DMOZ Deal
As was outlined in the Tutorial section Directory Links before submitting to DMOZ it is absolutely essential to read and understand the following guidelines; How to suggest a site to the Open Directory, Submitting Your Site, Site Selection Criteria, Titles, Description. However reading these does not stop some people trying to take a shortcut.
Elance is a highly reputable and very busy site where businesses outsource projects to contracting professionals. As they say “If you can describe it, you can get it done on Elance”. There is currently a very interesting project description which will probably be removed when it is brought to the attention of the Elance editors. Here is a partial screenshot:
Presumably the project owner has tried submitting in the conventional way and has so far been unsuccessful. They may have applied to become an editor for that category and been rejected. It is possible that they may even have gone as far as asking their friends to apply and they too have all been rejected. The subsequent step of asking for a complete stranger to become a DMOZ editor and place your sites in the directory in exchange for payment may be thought of by some as inciting corruption. Also it offers existing unscrupulous DMOZ editors a new source of revenue should they be so inclined but DMOZ is very clear on the subject, editors found to be accepting or soliciting bribes in exchange for listing sites are removed.
So it is even more of an eye-opener that currently there are two companies bidding on this project. One of them, Netsmartz is bidding $1,500.
The other, QBIT is bidding $600.
What is surprising is that two apparently creditable companies should wish to be involved in such a covert activity. Why would they want to go public on their ability and willingness to sell placement?
The charitable explanation is that those individuals who are responsible for posting the bids misunderstood the project description and that the companies would not deliver anyway. However if you are reading this and know otherwise you might like to take a look here.
protheus said,
January 19, 2006 @ 1:56 pm
I think that currently dmoz is inviting this type of behavior because of the worth of a listing, a strong dmoz listing can equate in revenues it’s a simple as that. I really think that google should handle the directory themselves instead of leaving dmoz to the hands of it’s meta editors. Regardless of what we think there will be corruption at any level and this is something that has been explored throughly in the past. The current Dmoz system is not working and should either be changed or just dropped, right now google is the one creating this type of behavior by placing so much importance on dmoz and dmoz close directories … let me know what you think …
duz said,
January 19, 2006 @ 3:10 pm
Those are good points protheus!
I believe DMOZ is perceived to be more important than it actually is but this is simply based on my own experiences. It’s good to be in DMOZ but you can get to where you want to go without it!
Your idea that “Google should handle the directory themselves” may not happen quite like that but I bet that DMOZ is on the agenda now that Google have invested $1 billion in AOL who own DMOZ through Netscape.
protheus said,
January 20, 2006 @ 10:11 am
A true internet directory is a great idea and would be the ultimate authority but DMOZ is not it and as such shouldn’t be the directory of choice to clone for so many. As far as corruption well i know that it’s a normal event … let’s hope that aol get’s a clue an either staffs dmoz for real or just give up on the whole idea …