Site-reference.com blasts DMOZ.

http://www.site-reference.com/articles/General/Ineffective-DMOZ.html

What they describe has not been my personal experience. I've always had positive and quick response to my web submissions. It's like they're describing an alternate universe. Oh well.

In some respects, he *is* describing an alternate universe since he's mostly speculating about things that he really doesn't know or that he misunderstands.

1. His tone seems to be one of "Sour Grapes."

2. He claims knowledge of things impossible to know.

3. For all his complaints and critisisms of DMOZ/OPD, his underlying "need" to be "correct" shines brightest of all.

Thank you, peapodgrrl, , that was very entertaining to read. lol

SEO's really don't like us much. As I recently posted to one:

We work for free, for the benefit of surfers, you work for money, to line your own pockets, and give the customers who pay you, an unfair advantage over those who can't afford to pay.

Who do you think has the purist motives?

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And:

The Directory levels the playing field, and gives the mom & pop sites the same equal opportunity to be listed as the 'professionals' who know how to work the system, and there is no cost to them for this service.

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He does sound like a fella who was here recently, and some of the things he said were true, but, most were just plain silly rantings. It doesn't upset me because his type gets really frustated that we don't do things to make it easier for him to make money, and he's just blowing off a little steam.

I don't feel important or superior to anyone, I ain't allowed, I'm married, . We're just ordinary, common people trying to do a community service in a project that we think is very worthwhile. We give our time freely, and have no desire to feel important or special.

Some of our editors are children, in the Teens & Kids area, I believe.

Thank you for being a member here, and I hope we can somehow be of service to you, .

You have to wonder what the agenda is. That certainly occured to me as I was reading it. It sounded personal to me, like someone who had gotten singed at some point in his own personal dealings with DMOZ. It didn't "feel" right, and it didn't come off as being objective. I wonder if the author was that kooky Beowulf guy. *hee*

As I wrote in another thread, I am not understanding the vitriol I am reading here. You guys provide a free service, it's volunteer work, you don't get paid. Sure, I would imagine there's a couple of editors with God complexes. So that makes you different from any other group of human beings---how? There's a couple in every crowd, one can't avoid that. But for the most part, I fervently believe you care about what you do, and work hard at it, trying to be fair and objective. My own personal experiences more than bear that out--I have had nothing but timely listings from DMOZ, and you have more than helped my business through the years. I have no complaints whatsoever. And if I did, I certainly would not come on this forum to do it. I'd recognize that nothing is owed to me, that this is a free, volunteer-driven organization. When you don't pay for something, you don't have a right to bitch.

Thank you for the kind post, Crowbar. (great handle), and for the warm welcome and offer.

I hope you guys come back real soon. I have a site for pet lovers to list!

Peapodgrrl

Thank you for your support, and your kind words, that's all the reward this editor needs, good luck!

I couldn't help but notice this article, which is also on his site ( http://www.turnerdow.com/seo-Trouble-at-DMOZ.htm ).

In light of this matter, I have edited DMOZ links a long time ago and used its directory for years with no complaints. Every link I submitted eventually got there, all within reasonable time aswell.

And for the time that I was editing links, the "super-editor" above me was of immense help pointing out ways of how to list better and what to look out for when reviewing sites. Just as I did over 25 sites during 2 all-night runs, the super-editor had done well over 3,000 and was one of many other super-editors. Talk about giving time to the internet community!

All I can say is: "Congrats DMOZ majority of the internet raised you to a well deserved noble position."

Thank you, allensaa, after all the critics we hear from, it sure is nice to know we have a few cheerleaders out there, , puts a bigger smile on my kisser.

If you read some of the DMOZ-related threads at www dot site-reference dot com - you'll find my comments.

They do not understand DMOZ, and do not want to - yet they are happy to publish articles that PROVE their ignorance. Grrrrr!

Part of it is perspective. From the SEO point of view, the ODP is useless: unlike search engines, it can't be manipulated for SEO profit.

From my perspective, that is not a a criticism: that is a high honor.

And most of the details are really variations on the same theme: you can't threaten, coerce, bribe, wheedle, beg, whine, or guilt-trip the editors: he's tried them all, and they just don't work.

If other SEOers would be warned, and not try the same schemes, we'd all be better off.

But part of it is inaccuracies attributable to simple ignorance. Sure, he could have learned better by a bit of reading. But people never learn what they're not interested in. And that horse just isn't thirsty.

