DMOZ: quit whining....

....and get rich instead

[victor]

DMOZ is not a commercial operation. Commercializing DMOZ just ain't going to happen. All those here complaints that it should be more commercial are mainly whining and contravene WMW TOS.

But I’m not complaining. Instead, here and completely gratis, is an idea that could work for you. It could substantially reduce time-to-listing in DMOZ and perhaps make you moderately rich.

It's that you set up a commercial ancillary site to DMOZ. Let's call it (apologies if someone has this domain already -- it's just an example) not-in-dmoz.com.

You add sites to not-in-dmoz.com if:

They are not in DMOZ; and

You are absolutely convinced they should be; and

The site owner pays you whatever money they and you think is reasonable.

Now DMOZ editors are not stupid. They'll scour anywhere on the web for good leads to new sites that deserve listings. (That's why most of them don't spend much time in the submitted-sites pool. It's so much sewage).

So, once not-in-dmoz.com has a reputation for listing quality sites, (with great guideline-compliant descriptions, all-but-guaranteed not to be mirrors, affiliates, hijacks, or other spammy sites, etc), editors will visit not-in-dmoz.com regularly and mine it for sites.

Soon, very soon, you will be able to offer statistics showing that once a site is listed in not-in-dmoz.com it takes only x days to get into DMOZ. Provided x is low enough (and it will be) more and more people will use your service. You will be a runaway success.

Of course, this all depends on your impeccable reputation for listing sites that are irresistible to DMOZ. This means you will need to be absolutely ruthless in listing only sites that can be listed there. As soon as you let your standards drop, or the spammers give you the run-around, the word will go around the DMOZ community that your site is not worth a visit, and not-in-dmoz.com will become a true statement.

If you are charging people a non-refundable fee (or a fee that is only partially refundable if their site is not listable on not-in-dmoz.com, or doesn't get a DMOZ listing after X+n days) you will be making money hand-over-fist as spammers and wannabes invest money with you first.

I could go on. There are a dozen other ways to help improve DMOZ while making money on ancillary services such as this. All it'll take is for someone to try them out rather than wanting volunteers to monetize the current operation. That someone could be you. Just go for it.

It can only fail if the vast majority of sites not currently listed in DMOZ are not eligible for listing -- and that's not a claim supported by any of the complainants in this forum.

[LizardGroupie]

Awesome.

[Chndru]

would not-in-dmoz.com ~ directory.yahoo.com?

[flicker]

You have a bright entrepeneurial mind there, Victor. (-: Speaking on a completely unofficial personal level, I'd mine your site for new URLs in a New York minute, if it was as reasonable in quality as you posit.

How you'd deal with whiny submitters who had paid you a lot of money to list a piece-of-cr*p affiliate site that you knew would be a detriment to your auxiliary directory, though, would be a logistical nightmare. I wouldn't envy anybody that job. There's enough sense of entitlement over the free listings; I think some of these people would be setting off bombs if they'd paid any MONEY for a rejection.

[trillianjedi]

I agree with flicker - very difficult to police it, and refuse the cash for rubbish sites.

Nice idea though. I wonder if that domain has been purchased since you started this thread?

TJ

[dmorison]

You could charge 600 dollars to review a site with no guarantee of inclusion.... :)

[dmorison]

I agree with flicker - very difficult to police it, and refuse the cash for rubbish sites.

Dear advertiser,

Thank you for listing with not-in-dmoz.com! Your payment has been received, your site has been reviewed, accepted , and has been listed in the following category:

Home > Scams > Website Traffic Generators

[victor]

Whiners are there to make money off. Examples:

Your site is completely unlistable (no money there, other than the non-returnable part of the submission/review fee. You just bounce their emails). But:

In our opinion, your site does not warrant inclusion in DMOZ, but it is close. For USDxxx we'll send you a tailored report (based on the DMOZ guidelines) highlighting the improvements we think would make it viable

Your site is probably acceptable but it looks to us likely that it may languish for a while -- DMOZ editors generally don't use IE and your site is a mess in other browsers. For USDxxx we'll send you our "cross-browser checklist", with points applying to you highlighted.

Congratulations! Your site is listable. But why wait passively until a DMOZ editor stumbles across it? We have an (opt-in of course) email list of DMOZ editors, one of which edits your category. For USDxx we'll email them a heads-up.

Your site is not listable, despite your claim that competitor's mirrors are listed. You could report those mirrors to DMOZ, but for USXxxx we'll research the mirrors and submit a professional abuse report to DMOZ for you: that could result in them being removed in days.

etc.
Easy. But I'm not about to write someone a whole business plan, so I'll keep the other half-dozen ideas to myself for now.

[bull]

why don't you do it yourself, victor?

[flicker]

Really, go for it. Anything that keeps stupid spammers busy and out of our hair while at the same time fleecing them of their money is good by me. (-:

---------------
Disclaimer: This post constitutes an unofficial, personal opinion not necessarily shared by other ODP editors, the university, or my cats.

[victor]

A few reasons, bull:

Conflict of interest -- I'm a DMOZ editor

Lack of incentive -- I've had enough bright ideas in one lifetime to be comfortably retired in my mid-40s

I'm not one of the ones who are unhappy with the way DMOZ works now -- but I'm happy enough to toss a few ideas at non-editors that could allow them to improve the OPD while making some money.

Thanks for asking!

[motsa]

It's an interesting idea, victor.

But this ---

>>Congratulations! Your site is listable. But why wait passively until a DMOZ editor stumbles across it? We have an (opt-in of course) email list of DMOZ editors, one of which edits your category. For USDxx we'll email them a heads-up.

Uh...yeah...that would go over well. Frankly I'd be suspicious of any editor who would opt to be on a mailing list that was dedicated to making someone else money off the ODP.

[keeper]

Great concept victor.

Would not-in-dmoz.com get a listing in dmoz.org though? ;)

By definition I guess not.

[ettore]

Great post victor.

>> I've had enough bright ideas in one lifetime to be comfortably retired in my mid-40

Looking at your current presentation about not-in-dmoz.com, I have no doubts :)

keeper:

>> Would not-in-dmoz.com get a listing in dmoz.org though?

I couldn't say yes without looking at the site first, but... why not?
Such a site would present content organized in a unique way, described with unique (human editors?) descriptions, and organized in categories. We mine linklists and don't add them if they just... list links, but we do add directories to the ODP when they have relevant and unique content.

victor and motsa

>> >> Congratulations! Your site is listable. But why wait passively ... We have an (opt-in of course) ... For USDxx we'll email them a heads-up.

>> Frankly I'd be suspicious of any editor who would opt to be on a mailing list that was dedicated to making someone else money off the ODP.

I agree. What about
"Congratulations! Your site is listable. But why wait passively until a DMOZ editor stumbles across it? For USDxx we'll submit a professional site submission status request over at the ODP Public Forum, and guidelines-compliant follow ups until your site gets listed" (partially refundable fee if it doesn't get listed in, say, 6 months?)