Page 2 - Finally in DMOZ

I personally have tried to get listed in DMOZ as it's an authority site, giving credibility to the sites that are listed. I have been unsuccessful so far but noticed a competitor is listed in more than one category.

It's perfectly feasible for a site to be listed in more than one category, and often expected that it should be -- for example being listed in both a topical and regional category. Similarly, if inner pages are particularly relevant then it might also have deep links to these pages.

DMOZ is not a listing service, so if your site offers the same as your competitors then it's inclusion into the directory would add nothing that isn't already there (there are exceptions to this, but not in the categories where your particular site is best suited).

When submitting, make mention of the unique features of your site within the description (whilst ensuring the description meets ODP guidelines). In your particular case I'd make certain that mention was made of your online dyno calculator for example.

Also, given the particular nature of your site, it may benefit from a little aging first - giving it more time to build up the number of auctions available, for more posts to have been written in the forums, and for more content to be added.

That's not to say it definitely won't be accepted as it stands (it could well still be in the unreviewed pool), but personally I'd consider your time would be better spent building on what you already have, then resubmitting in a year's time if it hasn't been added by then.

Does anyone even use DMOZ apart from for SEO purposes? The whole idea is completely defunct.

Yes, I use it to look for sites in a certain category especially for regional or some rare categories and I mean quality sites that are reviewed by humans.

After all, DMOZ exist not for SEO purposes but as a directory that help you find sites in a desired category.

I stand corrected. It's not a site I would ever use when looking for a site though, certainly not a current site.

sorry but whats the name of these forums? SEO chat correct? isnt seo all about getting better rankings? If you do not want to talk about improving your rankings you may be in the wrong place.

... because only webmasters use DMOZ but nobody else.

Please tell us where you get that information from? How do you know that?

Actually, DMOZ does provide an interesting alternative to search engines when researching many subjects, often listing sites that would ordinarily be buried deep in the search engine results. Unfortunately too many people think of it only as a place to submit their own sites and never look any further.

If you're looking for content inspiration when starting a website in a new niche you could do far worse than check out those sites listed in DMOZ for that subject.

From my own experience.
I never see people who try to search something in DMOZ as regular user. ;)

But DMOZ is very important resource as "best of the best" slice of websites. I suppose it should be paid catalog with very strong requirement for persons who work as editors.

How many of you have applied to become DMOZ editors and how was the experience?

IMHO it'd be a dark day if that happened. It'd go against the whole concept of what the ODP is. There's already the Yahoo Directory for those that want to pay (and look at the general quality of the YD v DMOZ) -- no need for DMOZ to go down that route.

I did. Filled out the application following the guidelines exactly and had no problem getting accepted first time. What startled me most was the amount of cr*p waiting in the unreviewed pool -- mirror sites, affiliate sites, sites submitted to the wrong category, titles and descriptions that didn't even bear a passing resemblance to the guidelines, etc, etc (and this isn't even a category particularly susceptible to spam). It's no wonder it takes a long time to get accepted into certain categories with the amount of junk submissions that have to be reviewed and weeded out.

That said, if you have an interest in a particular niche I'd thoroughly recommend becoming an editor. Nothing better than finding a real gem of a site buried deep in the Google SERPs that you can include in DMOZ. One of them is worth many webmaster suggestions IMHO.

Are you still active as an editor or did it all become too much?

Still active in my own little niche