Is DMOZ dead?

***Brian Turner*** · 19-12-2006, 04:32 PM

I posted before on Platinax News that there were technical issues with DMOZ.

Now DMOZ founder Rich Skrenta has joined in to announce DMOZ is dead.

According to his comments:

Quote:

Apparently the machine holding dmoz in AOL ops crashed. Standard backups had been discontinued for some reason; during unsuccessful attempts to restore some of the lost data, ops blew away the rest of the existing data on the system.

So for the past 6 weeks, a few folks have been trying to patch the system back together again (reverse engineering from the latest RDF dump, I suppose). But 6 weeks is a very long outage. Add in the massive AOL layoffs last week, and it's not clear if there's even any left over there who cares. Even if some form of the ODP editing system is brought back, the likelihood of continued existence within AOL seems extremely doubtful.

Question is, if DMOZ is dead as a system, what sort of loss will that be to the internet?

Conversely, if DMOZ comes back properly online, does it still have a role to play in today's internet?

**TWD-Tony** · 19-12-2006, 05:03 PM

Does Google still rate DMOZ as a good ranking factor? I was under the impression that it used to but a DMOZ listing these days wasn't worth much...?

Maybe we should jump in quickly with a DMOZv2 Brian

EDIT: I've just has a quick look at DMOZ and they are now showing a "Editing is Back" message at the top of the directory - does that mean it is fixed?

kaching · 19-12-2006, 05:55 PM

i should consider a listing from dmoz pretty nice..
I guess 'they' are working on it..

**monaghan** · 19-12-2006, 06:05 PM

One of my listings is still in there, so they have recovered some (if not all) listings.

***Brian Turner*** · 19-12-2006, 07:42 PM

The listings were fine - but all the other features were broken.

And speak of the devil:
http://www.platinax.co.uk/news/19-12...z-back-online/

Melos · 20-12-2006, 02:55 PM

I've wondered about DMOZ - why is it really better than all other directories? I mean the big ones. They don't take ecommerce, right, so I never bothered to submit my site.

alphomega · 20-12-2006, 04:30 PM

I used dmoz to add my site to get a link into it so search engines could find it. However, Im not sure how much value dmoz links have, but if its to just get a link indexed im sure its not real problem as long as the search engines still look there.

Obviuosly now i have hundereds of links from different sites but dmox was my starting place

skillipedia · 24-12-2006, 06:25 AM

Editing is back but the tiny dino is doomed : it's the biggest link farm we hope to be listed in

I think general directories are a bad idea; niche directories will have better chance of success in the future

Natkits · 09-02-2007, 02:50 PM

For ages now I've heard the DMOZ is dead or it's no longer the resource it once was. Yet for some reason Google still use at least some of the data from it.

For some search terms on Google the Meta description listed is actually the one on DMOZ rather than the one on our site... weird?

***Brian Turner*** · 09-02-2007, 03:52 PM

You can use the no ODP tag to prevent that.

(Damn - thought I'd used it somewhere - but can't find it now on my sites - yikes!)

19-12-2006, 05:03 PM	#2 (permalink)
TWD-Tony Super Moderator Join Date: May 2005 Location: Manchester Uk Posts: 476	Re: Is DMOZ dead? Does Google still rate DMOZ as a good ranking factor? I was under the impression that it used to but a DMOZ listing these days wasn't worth much...? Maybe we should jump in quickly with a DMOZv2 Brian EDIT: I've just has a quick look at DMOZ and they are now showing a "Editing is Back" message at the top of the directory - does that mean it is fixed? __________________ Tony Total Web Development - Business Website Solutions. Feel free to contact me with any website issues including design, ecommerce, hosting and dedicated servers.

19-12-2006, 05:55 PM	#3 (permalink)
kaching Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 30	Re: Is DMOZ dead? i should consider a listing from dmoz pretty nice.. I guess 'they' are working on it..

19-12-2006, 06:05 PM	#4 (permalink)
monaghan Super Moderator Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 505	Re: Is DMOZ dead? One of my listings is still in there, so they have recovered some (if not all) listings. __________________ Alex Monaghan - Monaghan Consultants Ltd IT & Database consultancy Become Legal - Some thoughts about legal software TVR Cars for sale Dancing on Ice - Samantha Mumba

19-12-2006, 07:42 PM	#5 (permalink)
*Brian Turner* Business Guru Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Near Inverness, Highlands, Scotland Posts: 7,671	Re: Is DMOZ dead? The listings were fine - but all the other features were broken. And speak of the devil: http://www.platinax.co.uk/news/19-12...z-back-online/ __________________ SEO specialist

20-12-2006, 02:55 PM	#6 (permalink)
Melos Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 113	Re: Is DMOZ dead? I've wondered about DMOZ - why is it really better than all other directories? I mean the big ones. They don't take ecommerce, right, so I never bothered to submit my site.

20-12-2006, 04:30 PM	#7 (permalink)
alphomega Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 6	Re: Is DMOZ dead? I used dmoz to add my site to get a link into it so search engines could find it. However, Im not sure how much value dmoz links have, but if its to just get a link indexed im sure its not real problem as long as the search engines still look there. Obviuosly now i have hundereds of links from different sites but dmox was my starting place __________________ Web Design Dorset

24-12-2006, 06:25 AM	#8 (permalink)
skillipedia Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 6	Re: Is DMOZ dead? Editing is back but the tiny dino is doomed : it's the biggest link farm we hope to be listed in I think general directories are a bad idea; niche directories will have better chance of success in the future __________________ Skillipedia Network \| Communities

09-02-2007, 02:50 PM	#9 (permalink)
Natkits Senior Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Essex Posts: 186	Re: Is DMOZ dead? For ages now I've heard the DMOZ is dead or it's no longer the resource it once was. Yet for some reason Google still use at least some of the data from it. For some search terms on Google the Meta description listed is actually the one on DMOZ rather than the one on our site... weird? __________________ Modern Rigid Kitchens at National Kitchens UK

09-02-2007, 03:52 PM	#10 (permalink)
*Brian Turner* Business Guru Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Near Inverness, Highlands, Scotland Posts: 7,671	Re: Is DMOZ dead? You can use the no ODP tag to prevent that. (Damn - thought I'd used it somewhere - but can't find it now on my sites - yikes!) __________________ SEO specialist

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