DMOZ just celebrated its 11th birthday. How have the past few years treated the best and brightest online directory edited and controlled by real humans?
Now, DMOZ has been bashed quite a bit in recent years, with webmasters coming to feel that the editors are showing favoritism and that a listing there is now not as important as it once was. Surely the visits are way down, as the charts from Hitwise would seem to indicate:
Visits
However, Emily Kayser of DMOZ’s own blog had a few things to say about that:
“There are numerous ways that people get information from the web. Depending on the circumstances, some people begin by using search engines such as Google, AOL, Yahoo and MSN; at other times, a directory-based approach such as the one DMOZ offers may provide the better path to the desired information.”
Is DMOZ capable of pulling itself out of the downward slide? They are actively seeking editors again, which would seem to indicate that the site has heard the angry accusations of unfair inclusion or lack thereof, and feels the need to regain respect from the community.
AOL at least seems to think DMOZ is salvagable, and as long as it still has a presence on the web, trying for a listing is still a good idea:
From its humble beginnings 11 years ago, DMOZ has grown to be the largest human-edited directory on the Web. Today, on the websites anniversary, we take a look at DMOZ’s influence on the web.
Before there were specialized search engines, like job seekers, there was DMOZ. Today, contributors still take the time to sort through web content and organize listings into helpful categories on a wide spectrum of topics. The online community has grown such a large directory of information that thousands of search engines still rely on the focused site listings.
Happy 11th birthday, DMOZ.