The Open Directory Project (ODP) is the largest human-edited, all volunteer directory on the Internet and one of the two major authoritative directories acknowledged by Google (with Yahoo Directory being the other). There has been much criticism over the past few years, some warranted and some not, of slow response times by the ODP to index sites. This is understandable, since anyone who has worked with volunteers knows that working with volunteers is a lot like herding cats. They come and go on their own time and you’re pretty glad to accept whatever they have to give.
In order to ease this frustration, though, the ODP put up a message board area on their website called the Resource Zone where the frustrated public could post a message to check on the status of their website in the ODP directory. Now, this wasn’t the perfect solution, but it did offer some relief to frustrated Webmasters who otherwise may never know after months what has happened to their site and if it ever was reviewed or not.
According to ODP administrator, DonaldB (Tin Man), “Our feedback indicates that the information we are giving out really is not a practical help in the vast majority of cases. People want information we either simply do not have or cannot for confidentiality reasons give out. Therefore, despite our communications, the existence of the status check forum raises unrealistic expectations, leading to more frustration but no satisfaction, for anyone.”
The Webmasters’ and SEOs’ frustration is understandable since there is so much pressure to get top placement in the search engines and the ODP is called out by name as one of the top two authority directories on the Internet. What Webmasters and SEOs need to realize though, above all else, that even though the stakes are high, the Open Directory Project is still an all-volunteer directory. It is regrettable to see the Resource Zone die from complications, though. Perhaps another process, such as an automated one, where an automatic email is sent to the Webmaster when a website has been accepted or declined can be developed.
Who knows what’s next for the Open Directory Project? Sometimes a step back can lead to two steps forward.
