
A few weeks ago I recall Google throwing off errors for a while. Anyone start a thread about that? Nobody's perfect and nobody has 100% uptime.
dmoz has a horrible track record. Google has an outstanding one.
<sigh>.. the world's 157th most visited site offline for a day because of a dodgy hard disk.
If DMOZ doesn't send you traffic, and gives but one small PR incoming link... why fuss with it in the first place?
the world's 157th most visited site offline for a day because of a dodgy hard disk.
The site does have a few mirrors. One of the official mirror sites is ch.dmoz.org [ch.dmoz.org]
I don't think I've seen DMOZ being this perky (ch.) for a year...
IMHO DMOZ as a credibility that shouldn't be wasted because AOL can't be bothered to support it.
PS. Still down as of 1pm GMT (sun!)
As the main URL is and has been down, perhaps it might be an idea for DMOZ to point their nameservers accordingly while the main URL continues to be unobtainable.
However, I would add that you cannot add a URL through that site :(
I can't bealive how some people could criticize dmoz.
First of all it is a FREE service, and as such, it doesn't have a lot of money to spend on the site infrastructure (please don't reply that netscape does have money).
Second of all, it is truly the best human edited directory in the world IMO, and it is again FREE.
I think they should start like Yahoo, offering some paid inclussion system, maybe so, they could reach there a 100% uptime and they could deliver the so loved dump every month, and everyone is happy.
Cheers
Steven
As post #15 says the reason lies in
>> the world's 157th most visited site offline for a day because of a dodgy hard disk
If AOL cannot afford a new hard drive and are off line for now 36 hours, then one can say that the financing of the operation needs looking at!
They are underfunded and understaffed. I would agree with you that it is "the best human edited directory in the world " but you would have to admit that it does leave a lot to be desired.
Somewhere down the murky byeways of AOL it seems to have lost its way, been sidelined, call it what you like. It deserves better, and I believe most users of WebmasterWorld would like to see it funded and run on a higher level.
First of all it is a FREE service
It is indeed a free service, but it is part of a multi-billion dollar conglomerate that is keeping it starved for funds. I'm sure the AOL/Time-Warner executive lunch bills exceed the ODP's operating expense. Let's not even get into bonuses... ;) Does anyone else think AOL bought the ODP as a defensive measure to prevent it from becoming an even more important player, and are now funding it at an absolute minimum to keep it alive but not strong?
I think DMOZ would be better off if it were spun off into a pure non-profit. Then they could solicit donations from those individuals who have prospered from the Internet and are looking for a causes to support. I can't imagine that between Silicon Valley and Redmond it would be hard to raise a few million a year, which would certainly fund better servers and a bigger staff. We can only hope...
Actually what suprised me is that there appears to be only one machine running dmoz.org, rather than a cluster.
The problem is a HDD-related one apparently and there is a cluster of HDDs as opposed to just one, so it may be the RAID controller, or maybe it is not redundant or something.
Can editors still log in to access the site when dmoz.org is down or is it the same for everyone?
Edit-side is also down.
If AOL cannot afford a new hard drive and are off line for now 36 hours
I doubt that the time it takes is connected to their finances, and fixing it may be more complex than just getting a new HDD (I do not know the details of the problem).
They are underfunded and understaffed. I would agree with you that it is "the best human edited directory in the world " but you would have to admit that it does leave a lot to be desired.
It could be improved a lot (as could everything), but as you point out it is probably the best directory in the world. Even if it is not, the ODP-bashing found in fora is a little repetitive and annoying goven that if people do not like it they do not have to use it (or submit their sites to it). There are alternatives. (BTW I did not think you were bashing ODP at all.)
Somewhere down the murky byeways of AOL it seems to have lost its way, been sidelined, call it what you like. It deserves better, and I believe most users of WebmasterWorld would like to see it funded and run on a higher level.
This may be true. AOL could probably put more into it but of course it is not making them any money.
<added>
I think DMOZ would be better off if it were spun off into a pure non-profit.
In principal this would be a brilliant idea. However, as AOLTW are still providing dmoz (and its needs) even if some believe not adequately enough, this would make little sense. Forking the directory would be a very bad thing for it. (Actually it has already beend one with WWA/Zoron.) Also, the directory is not currently open source just open content. AOLTW have the source and, I believe, have said for a long time that they might consider releasing it.
Does anyone else think AOL bought the ODP as a defensive measure to prevent it from becoming an even more important player, and are now funding it at an absolute minimum to keep it alive but not strong?
Nice thought rogerd...
I really get emotional when someone starts talking from the ODP as useless or as not professional enough, as an editor I see how many people work hard for it, and how many try to make it everytime better for all users on the web, and all this work without getting paid.
I think AOL should start worring a little bit about it or just sell it, for me the ODP is like the "patrimony of the web", there is so much knowledge, resources in there ... think about if it weren't there... everything deleted, what would it be then? Yahoo?
Cheers
SwiZZ
What is worse is that it is not in the DNS. I am getting some broken routes now, but a couple of lookup sites can't even find www.dmoz.org. I hope I am wrong.
A traceroute shows most peculiar results including DNS errors along the path.
Anyone else seeing this?
A domain availability tool shows that I can reserve www.dmoz.org right now!
See [crm911.com...]
(Moderator feel free to copy the screendump to a neutral site and repoint to it - not looking for self-publicity here)
Did someone forget to renew? Someone please tell whoever needs to be told before it gets squatted upon.
