This is my first visit to this forum and I couldn't resist putting my 2 editorial cents in; as with all debates, there are clearly two sides. ODP editors have the job (voluntarily) of editing the largest human edited directory in existence and webmasters and site owners need backlinks to gain popularity and page rank.
With as huge and increasing a workload that this is, the automated algorithm has never replaced it. I tend to agree with the ODP editors in that it is, regardless, just another link. Perhaps not known is to the weight that the link represents and the expense and time of building ecommerce sites. I doubt it was ever intended or designed for anything but what it represents itself as: an open directory project.
All things being equal, all you can do as a site owner or webmaster is submit and move on to the next potential backlink, there are literally 10's of thousands out there and they are the most valuable "vote" or link to have. The more relevant and the better page rank the link partner has then the better.
Not being one to create too much controversy, I have to commend the ODP folks for doing an impossible job that is probably better done for ecommerce by spiders with secret algorithms but sometimes you need to appreciate the "human" side of things.
As for other webmasters and site owners: I feel your pain and I can only suggest that you engage in a deeper education of SEO and creating backlinks, blogs, article submissions, etc., it works...best to all
With as huge and increasing a workload that this is, the automated algorithm has never replaced it. I tend to agree with the ODP editors in that it is, regardless, just another link. Perhaps not known is to the weight that the link represents and the expense and time of building ecommerce sites. I doubt it was ever intended or designed for anything but what it represents itself as: an open directory project.
All things being equal, all you can do as a site owner or webmaster is submit and move on to the next potential backlink, there are literally 10's of thousands out there and they are the most valuable "vote" or link to have. The more relevant and the better page rank the link partner has then the better.
Not being one to create too much controversy, I have to commend the ODP folks for doing an impossible job that is probably better done for ecommerce by spiders with secret algorithms but sometimes you need to appreciate the "human" side of things.
As for other webmasters and site owners: I feel your pain and I can only suggest that you engage in a deeper education of SEO and creating backlinks, blogs, article submissions, etc., it works...best to all