pennymachines
Member
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2005
- Messages
- 34
I was rejected last year as editor of the http://dmoz.org/Recreation/Collecting/Slot_Machines/ category.
This category currently contains 7 English and 3 Swedish language links, one of which contains a picture of three sunbathers on a yacht - and nothing else! There was also a dead link which I reported and has now been removed. The most active and information rich sites are not listed, presumably because the category has not been edited for the last four or five years.
For anyone interested in collecting vintage slot machines, it's a pretty weak resource. My own site about vintage British slot machines (not listed at dmoz) contains links to over 36 sites, divided into British, American and European (mostly French and German - Sweden does not have a history of slot machine manufacturing) categories. Each listing contains a brief factual description of what the site offers. These are not the only sites I could find - they were selected on merit, each offering something unique.
I'm prepared (grudgingly) to accept that I may not be the right person to edit this category, but given that for at least four years the Open Directory has failed to find someone who is, the whole project begins to look a bit hopeless.
Increasingly, the value of a dmoz listing is not because it's the first port of call for potential visitors, but because it slightly improves search engine status. I find myself using dmoz very infrequently these days in my web-surfing and suspect I'm only following a trend. I think the dmoz concept is fundamentally flawed and the directory is on the wane.
Human-edited directories will have advantages over search algorithms (at least until AI advances a bit) provided they can escape the curse of bureaucracy. But as it stands, dmoz looks like an arthritic dinosaur unable to adapt or keep up with the constantly evolving, mutating environment of the web. That relevant listings frequently take years to appear in the directory (by which time they may not be as relevant as they were originally) is laughable.
The Open Directory needs to adopt the truly open, fast expanding and vibrant Wikipedia model. Do away with assigned editors and throw category editing open to all web users. If it works so well for an encyclopaedia, I can't see why it shouldn't work for a directory.
This category currently contains 7 English and 3 Swedish language links, one of which contains a picture of three sunbathers on a yacht - and nothing else! There was also a dead link which I reported and has now been removed. The most active and information rich sites are not listed, presumably because the category has not been edited for the last four or five years.
For anyone interested in collecting vintage slot machines, it's a pretty weak resource. My own site about vintage British slot machines (not listed at dmoz) contains links to over 36 sites, divided into British, American and European (mostly French and German - Sweden does not have a history of slot machine manufacturing) categories. Each listing contains a brief factual description of what the site offers. These are not the only sites I could find - they were selected on merit, each offering something unique.
I'm prepared (grudgingly) to accept that I may not be the right person to edit this category, but given that for at least four years the Open Directory has failed to find someone who is, the whole project begins to look a bit hopeless.
Increasingly, the value of a dmoz listing is not because it's the first port of call for potential visitors, but because it slightly improves search engine status. I find myself using dmoz very infrequently these days in my web-surfing and suspect I'm only following a trend. I think the dmoz concept is fundamentally flawed and the directory is on the wane.
Human-edited directories will have advantages over search algorithms (at least until AI advances a bit) provided they can escape the curse of bureaucracy. But as it stands, dmoz looks like an arthritic dinosaur unable to adapt or keep up with the constantly evolving, mutating environment of the web. That relevant listings frequently take years to appear in the directory (by which time they may not be as relevant as they were originally) is laughable.
The Open Directory needs to adopt the truly open, fast expanding and vibrant Wikipedia model. Do away with assigned editors and throw category editing open to all web users. If it works so well for an encyclopaedia, I can't see why it shouldn't work for a directory.