DMOZ – 10 Years Of Slowly Dying
Posted by shadow575 on June 5, 2008
Well today marks the 10th birthday for The Open Directory Project. Seems about time for the “oh the days are numbered for DMOZ” comments to start springing up again. Next month, I will celebrate my 4th birthday with the project and I have heard those comments since day one. Must be a slow and agonizing death. 
The fact remains that the directory is still alive. It has survived and continues to grow, even after needing a little life support, during the Great Crash. Through times of terrible stewardship from its corporate parent, baseless smear attempts, unfounded allegations, technical difficulties, some real abuse, and bombardment of spam attempts, its still moving forward. All be it more slowly than the editors would like. 
The reason that this project is still going, is because of its life blood – its the volunteer editors that drive the directory to do better.
So Happy 10th Birthday DMOZ and thank you to my fellow volunteers. Volunteers, who over the years have added millions of sites, thousands of categories, and hours upon hours of thankless dedication to this community and project. Also thanks to all of you for allowing me to participate and contribute, in some small part over the last 4 years and counting. Its been a roller coaster ride at times, but one that would be worth doing all over again.
I hear rumblings that some more improvements are on the horizon. Obviously I am not at liberty to mention what I have heard, but any improvements are going to be welcomed and long over due. Hopefully, we can look forward to an “Official” update on the DMOZ Blog some day soon. If for no other reason, to bump that last post down to second tier. 
[updated] Updated slightly to reflect that today is the official birthday of the project. [/updated]
makrhod said
“… hours upon hours of thankless dedication” Indeed. ;-D
But it’s great to see you have regained your optimism and enthusiasm, and I await the “improvements” with interest.
Rob Jones said
{insert “Happy Birthday” tune here}:-)
… wanders off to curse at puppies, cross street against lights, and commit other atrocities credited en absentia.
shadow575 said
LOL, too funny. @Rob I don’t believe that you are viewed as quite the villain you think you are.
@mak-mark-whatever (sorry thats a running joke from a local radio personality) – Call it cautious optimism. My enthusiasm for the project and its volunteers hasn’t waivered. My motivation and morale has at times though.
I finally reached a conclusion, forget about all the crap and get back to what I enjoyed about the project: 1)editing, 2)mentoring, 3)building categories of interest, and 4)communicating with the friends that I have come to make during my time here. In February if you had asked me I would have rated my current feelings about 2/10. Today its probably more like 6/10 and its been getting better. The air bag may be deflated at any time, but for now its holding its own.
ae said
I’m sure it has, poppet.
With 15,000 topix.net deeplinks added in the ODP, no wonder the guys @TOPIX make 30-50 million USD per year, while your editing there is, in fact, nothing more than a work of hiding the topix.net deeplinks.
shadow575 said
Ignorance is bliss isn’t it. You should have checked my statistics in dealing with topix sites, before accusing me of working to hide them. I have been one of many who actively remove the junk deep links in areas that I am working. Wonder what your record is with them?
Curious, why you chose that issue to slap me with? The Topix issue is someone else’s soap box, for which I am tired of trying to explain. Are you trying to impersonate them, or just rally their cause? If its the later, its a worthy cause you just need your facts sorted.
Makrhod said
“In February if you had asked me I would have rated my current feelings about 2/10. Today its probably more like 6/10 and its been getting better.”
I’m afraid I was well into negative figures by the time I resigned 2 months ago. If I’d been sensible enough to take a break when I got down to 2-3 I would not have had to leave. It sounds like you (and others) have made the right decision about priorities. The volunteer community was always the closest thing to my heart, and it is still the driving force of the project, and my sincere respect goes to all those who feel the same way.
Those who don’t, deserve to be ignored.
David said
Either way, the fact that Skrenta manually included thousands of links from city pages to topix, which gave what was a relatively useless scraper site a ton of search value during its early life cycle, puts a stain on any good that you guys worked for at DMOZ. A lot of people don’t understand that Rich really manipulated the system, which is a shame for a guy that has tried to position himself as a thought leader in the space. It’s also a shame google doesn’t slap down Topix like it has recently slapped down sites like CreditCardGuide.com the same way.