I have to admit I am baffled by the amount of time and effort people seem to expending on DMOZ. I have looked at it occasionally over time and I cannot figure what if anything it is good for other than links. My company spends all day, 6 days a week tracking down businesses and products for our directories and I have yet to find any value in DMOZ. The fact that Google uses it means nothing as far as I can see. Which brings me to my other observation. People, get over this fixation with links and design your web sites and directories to have some value other than links. Actually try to sell a product or provide a service to an end user. If I sound testy it is because of the amount of time my company spends wading through the muck that is clogging up the internet. To paraphrase an old saying - Just because you can create a directory or website does not mean you should.

I find it intriguing with the total lack of interest in the Local Search category (last entry 11/25, over two weeks ago) which is supposed to be where the action is that there can be such a fixation on DMOZ.

Note to Moderator - Is there any chance of moving the DMOZ posts into their own Category so when I browse the forum I don't have to come all the way in to see the new posts only to find they are all DMOZ?

I've never seen a referal from dmoz in any of my stats.
All of my sites are listed and I always submit a new one.
Quality free backlink being the only reason

>If I sound testy it is because of the amount of time my company spends wading through the muck that is clogging up the internet.

Now THERE'S a sentiment an ODP editor isn't going to argue with!

I find it illuminating that when the seminal questions are asked answers either aren't forthcoming or are scarce.

This is basic stuff. I know that DMOZ "is there" but, guess what? I can't recall a time when I used it to unearth an answer or to perform research . . and it's not that I have a bad opinion about DMOZ. I think there's value in it somewhere, somehow, but as yet I have not had anyone anywhere get the idea through my thick skull "Here's when, where, why and how referring to DMOZ . . makes sense . . is a good idea . . produces the best outcome . . is the best use of time".

So, I ask again:

When does it make the most sense to use DMOZ as a resource?

What, if anything, is the ODP doing to promote that "fact"?

IF there are circumstances where "nobody does it better" then why isn't the word getting out?

IF DMOZ's volunteers believe in the essential value and merits of the project - that it's a tool that is worth the effort due to the real value is offers - then where is the message? Where are the DMOZ evangelists? Where's the buzz . . and the uptake . . and . .

[edited by: Webwork at 1:43 pm (utc) on Dec. 11, 2006]

I find dmoz to be most useful as a resource when I am looking for sites within a narrow category and the search engines are overwhelmed by spam. It's not a use I make frequently.

I can imagine uses for the dmoz data other than "as a directory", but I don't personally have the need for such uses.