Trouble at the ODP

[thejenn]

Full Text: http://www.searchengineguide.com/hedger/004558.html

Some Snippets:

"At one time, a listing at the Open Directory was mandatory in order to guarantee strong listings at Google, Yahoo and other search engines. Today, while still helpful, the strength of a Open Directory listing has been diluted by the search engines themselves. "

"The Open Directory is a volunteer driven initiative, and like other non-paying projects they often have a hard time finding good help. Submissions to categories are backed up for months and in some cases, even years with many of the over 1500 unique directory categories lacking volunteers assigned to edit them. A backlog in sites awaiting review is one thing but recently, accusations of bribery, favouritism and editors lashing out at critics have caused many to lower their previously favourable estimations of the Open Directory."

[linz]

DMoz has so much information it must continue to be taken seriously.
Editors would naturally have a tendency to favour sites that reflect their own interests or subjects with which they are familiar. Delays and, even worse, pay-offs, are more serious.

Maybe the future is best envisaged as a combination of automatic organization and human intervention. I am part of a team developing a search tool (no promotion) that is self-organizing and allows anyone to index a site. Sites appear whether they have been seen by an editor or not, but in a different section that makes it clear that they have not been vetted. This avoids delays. Spamming will be a problem, but we are developing a way of using some filtering for obvious intruders.

Thoughts welcome.