Corrupt DMOZ Editor

AdSense Blacklist?

2006-03-24T14:31:00.000-08:00

There has been an outcry from many AdSensers for a collective blacklist to aid in efficiently blocking out what they call MFA's, or Made For AdSense sites. The reasoning behind filtering out these advertisers is because they are low quality sites with minimal content, designed solely for the purpose of generating AdSense clicks.

A Question of Trust
The reasoning behind blocking those pages ranges from "it's not good for the user" to "it's going to lower my income." I'm not going to get into whether those assertions are true or not. What I am going to get into is, can you trust an AdSense blacklist?

Modern Day Lynch Mob?
The concept of a blacklist is inherently flawed because historically, innocent people have always been hurt by them. Once a name is on a blacklist, any blacklist, the damage is done. There have always been innocent people getting hurt whenever any kind of blacklisting has been attempted. A blacklist can become the modern day version of a lynching.

Who is going to play god?
The other flaw with blacklists is that they are subject to the whims and sketchy judgement of whoever is submitting the lists, especially in a collective blacklist where the list is generated by the masses. Even if you centralize the decision making process of what site should get into a blacklist, one still has to question their judgement.

We Want AdSenseblacklist.com!
So goes the chant by many AdSense publishers. AdSenseblacklist.com is a fairly new site that has been gaining notoriety as a place to submit and receive lists of sites to be blocked in the AdSense competitive ad filter, with the idea being that the publishers will earn more money by blocking the advertising of these low value websites within the websites of the more respectable publishers, or so it goes.

What Criteria is Used?
One issue with AdSenseblacklist.com is that they are listing websites that are well known within the internet industry as being respectable, among the most respected in fact. Currently listed on the right hand side as among the top sites to block are TrueLocal.com and Knowledgestorm.com. Neither of those sites runs AdSense on their websites, so they are not flipping clicks. By definition, they are not Made For AdSense websites. This makes one wonder what criteria AdsSenseBlacklist.com is using for listing a site on the blacklist.

Calling the Kettle Black?
I don't like to talk about the websites of others, I'm a live and let live kind of girl. However, the operator of AdSenseBlacklist.com has set themself up as an arbiter of what gets blacklisted, and since it is in the public space as the judge, I think it's fair to take a look at what this person is really up to, and perhaps get an idea as to whether AdSenseBlacklist.com has the moral authority to sit in judgement of other websites.

The issue I'm concerned with is that the owner of AdSenseBlacklist.com runs some sites that some may find interesting- and I will leave that for you to judge. The owner has removed his Google AS unit from the site, but it's still currently in the Google Cache: google_ad_client = "pub-2131746553703247"

Now head on over to http://www.directask.com/index.php?term=fitness and take a look at those pages. The publisher code is the same one as from AdSenseblacklist.com. You be the judge whether that site is an MFA or not. I'm not going to judge that site, you can judge for yourself.

Now head over to this page:
http://www.celebrityworld.tv/index.php

[added: Try the Google Cache, as they took it down today- 03-25-2006.]

featuring nude and scantily clad women, as well as a Google Search box prefilled with the word Credit Card, sitting in the uppper top right of the page, also featuring the same publisher code from AdSenseblacklist.com, so that no matter what you search for, Google ads for Credit Cards will show up.

Again, I am not going to judge that site, or accuse it of breaking Google's publishers terms, and I'm definitely NOT going to report it to Google either. I'm not going to play judge and jury here.

The point that needs to be understood is that blacklists have a checkered history of hurting many innocent people, and it has occurred in the past that the people behind blacklists do not have the moral or technical authority to administer a blacklist. Whether AdSenseBlacklist.com is run by an opportunistic MFA publisher is up to you to decide. I make no judgement, I'm just bringing you the facts. But I will say this, if we are going to let the masses collectively decide who gets on the blacklist, will these be the same people who endorsed AdSenseblacklist.com?

Get into DMOZ - What You Need to Do

2005-07-14T15:43:00.000-07:00

Another day, another screwed DMOZ submission
It's another day and more submissions are lining my queues. I go to a cafe with free internet access and cute college age kids behind the counter, and log in to one of my dmoz accounts using firefox to spoof the OS and browser. Then I delete a handful of listings starting from the top without even looking at them. The next batch I include but I make sure to drain the listings of any useful keywords. The next bunch I keep on hold for the next time. I have a few listings that have been on hold for, I kid you not, eighteen months.

Get off your behind - Become a DMOZ editor!
I don't understand how so many webmasters can be so meek to submit their websites week after week and hope, like the old ladies at church who light a candle so that God will be kind to them and let them go a week without pissing their beds. Who are these webmasters? Why are you so meek? It's already established that you are being laughed at. Next week I will show you how DMOZ editors are spam reporting your sites to Google. Why do you put up with this abuse?

