Open Directory Project Closed to the Public
Since FindBuffalo launched I’ve been visiting DMOZ.org daily to submit my site to be added to Buffalo, MN. I also had the intentions to become an editor for the Buffalo, Minnesota section. I can’t do either. Both “URL submission” and “become an editor” have been out of commission since October upon my research of other blogs and news posts. For the longest time this was the first stop on the internet to submit a site and let the world know “I’m here”. It has long been a trusted, human made directory. Some suggest that part of the issue lies in the number of sites being submitted daily in ratio to the number of editors (speculated at millions of sites to be reviewed by thousands of editors). Others sugest that DMOZ is permanently dead for one reason or another.
I don’t know what to believe, but each day I hit up the site hoping they are back, hoping to submit my site.
January 2nd, 2007 at 9:37 pm
As I understand it, DMOZ had a massive hardware failure sometime around late October 2006, and editors were not able to log in and add new sites. Editing was brought back online just before Christmas, and I know some editors are adding sites because I just had one accepted last week. The assumption is that they’ll start accepting new submissions once they’ve cleared out some of the backlog, but there has been very little official communication from DMOZ so everyone is just guessing.
I think the whole debacle has made it clear to most people that AOL simply doesn’t care about DMOZ, and it will probably die if AOL doesn’t sell it off to a company that’s interested in giving it proper attention. It’s an open secret that many editors are only involved so they can promote their own sites and keep out competitors, and this, too, has only hurt the directory’s credibility. Google and other search engines will probably stop assigning so much trust to the listings, if they haven’t already done so. I wouldn’t lose any sleep over not being able to submit your site.
January 2nd, 2007 at 9:56 pm
Kevin- Thanks for your info! I did read a few other blogs that complained of AOL abandoning the site for one reason or another. I guess I’m in favor of it making a strong comeback with another managing head or the engines discounting it’s listings. I think it could be improved with the right group or direction. I am surprised they haven’t communicated more on the issues and time frames though. Thanks again!