DesertJules said:

If you read some of the DMOZ-related threads at www dot site-reference dot com - you'll find my comments.

They do not understand DMOZ, and do not want to - yet they are happy to publish articles that PROVE their ignorance. Grrrrr!

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Can you post a link, please?

This is one of the conversations where I killed the thread -

Site-Reference

A quote from that article -

and can even deteriorate a site’s rank if ever included if the editor wants it that way.

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How can an inbound link negatively affect the target pages PR?

I thought Google had openly stated that there will never be any negative effcts from inbound links as it would be too easy for unscrupulous webmasters to kill their competitions PR by bad linking.

Id like to know how to negetively affect a sites rank by linking to it, becuase once I know how to do that it wont be long before Im in the Forbes rich list after Ive killed all my competition by linking to their sites with these magic negative links this guy describes.

Sorry, but PR is not a DMOZ subject and as such it is not one of the subjects allowed to be discussed. Please read the Posting Guidelines

What!?!?

Im talking about the contents of the article, which is the topic of this thread.

And I have read the posting guidelines thankyou very much, I read them when I first registered here, and I just read them again now.

To clarify, the rules do not state that talking about Pagerank is banned, they only state that talking about how to use DMOZ to improve rankins is banned - I never did this, I was asking a question about how any inbound link in general could negatively affect page rank. Please read the Posting Guidelines yourself.

Lets get one thing straight, I have never come to this forum complaining about DMOZ, or whinging about not being included, or any of the things that 90% of the threads on this forum are about.

If my words are going to be disected to that level and im going to be, admittedly politely, repremanded for discussing on-topic matters in that manner, feel free to kill my account, ban my IP for all I care, because with unneccesary apprehension as what you just did, trying to have a discussion about anything here is close to impossible and frankly just a joke.

I think editor pvgool means that this forum is about the ODP, which the first article referenced , and that we're not qualified here to talk about another site.

Also, the Directory itself has nothing at all to do with page ranking or optimizing, so it's probably best not to discuss it at all, so that no one gets the false impression that we do, .

the following topics may not be discussed.
Discussion of how to use the ODP to optimize search engine rankings and site promotion. This ODP is not a search engine, and we don't rank or optimize web sites.

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Topics that you are welcome to post about include, but are not limited to:

General listing advice.
Who uses ODP data (just don't ask us when they update, we don't know).
How to use ODP data on your site.
The category structure of ODP.
Are sites listed differently depending on the category in which they are listed?
Some sites get listed multiple times, others don't. Why? (Mentioning of specific sites not permitted.)
How to pick the best category when submitting a site.
How to write your submission to get the best results.
How to become an ODP Editor.

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I have never come to this forum complaining about DMOZ, or whinging about not being included, or any of the things that 90% of the threads on this forum are about.

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Thank you for that, mostly cloudy, it's very appreciated, but there's no reason to feel insulted now, if we say we shouldn't discuss certain topics. I realize you weren't refering to beating the system, and you had the best of intentions, but the subjects of page ranking or optimizing, is something we should stay away from, if you don't mind, .

I do want to say something about a common complaint "that my site isn't being listed because my competitor is an editor". (and this is my personal opinion as an editor)

When a site doesn't show up as being listed, all kinds of false theories get thrown around as true fact.

The fact is that a corrupt editor is even more hated by the editing community, itself, than it is by the submitter, and it won't be tolerated by the 99.9 % of us who are honest.

That goes for editors from the smallest category up to and including meta editors. We police ourselves.

If there is ever a suspicion of editor abuse, fill out an abuse form and send it in, and it will be thoroughly investigated, and I mean thoroughly.

Also, all editors are encouraged to Disclose any of their afiliations right from day one, and it's a very good idea to do so.

Clarification:

Editors are strongly encouraged to disclose all affiliations. Affiliated sites do not enjoy special consideration for a directory listing.

Thank you, trueblue, I have edited that post from:

Also, all editors are encouraged to list any of their afiliations right from day one, and it's a very good idea to do so.

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To:

Also, all editors are encouraged to Disclose any of their afiliations right from day one, and it's a very good idea to do so.

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That was a huge mistake by myself in wording, I didn't mean list them in the Directory, I meant "make" a list of them, I apologize.

´encouraged` ´strongly encouraged` are both not strong enough.
Editors must disclose all of their affiliates.
See http://dmoz.org/guidelines/conflict.html
Not doing so might be reason for removal.