Getting into the ODP

dmoz.org isnt very much help

[Kurupt]

I filled out the form for a client to get her website added into the open directory project almost 4 months ago. I waited and waited, no luck. Other have told me to not re-submit the site to ODP but rather e-mail them and ask about the site in question. I have done this and still no answer from the ODP. I could not imagine why this site was denied seeing how Ive submitted MANY MANY sites to them with no problems whatsoever. Any suggestions or personal expierences with them?

[tigger]

try going here you should be able to get your answer [resource-zone.com...]

[Kurupt]

Thank you a great deal Tigger, I really apperciate it!

[cornwall]

>> almost 4 months ago. I waited and waited, no luck. Other have told me to not re-submit the site to ODP but rather e-mail them and ask about the site in question.

Part, but not all, of the problem is that the "official guidelines" for webmasters submitting sites are out of date/useless/not worth reading ;)

It says on the official page

If a site you submitted has not been listed after three weeks, you may submit it again or you may send an e-mail to an editor of the category for which the site was submitted.

You will find that current editors are, to say the least, not keen that you should submit every 3 weeks.

You will also find that few emails to editors will elicit a reply.

Resource Zone will tell you if your site is still waiting, but will not shorten the wait for an editor to review it.

[Smiley]

Depending on the category it can take months.

Using the resource zone and emailing editors may help find out where you're at but patience is the only thing guaranteed to get you in.

[SEO practioner]

Folks, after reading so many threads about ODP and dmoz, and after personally using ODP for such a long time, I am still baffled at 3 things here, and I wish someone or maybe Google Guy can come up with some explanation for any of this:

1- How is it that, in this day and age the people at DMOZ are still relying on old, antiquated technology. What is even worst is, how come they are using exclusively voluntary unpaid editors? Wouldn't it be so much better for all concerned if editors were paid?

2- Google, being the great Number One search engine in the world that we (including me) all love so much, why is that a listing in ODP will help us? The biggest hurdle IS getting in the ODP in the first place! We have sites here, about 6 total that we submitted as far away back as december (02!) and are still not listed in ODP! One of them we have submitted twice, in 3 month intervals. Considering all these problems, why does Google still give so much importance being listed (or not) in ODP?

3- When are they going to have better and faster servers? I just tried submitting a new site this morning and it took forever (on a high speed connection) to get through. At one point, I tought I had to start all over again.

I mean... is there anything one can do here to help in this.

Google Guy, if you see this thread, can you give us your toughts on this important issue?

Thanks to any of you that can offer help, as I am sure I speak for many webmasters here.

SEO practioner

[Web Footed Newbie]

From the resource zone at ODP:
"Wait at least a month before asking for an update on your site's status.

Wait at least a month after you submitted your site to start a thread here asking about its status.

If your site has been rejected, please keep in mind that arguing about the editorial decision will not be tolerated."

My month of waiting is almost over! So I'll start asking questions by Friday.
My two cents, wFN

[choster]

First of all, Netscape (i.e. AOL) is solely responsible for ODP's official servers, bandwidth, and other hardware, as well as our staff editor, staff engineer, and editing and internal communications software. No one will dispute that the ODP has never been a priority for AOL, or that the servers and the paid staffers alike are overworked.

Now, it is the real truth that dmoz.org hardware [sun.com] is currently running at its physical limits. The editing software is supporting far more editors, categories, and listings, than the founders originally thought would materialize. Moreover, the server is pounded incessantly by automated submission bots and scrapers.

The system was designed to operate on a single server, so before any expansion was possible, the backend required re-engineering. So we have our solo engineer (whom we have to share-- she is not exclusive to ODP) making sense of and modifying the work of dozens of others, and redesigning it to work on multiple servers. That was not an overnight job.

Last weekend, ODP took delivery of several new servers which now must be configured and tested in their new roles. How long does that take when you have only one, part-time, engineer?

As frustrating as been for submitters and webmasters to use dmoz.org in the last few months, imagine how much moreso it has been for editors, who even in good times have a much slower interface to navigate. We've been waiting for over six months. I'm plenty willing to give our paid staff a few more weeks to get the new system up and running if they need it.

2) how come they are using exclusively voluntary unpaid editors? Wouldn't it be so much better for all concerned if editors were paid?

That's a pretty sweeping generalization.

I'll gladly stipulate that we can always use more help, and from day one Gnuhoo/ODP has had paid editors on staff. But somebody has to pay those paid editors. Who? How? According to the Social Contract [ch.dmoz.org] ODP can never charge for listings or for licensing its contents. AOL/Netscape would need to become a lot more generous or a lot more clever (not likely).

As for the Resource Zone, that is a completely independent site whose server, software, and bandwidth are donated by ODP editors. Their up/down status, choice of software, etc. etc. has nothing whatsoever to do with dmoz.org.

As for myself, dmoz.org and Google are separate entities with separate missions and separate paths; I know and care a lot about one and practically nothing about the other. I had never even heard of PageRank until quite some time after I had been made a meta-editor. Philosophically, I don't care for webmasters who submit to ODP purely in order to get into Google, but wishing otherwise is like wishing a company sends a press release to the Wall Street Journal for purely altruistic, informative reasons, not to promote their business :).

As for Google, I'm sure they know what they're doing. Based on what I've read here at WebmasterWorld, they do not assign any special benefit for sites listed in the ODP as opposed to any other directory. And this board made a huge deal out of dmoz.org's PageRank changing from 10 to 9 after the last run, so it is not as if ODP is sacrosanct. So long as other webmasters feel it is a valuable resource, Google, which is supposed to reflect the web as it is, must treat it as such. If a better (from Google's long-term business perspective) alternative appears, I'd even expect them to switch directory providers.

[creative craig]

The ODP. How much does a listing benefit your site? [webmasterworld.com]

Have a read of this, good discussion going on :)

Craig

[John_Caius]

and this one:

[webmasterworld.com...]

[kctipton]

If your site is really good an editor will probably notice it and add it directly without you having to wait at all. I look for good articles pointing to specific websites all the time in places like the Wall Street Journal and Houston Chronicle (Dwight Silverman's stuff) and SmartMoney magazine, for example. Getting mentioned in other places is a decent way to catch an ODP editor's attention.

[RFranzen]

Choster,

Thanks for the detailed and excellent response! :)

I just would like to add that SEO_Practitioner seems not to understand the "Open" part of Open Directory Project. The word is a philosophical one, having the same meaning as in open source software. It implies that the people doing the work plan on "giving it away". Such projects almost always involve volunteers.

Sometimes, as is the case for the ODP, there may be some degree of financial and logistics support from a commercial company. AOL is unlikely to pay hundreds or thousands of ODP editors when they know there will be no monetary return.

-- Rich