It's time you seized control of your own destiny, it's time you became a DMOZ editor, even if you have a spammy network. Quality doesn't matter. Just get in there and let a whole bunch of sites get in, including yours, then walk away from the account. It's that easy, so what are you waiting for?

Buy and Sell DMOZ Editor Credentials!
You don't have a website for a cherry ass category? No Problem! Build a website around it, then submit it. Here's a great PR 4 category (borderline PR 5) that's dying of loneliness because no one has applied to become a DMOZ editor for that category yet. Apply then build a site around it, then point the links to things that are marginally related- or better yet throw some earnest effort into it and build a nice site, then build a network of related sites around it. DMOZ is an opportunity to make money waiting to happen. Just surf around for the cherry cats while they are still there, become an editor, and lock them up just a like speculating in domain names. Do this with a circle of friends and you can trade or sell your editor credentials.

My friends and I do this all the time. I just picked up a great PR 6 category last week. Don't just sit there while everyone else picks up the best categories. Get yours now while the getting is good. In a year or two there won't be any good DMOZ categories and you're going to be wishing you had become a dmoz editor sooner rather than later. Get yours while the getting is good. It's just like picking up a good domain name.

DMOZ Editors Are Laughing at Your Submissions Behind Closed Doors

2005-05-30T12:14:00.000-07:00

Today I present a curious example of abusive DMOZ Editor behavior. When you become a DMOZ editor you gain access to the editor forum. In that forum is an area called The Penguin Cafe. In the Penguin Cafe is an extra long thread of DMOZ Editors ridiculing your site submissions.

Some of the editors that are caught with their pants down ridiculing innocent webmasters are among the most vocal in web forums. I have chosen not to publish their names because this is not about specific individuals, but about a culture of abusiveness at DMOZ in general.

Yes, there is humor in some submissions, but frankly I was dismayed to see well known editors not only ridiculing submissions, but actually deriding webmasters for submitting their sites.

The following are screen shots from the DMOZ Editor Forum (click on the thumbnails for a larger version).

I can show you more extreme examples of ridicule by DMOZ Editors, but I don't want to spark the DMOZ equivalent of the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal.

Comments not allowed, but you can badmouth me at searchenginewatch.

Corrupt Website of the Day

2005-03-11T20:55:00.000-08:00

Hey,
One of my corrupt editor friends emailed me about this. Turns out someone was on WebmasterWorld begging for help to get reincluded to the AdSense program. When you search the email addy in the threadstarter's profile you get the information for his admin profile in another forum where he's telling people they MUST click on his AdSense ads ten times a day in order to help keep the site available so that they can download free mp3s... Here's an ad from their pages:

This reminded me of the other night when I was registering for a gay bondage affiliate program and in the signup area they had a list of countries they did not want to send checks to. Half the list read like the US Government's Terrorist Watch List, but also it sensibly listed countries where the proliferation of scams made the program a pain in the neck to administer.

So really, how many instances of click fraud does it take before an entire country receives, at the very least, better scrutiny of the people they let through the door?

Click fraud is a major issue on many advertisers minds. A search on Google News for Click Fraud shows headlines such as, "Online Click Fraud a Growing Problem" and I would have to agree- click fraud is not going away, it can only become more aggressive. Once the sharks have smelled blood, they're going to keep coming back no matter what you throw at them.

Google's done a great job fighting click fraud so far, but...
Of all the advertising groups out there, I trust Google the most for fighting click fraud. But it still makes me wonder if running AdSense on a Free For All basis (and catching them later) will in the future become a bigger pain in the neck than it's worth. If they're going to keep this scalable, perhaps an algo to lock out some sites may be something worth investigating.

Love Letter to the Incredulous... Roses for all.

2005-02-08T23:52:00.000-08:00

Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey
Some parties have referred to me as an ex-dmoz editor. I just want to clear up that I am a current dmoz editor with a growing list of editor names. I have been a dmoz editor for the past three years. Someone else referred to this site as a hoax... Well, if this website was any more real my hands would be in your wallet.

Cry Baby Cry
Over the years I've shared what I do with close friends and they too enjoy the pleasure of sabotaging website inclusion requests or delaying them for absurdly long times. We take pleasure in abusing the system. Fact: my network consists of a dozen of us using multiple editor names.

Knowing what I know, I found it surprising to read this about my blog:

It's too absurd to be anywhere near true, and it sounds like an amalgamation of the wildest conspiracy theories put out in various rabid anti-ODP forums.

I am most definitely PRO-dmoz and have not recently been bitten by a dog or wild animal.

