Member Avatar for JRM

This has to be one of the strangest organizations on the web.
I submit URLS, but I never hear any back from them,good or bad. Not even a courtesy auto-responder acknowledging that they received the entry!

A while back, I got sick of it, so I decided if I couldn't beat 'em, I'd join 'em by becoming an "editor".
Well, that was also a mysterious process. A "mentor" tells me to go out and find 3 or more unique new entries for my "area" and do the submissions according to the guidelines. I tried several times but each time one of the three would not be "acceptable" for reasons that they never really fully explained. They never put in the "acceptable" ones either!

Having made it though HS and college, I assumed I was qualified to read and understand instructions. With DMOZ, one needs to read between the lines? Please, somebody, explain this outfit to me!

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by Lecee Lery

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Short answer: DMOZ (the Open Directory Project) was the big, human‑edited web directory everyone tried to get into — but it is no longer an active submission target. The project was taken offline in 2017 and only archived copies and mirrors remain (Open Directory Project — Wikipedia).

The experiences posted here (long waits, opaque rejections, uneven results) match the directory's human‑editor model. That model produced useful curation in some categories and inconsistent behavior in others; small sections could be dominated by a single editor and response times varied widely, which is what , and others were noticing back in 2010. gave a useful first‑hand view of editor workflows; those same structural limits are the reason many people found the process frustrating.

Practical checks and next steps:

  • Use the Wayback Machine to see archived DMOZ pages and confirm whether a listing ever existed (web.archive.org).
  • Try site:dmoz.org yoursite.com in a search engine to find mirrored references.
  • If DMOZ listed a page historically, save an archive snapshot for records; that’s useful for documentation but has little SEO value today.

Modern alternative strategy (what to do now): stop chasing a DMOZ listing. Invest in current signals: claim and optimize your Google Business Profile and other major directories, add schema.org structured data, publish genuinely useful content that earns editorial links, and build relationships with niche, authoritative sites in your industry. If there are lingering concerns about past editorial bias, keep screenshots/timestamps as evidence — but prioritize channels that still drive traffic and indexing today.

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Member Avatar for AirForceOne

Right, DMOZ and its staff is really a mystery for me, too. Proudly, my own site has just be included in the footwear directory several days ago.

Have a nice day,

Member Avatar for elum.chaitu

me also getting this problem. how the DMOZ accepting the URL's.

Member Avatar for pritaeas

Being a DMOZ editor I can confirm that the signup process is a bit weird. Just take three relevant new links for the section you want to edit and provide good descriptions for them. If they are not good enough, they will reject you, but not always mention what is wrong. The larger the queue for a specific section, the less likely you'll get a response.

The rules for adding a link to a particular section are clear. If the link is not good enough (in the editors eyes), it will be deleted. You will not be notified of this. So, there is no way of telling whether it is already deleted, or still pending acceptance. You'll just have to be patient I guess. If you submit a site that you just started and there is not a lot of info in it, it will definitely get deleted.

My last point, all these editors do their work in their spare time, just as the moderators do here. Please accept that they are only human, and bound to the rules of the site.

Member Avatar for JRM

Being a DMOZ editor I can confirm that the signup process is a bit weird. Just take three relevant new links for the section you want to edit and provide good descriptions for them. If they are not good enough, they will reject you, but not always mention what is wrong. The larger the queue for a specific section, the less likely you'll get a response.

The rules for adding a link to a particular section are clear. If the link is not good enough (in the editors eyes), it will be deleted. You will not be notified of this. So, there is no way of telling whether it is already deleted, or still pending acceptance. You'll just have to be patient I guess. If you submit a site that you just started and there is not a lot of info in it, it will definitely get deleted.

My last point, all these editors do their work in their spare time, just as the moderators do here. Please accept that they are only human, and bound to the rules of the site.

Thanks for the insight.
I completely understand that the editors are volunteers. However, I have been trying over a period of 3 years! I have the site in the appropriate local category, the text is written according the guidelines, etc.

After a period of 1 year since my last attempt (thought that it would be enough time!) I just resubmitted again.
The site is Joomla framework with lots of info and articles.
What's even stranger, is there is a single page static site listed in the area that I am attempting to get in. How did he make the cut?
I'm just mystified by this process.

In fact , I beginning to suspect that the editor (who hides behind a veil like the wizard of Oz) may be a local web builder who keeps everybody who does not employ him out. I think there is a great opportunity for an editor to abuse his position with this setup.

Member Avatar for pritaeas

I have similar experiences in other categories. Although my sites are perfectly in order, they just don't get added. I could apply to edit each category, but I don't see the point in having to become (co-)editor just to get the site added. I totally agree that this is undesired, but I don't see it changing just now.

Member Avatar for Lecee Lery

maybe this other website directory can help u:

it has page rank 5 .. quite ok.

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