DMOZ Rising From The Ashes – Maybe

The DMOZ or ODP, Open Directory Project Took An AOL Dump

AOL had the main server that stored the data and ran the ODP operation go down with no backups.

This is strange in more ways than one. Not having backups of the data or the system seems very strange for a company the size of AOL Time Warner. Granted, AOL has had some major layoffs in recent times but not to have a backup, what’s up with this?

Anyways, many have stated that the ODP was dead a long time ago before this major outage occurred.

DMOZ had 9 lives. Used up yet? (Skrentablog)

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. 

Is DMOZ Dead? Author: Peter Da Vanzo

There are various reports surfacing on the web that DMOZ has been experiencing unspecified hardware problems for more than a week, with editors unable to log in, and no eta of a fix. Has the old dinosaur gone belly up? 

This article Here Lies ODP and DMOZ, Please Die Already pretty much summarizes thoughts about the Open Directory Project.

Will AOL allow a Open Directory Foundation? ยค sorvoja.com

With the information I have today I predict that 2007 will be the year DMOZ becomes independent and goes 2.0 or it will be the year DMOZ dies for real. If AOL decides to kill the project I am certain that there will be several web 2.0 forks of the project. 

The DMOZ Report has some Google insider information on what Google engineers were doing earlier this year with their algorithm ranking of the ODP pages. For those of you that are curious about what the editor application process was like for the ODP and the history of the ODP read more:

What Really Is The ODP – Open Directory Project – DMoz

Editor Application ODP – Open Directory Project – DMoz

DMoz ODP Internet Marketing Abuses

Additional DMoz ODP Analysis

The DMOZ ODP Report

Maybe this latest ODP outage will cause enough of a shakeup in the online world and someone will come up with a better system. The ODP became a system of the haves and have nots in recent times. If you could get your website listed in the directory then this was extremely helpful for your Google rankings in the past. But, if you were new, and in a highly competitive field, your listing in the ODP project may never get reviewed or be placed into the directory. This became a directory of first come first serve and many of those that were/are editors simply decided what sites would be allowed based not on content of the website, but rather on “what could you do for me” attitudes by the editors and the select rejections of the competition websites.

Signed James A. Warholic
President: Professional Web Services, Inc.
Internet Marketing Services
Ethical Search Engine Optimization
Online Advertising Strategies
Web Branding Solutions
Professional Blog Marketing Services
B2B And B2C