Google and DMOZ (The Open Directory Project) – The Odd Couple of the Internet Directory
Google and DMOZ: Organizational dichotomies in partnership
in a corner you have Google – analytical, automated, user-interactive, powered by rule-based mathematical algorithms, digital efficiency – trusted and respected.
In the other corner you have The Open Directory Project (DMOZ) – completely people-driven, uncommunicative, no rules, no feedback, inefficient, analog – unreliable.
It’s like having Herman Hollerith’s punch card system feeding data into today’s grid and supercomputing environment. It just DOESN’T COMPUTE! The Stone Age meets the Digital Age.
So what is the relationship between these two unlikely partners?
Google controls the World Directory of Website Registration. But you can’t just add your website to the Google directory. Some time ago, someone at Google decided that if your website was listed in DMOZ (The Open Directory Project), then it was worth listing in the Google Directory. By the way, Alexa also goes for this “good enough for DMOZ then good enough for us” approach.
The Open Directory Project has long been criticized for its troll-like gatekeeper presence when it comes to granting DMOZ directory status that powers key global internet directories such as Google and Alexa. An entirely volunteer organization, The Open Directory Project has faced accusations of corruption, manipulation, and incompetence when it comes to determining which domains to include in the DMOZ directory. Some websites were listed on DMOZ one day and then removed days later, without even a simple explanation as to why or why not. This is basically WRONG!
The article, DMOZ Ineffective by Baron Turner (circa 2005), effectively articulates the failings of this voluntary organization.
Why has Google never stepped in to advance DMOZ from this highly suspect environment of an “all-volunteer” publishing organization to a professional, accountable, semi-automated, communicative publishing organization? One of those web mysteries.
Example: Our organization has 8 business websites. In the last year, only two of the eight websites have had the honor of being listed on DMOZ. Why these two were accepted and the other six were rejected is the “sixty-four thousand dollar question.” Or were they rejected? There’s no way to know. DMOZ has no feedback mechanism! There is no way to know if:
1. one of DMOZ’s volunteer editors received a submission request
two. if it is in the DMOZ queue for review or
3. if it was rejected by a DMOZ editor and WHY it was rejected!
The absence of ANY type of feedback mechanism as part of the DMOZ process is simply a broken customer management system. Each and every webmaster that is submitted to the Open Directory Project is a CUSTOMER OF DMOZ! DMOZ offends their clients by showing disrespect to these webmasters and SEO professionals.
Google represents capitalism, competitiveness and dynamic change. DMOZ is too close to a third world dictatorship. The subject of this unlikely partnership could be material for a new reality TV series. Expect! Perhaps Google-DMOZ Irony is more suitable material for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart or The Colbert Report with Stephen Colbert.
In my 30+ years in High Tech Business, I have come to observe that the longer you have the same group of unaccountable people involved in a process, a process that is not controlled or audited, you get laxity, arrogance and opportunity. for corruption
Maybe it’s time for a Google REALITY CHECK on The Open Directory Project. Google has a responsibility to bring the now arcane processes of the DMOZ organization into the customer-centric era of trust and responsibility.
Until then, best of luck getting featured on The Open Directory Project.
Leave a Reply