If you are a webmaster then you have probably heard of DMOZ, the supposedly open directory project, but because of complaints by webmasters of sometimes waiting years for a listing, while other sites where being listed multiple times within a month or less, people had begun suspecting corruption amongst DMOZ editors…

Nowadays DMOZ corruption is almost an accepted fact by the webmastering community, as some editors have been caught selling DMOZ services on eBay for as much as $700. Here is even a public blog of a well, corrupt DMOZ editor, here is a little taste of what you can find there…

…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.

Also here you can find an automotive site listed 26 times in highly competitive categories, in cases such as this corruption is just evident…

So as with everything that out grows its functional capacity, DMOZ, is on its way down along with the worth of its once-precious listing…

by Greg Boser and a few others. This Web Guerilla entry is being used to announce that he himself is copycatting this to start his very own contest as well.

This is getting headlines all over the seo world.
Thread Watch and SE Roundtable are fairly neutral in the matter. I myself have decided to stick with the original rather than support a copier who wants people to link to Matt Cutts’ blog as a requirement to enter the competition (suck up).

Here is the original post about the v7n seo contest for those who haven’t seen it.

So what do you guys think about what Greg Boser is doing?
More info …

I was browsing the web and I found this great tool developed by Digital Inspiration…

You can preview AdSense, YPN, and Chitika ads for any URL, you can compare between AdSense, YPN, and Chitika ads, and the best feature in my opinion is that you can preview the image ads in AdSense.

There is two ways to use this tool…

1. You can download it to your desktop and enjoy quickly generated previews in IE.
2. You can use the online version which seems to be crashing quite often in FireFox and is quite slow.

Anyways, enjoy this great tool…

Has anyone seen the MSN’s test home page, I have to say this doesn’t look like they put in much effort, I hate to say it but it might actually look worse then their current layout in FireFox…

MSN has been randomly asking people using MSN search to do a survey evaluating their new design, but if you want to give them the true feedback, which they seem to really need, here is a link to the survey, enjoy.

If you haven’t seen it pop up yet, Yahoo has placed a huge banner on their homepage trying to get FireFox users to change there default browser search engine to Yahoo – It looks something like this…

This is interesting because a Microsoft representative has mentioned that they were planning to partner with another tier-1 internet company to humble Google (more on this can be found here) and considering that their IM services were brought together a couple of days ago (more on this can be found here). Anyways a partnership between Yahoo and Microsoft might be in the makings…

Apparently Microsoft is brainstorming ways to bring down the Google monopoly of web publishing, in a recent blog entry by Ian McAllister of Microsoft, he mentioned a brain storming with another top internet company about ways they could work together to level the field against Google, although the mysterious company was never named Ian did give us a hint…

I’m 99% positive you’re a customer.

Well I hope this is not just another smoke screen by Microsoft from the disappointment of loosing the AOL deal, but at least they are trying and Google should definitely watch out, Bill seems to have his eyes on their prize…

An inside report claims that Microsoft has bought Opera. Looks like Microsoft is waging and all out war against Google and their next target, FireFox. Anyways here are the highlights of the report…

• Apparently Google was in the race for it also.
• The deal is said to be done and they are just deciding on a place for the R&D department, possibly India.
• Microsoft looks to enter the mobile internet market by acquiring Opera, the best mobile browser.
• Opera seems to be denying all reports.

I guess this means an end to IE…at least I hope so…

Sometimes you just have to face the fact that an idea is a one time shot. If you have not seen the Million Dollar Home Page and all the hype around it, you have missed out on one of the Internets “One Time Wonders”.

Alex Tew had a unique and successful idea. But, people must realize it is impossible to repeat his success. You had to be the first, and only the first. Without substance some ideas can only thrive on their meaningless novelty.

To prove this point simply search on Google for “million dollar home page” Chances are you will see the following paid advertisement that will lead you to a site trying to mimic the success of Tew. I can’t decide if this is funny, or just sad.

Million Dollar Home Page
No Good Spaces Left in Million
Dollar Home Page - Try This Instead
www.MillionDollarsHomePage.com

An article in MSN online states that a woman in an argument put her cell phone in her mouth and needed professional assistance to remove it. If this isn’t proof cell phones are getting to small I don’t know what would be. Following the example of McDonald’s, cell phone makers will no doubt need to start adding disclaimers to their sales literature absolving them of responsibility for any chocking hazards their phones may cause.

MSN Article

The famous digg.com has come out with a great new addition to their self monitoring community, Digg Spy, this new feature really takes interactive and dynamic pages to the next level. It monitors diggs, comments, and warnings live as they come in taking their web poll environment to a whole new level, and making it absolutely addicting…