For some people, it takes 2 years to get their site listed in DMOZ, the Open Directory Project. For others, it only takes $350.

WebProWorld member strum4life reported that he has received an email from a DMOZ editor who explained him how he could get his site listed faster in his category by “throwing an editor a few bucks”.

Here’s a quote from the email sent by DMOZ editor dankotarksi:

REMEMBER: THIS IS A ONE-TIME OFFER!!!

Although it is not something the ODP (dmoz) does on an open basis, it’s
editors do. You won’t read about it anywhere and you can talk to dmoz’s
“meta” editors about it – they will only tell you that they “dont condone
such activity and that the culprit will be stripped of his dmoz editorship
rights.” (Of course, that’s not what really happens). There are no prices
set in stone, it’s just whatever you feel it’s worth. The more you offer,
the sooner it gets listed. I listed a chart below to give you a general idea
about how much will get you what.

[…]
Everyone who has suggested a site to dmoz knows that you may wait a VERY
long time to get listed.

[…]

The work-around is getting in touch with a dmoz editor (me) and suggesting
that they review your site…and making it worth while. Typically, in the
past, people have paid:

To get reviewed:
Within a year: $50.00
Within 6 Months: $75.00
Within 3 Months: $90.00
Within 1 Month: $125.00
Within 2 Weeks: $180.00
Within 1 Week: $225.00
Within 3 Days: $275.00
Within 24 hours: $300.00
ASAP: $350.00

You gotta love the price list….

Member Webnauts eventually reported the crooked editor to DMOZ and then received this email:

We received your abuse report at the Open Directory Project, http://dmoz.org.

As you’ll see if you look at the category page http://dmoz.org/Sports/Fantasy/Football/Commissioner_Tools/ dankotarski is no longer an editor. (It would show his name on the page bottom if he were still an editor.)

We appreciate your report and please do feel free to use the reporting system if you ever come across similar issues…which I hope won’t happen! We take editor abuse very seriously and appreciate it when the general public helps uncover any ‘bad guys’.

Let’s hope more people report such cases to DMOZ…