Dear Prudence
Links are a commodity. Links from DMOZ are a hot commodity. Everything in this world is a commodity: everything.

If you disbelieve that someone would be so corrupt as to sell submissions into the ODP, then Dorothy, this is your wake up call.

Sabotaging a Competitors DMOZ Listing for Fun & Profit

2004-12-14T01:08:00.000-08:00

The Wisdom of Weeding Out the Competitors
It's imperative to join DMOZ and sabotage your competitors. No offense intended, but if you don't join DMOZ you are ignoring a fundamental strategy for promoting your website. Your website's viability depends on you getting into DMOZ and sabotaging every single one of your competitors. If your competitors beat you to the editorship your website will be toast faster than you can say, "Am I homeless yet?"

Another corrupt dmoz editor had this to say on the subject:

"My arch competitor had a dupe content subdomain that they set up for traffic overflow and I changed their dmoz listing to the subdomain with duplicate content and it slaughtered their rankings for a couple of months.

Speaking as someone with 4 years of sabotaging experience, switch their listing from www. to non-www from time-to-time. Switch them from www.example.com to www.example.com/index.html, stuff like that."

Everybody is doing it. You should too!
I don't care if you believe me or not. The economics is enough motivation to make it happen. Here are the most common techniques for sabotaging a competitor:

Let it be

Let the site sit in the Unreviewed Queue. Don't edit it. Don't touch it. Never click on the link to visit the site. Just pretend it isn't there.
Across the universe
In the DMOZ editor dashboard you have the option to move the contributed website to a "more appropriate" category. Move it to the lowest level cat you can find, preferably a cat that is not currently edited, and one that has over sixty other websites in it. This cat must be related topically, but not really appropriate. After a year it will probably get bounced to another category and so on, and eventually end up back in your category. Wait six months or a year, then do it again.
The long and winding road
At some point you have to let in a competitor or two. Butcher the submission. Strip the title of important keywords and replace them with useless variations that nobody searches on. Mutilate the description because the last thing you want is for someone to actually click on it. A short and irrelevant description is the way to go. Don't go overboard. It has to be defensible. When your competitor's website reaches the end of the submission road, he or she will wish they never submitted.

AOL/TimeWarner own DMOZ and they treat it like the dollar chasing b***h it really is. And you should, too. Sabotaging your competitors is not simply about deleting their sites from the categories, but a more subtle and ongoing process of destroying their relevance for important keyword phrases.

You have to do what you have to do. The person who ranks at the top of the search engines sleeps better than the webmaster whose site is on page eighty six of the serps. Sabotaging your competitors is one way to get there.

How to Bribe a DMOZ Editor

2004-12-03T11:20:00.000-08:00

When Will My Site Be Accepted?

That's a very good question. The answer is never. The reason is because as a submitter to DMOZ you must get wise to what's going on or get lost. You will not get in. So here are some tips to help you get into DMOZ.

Three Tips for a Successful DMOZ Submission
1: After submitting to DMOZ, contact the editor, tell him/her you have a number of websites related to the category, and would love to exchange links or even throw some one-way inbounds.

2: If you submit to a DMOZ category and are suddenly requested to link to a related website, don't be a dumb ass and assume it's out of the blue. Throw as many links as possible from your entire network at this website. This request likely comes from a DMOZ editor.

3: Be honest with yourself. If your website is lousy, you will not get in until you pay to get in. Well, if your website is decent, don't expect to get in unless you pay to get in.

How to Bribe A DMOZ Editor
Never ever correspond with a DMOZ editor and offer a bribe in writing. A decent DMOZ editor would never accept it. JUST GIVE US THE CASH. Don't be an idiot, just PayPal the cash using the email address that is in your submission. The first step in a successful DMOZ submission is sending cash through Paypal to the DMOZ editor. Then do the actual submission. For a successful submission be sure to submit using the same email address you used in your PayPal payment or the DMOZ editor will never know which website paid for entry.

How Much Should You Pay to Bribe a DMOZ Editor?
That's pretty much a sliding scale. The higher up a category, the less crowded a category is, how much PageRank there is in the category are factored into the price of the bribe. But perhaps the ultimate factor is how much money do you stand to make?

Corruption is Rampant - Get Yours or Get Out

2004-12-02T14:07:00.000-08:00

That is the story in a nutshell. I was forced into this position by the liars and hypocrites above me who were corrupt. Now I am corrupt and find that I fit into the DMOZ culture better now than when I was honest.

I'm going to tell you everything I have done. I'm going to give you a blow by blow of every DMOZ inclusion I am paid to make. I will tell you how I shake people down, and punish those who refuse to pay me.

And how I must pay someone above me a cut of everything I take.