UK WW: Why WAS resourcezone closed?
DMOZ Editor: Its not, see http://www.resource-zone.com/forum/
UK WW: How are they handling rogue editors who sabotage competitors page titles
etc.
DMOZ Editor: I have not seen or heard any evidence of this myself, however if you feel this is happening please send any sites in question here http://report-abuse.dmoz.org/ Please remember that titles in the OPD are the ‘actual’ title of the site, for example you may submit a title of say ‘DTR Mobile Phones & Accessories’ but the real name of the company is DTR Electronics Ltd. This is the official title and the one listed by editors. 90% of titles submitted to the ODP are incorrectly submitted as an attempt to gain from keywords in titles.
UK WW: Do they agree that they are slipping backwards rapidly due to the backlog of submissions not being met.
DMOZ Editor: Any directory can hit the list button and fill its contents, that is not what the ODP is all about, quality of sites and correct descriptions and titles along with the removal of hype makes a far better directory for the viewer. Nobody wants to search the net and find sites that say ‘the cheapest’ ‘the best’ or descriptions that are riddled in keywords. All submissions are manually edited for quality, this takes time.
UK WW: Where do they see the ODP going in the future given their acute lack of funding?
DMOZ Editor: I see no reason for the OPD to change greatly in the future, funding plays only a small part due to the dedication of the volunteers that do the bulk of the work.
UK WW: Have they fully recovered from the recent outage they had?
DMOZ Editor: Some sections still have minor problems and these are constantly reported by editors and fixed by technicians although this is a very small percentage of the vast areas of Dmoz and will of course take time. In general the directory is 99.9 % OK.
UK WW: Were any applications pending lost as a result of the data problems they experienced and should people re-apply for site inclusion.
DMOZ Editor: If your submission was not listed prior to December 18 2006 then I would suggest you re-submit as all sites waiting for review were lost
UK WW: What advice would they give to anyone editing a directory
DMOZ Editor: Consider your viewer and how they would want to see a listing not how your seo want it to be listed. The quality and accuracy of the sites listed should be a priority.
UK WW: Why aren't they more transparent in their processes -- inform people of the status of submissions? ... not sure an editor can answer that, but that is my major frustration with DMOZ.
DMOZ Editor: I understand your frustration at not knowing the status of your submission, this is something that is discussed regularly in Dmoz editors private forums and I agree it should be implemented but we will see.
UK WW: DMOZ has lost much credibility due to the obvious manipulation of certain categories / inclusion of X rated sites and so on ... what if anything will be done to gain back this credibility?
DMOZ Editor: Adult sites is an area that only dedicated editors can work in. Their ability and listings are checked on a regular bases by Meta editors 90% of sites do not get listed. Manipulation of categories is a misconception and does not happen, all editors can and do check the work and listings of other editors.
Interview with DMOZ Editor Part 1
Interview with DMOZ Editor Part 2
DMOZ Editor: Its not, see http://www.resource-zone.com/forum/
UK WW: How are they handling rogue editors who sabotage competitors page titles
etc.
DMOZ Editor: I have not seen or heard any evidence of this myself, however if you feel this is happening please send any sites in question here http://report-abuse.dmoz.org/ Please remember that titles in the OPD are the ‘actual’ title of the site, for example you may submit a title of say ‘DTR Mobile Phones & Accessories’ but the real name of the company is DTR Electronics Ltd. This is the official title and the one listed by editors. 90% of titles submitted to the ODP are incorrectly submitted as an attempt to gain from keywords in titles.
UK WW: Do they agree that they are slipping backwards rapidly due to the backlog of submissions not being met.
DMOZ Editor: Any directory can hit the list button and fill its contents, that is not what the ODP is all about, quality of sites and correct descriptions and titles along with the removal of hype makes a far better directory for the viewer. Nobody wants to search the net and find sites that say ‘the cheapest’ ‘the best’ or descriptions that are riddled in keywords. All submissions are manually edited for quality, this takes time.
UK WW: Where do they see the ODP going in the future given their acute lack of funding?
DMOZ Editor: I see no reason for the OPD to change greatly in the future, funding plays only a small part due to the dedication of the volunteers that do the bulk of the work.
UK WW: Have they fully recovered from the recent outage they had?
DMOZ Editor: Some sections still have minor problems and these are constantly reported by editors and fixed by technicians although this is a very small percentage of the vast areas of Dmoz and will of course take time. In general the directory is 99.9 % OK.
UK WW: Were any applications pending lost as a result of the data problems they experienced and should people re-apply for site inclusion.
DMOZ Editor: If your submission was not listed prior to December 18 2006 then I would suggest you re-submit as all sites waiting for review were lost
UK WW: What advice would they give to anyone editing a directory
DMOZ Editor: Consider your viewer and how they would want to see a listing not how your seo want it to be listed. The quality and accuracy of the sites listed should be a priority.
UK WW: Why aren't they more transparent in their processes -- inform people of the status of submissions? ... not sure an editor can answer that, but that is my major frustration with DMOZ.
DMOZ Editor: I understand your frustration at not knowing the status of your submission, this is something that is discussed regularly in Dmoz editors private forums and I agree it should be implemented but we will see.
UK WW: DMOZ has lost much credibility due to the obvious manipulation of certain categories / inclusion of X rated sites and so on ... what if anything will be done to gain back this credibility?
DMOZ Editor: Adult sites is an area that only dedicated editors can work in. Their ability and listings are checked on a regular bases by Meta editors 90% of sites do not get listed. Manipulation of categories is a misconception and does not happen, all editors can and do check the work and listings of other editors.
Interview with DMOZ Editor Part 1
Interview with DMOZ Editor Part 2
