You cannot travel the webmaster forums, newsgroups, etc. without hearing complaints about the Open Directory Project (ODP) aka DMOZ. For those website owners struggling to get past the piles and miles of spam sites and included into the directory, it is a frustrating and lengthy process generally; many impatient and unsuccessful DMOZ directory submitters readily claim the death of DMOZ and downplay its importance. To paraphrase Mark Twain, the death of DMOZ has been greatly exaggerated; its importance as relevant today as it ever was.

BLUF: An inclusion into the Open Directory Project (DMOZ / ODP) directory is still the only way to get included into the Google Directory.

The OPD directory and subsequent Google Directory - using DMOZ feed, modified by Google - feed into countless other directories including, but not limited to: AOL, A9, Alexa, and many more!

Keeping up your diet of P’s - patience, persistence and professionalism - will help win the war of waiting getting into the DMOZ directory.

Don’t allow yourself to fall into the trap of believing everything you read in webmaster forums - DMOZ is not dead, and it is still an important part of your website promotion. Despite personal beliefs and past failures of others to be included should NOT dissuade you from submitting your quality site to the Open Directory Project / DMOZ.

Make sure your site is ready by reading the DMOZ submission and site selection criteria and don’t wait another day - submit away!

Rob Crazy Prediction #543336643307a - Internet users are getting more web and computer comfortable everyday; we are also getting more adapted to ignoring advertisements. Like billboards along the interstate, frequent travelers on the information superhighway - created by my friend Al Gore - are rarely attracted to or distracted by the banners passing by them on their journey. The BLUF (bottom line up front) being that with the buzz of social networks and media, there has been a boom in online advertising, but the inflation of expectations will likely soon lead to implosion of monies spent. Huh?

There are some wonderful success stories for companies with good websites and great search engine marketing. Those SEO savvy company and website owners are like those unique individual results that the 3 a.m. infomercials make you believe anyone can lose 65 pounds in six weeks - uh, no! You need to diet and exercise to achieve your goals, and you need to have solid SEO and link bait to successfully be an advertisement publisher. When is the last time you were on MySpace or FaceBook and clicked an ad?

The point being, the billions that are being spent online is an inflated market, currently in favor advertising publishers; but, the market is overly saturated and inflated, and with ether travelers becoming more innocuous to banners and billboards. Social networking and social media websites will prove this point faster than other niches, in my opinion, crashing their worth faster than Yahoo! stock.

Okay, so many of my closest friends, colleagues et al, reading only that headline would deny it came from me. I can hear David now, ” … there’s no way that Demo-lib-tree-hugging-pacifist Rob Mineo would say ‘Yes’ to a National ID Card!” However, if Hurricane Katrine forever blemished my view of the current presidential administration, it forever swayed my view for the need of a National ID Card.

As I joined hundreds of millions of world-wide citizens looking on in horror at the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, feeling hopeless to do anything except give what we could to the Red Cross, I became convinced that a National ID Card would have greatly aided the thousands of families left wondering about their loved ones. As people entered into the stadium, other shelters, or even other cities, FEMA representatives or local officials could have easily tracked our fellow citizens’ well-being and whereabouts as necessary under the circumstances. Imagine walking into an American Red Cross shelter, swiping your ID card, no different than you swipe a card at the airport to prove identity, and immediately being put into a database showing your location (New Orleans, Houston, etc.). That same information also acts, unfortunately, as a list of who may yet not be accounted for or found as of yet.

Wink, wink - nudge, nudge!

Let’s face it, cute is memorable and it even sales.

What’s the last thing you sent or forwarded to a friend or colleague? Probably not a news story about the latest election coverage, but more likely a funny story, song or picture.

So what do you offer "off the cuff" for your users to enjoy, and more importantly, send to others to bring into your site to check it out?

Maybe you just want to share a rant ?

As headlines scroll across about Google, Viacom, lawsuits, and privacy issues, many neo-conservatives are taking up the opportunity to raise their patriotic facades to plummet deeper into our private lives once again. “If you have nothing to hide … ” is the usual response when someone raises an objection or concern. That is, until a United States Supreme Court Justices movie rental habits were released …

When our current American president called for sweeping concessions of civil liberties after 9-11, the majority of the public eagerly supported what became the Patriot Act, without knowing the full extent of the law, its provisions, and far reaching capabilities into the most intricate details of an individual. Beyond bank accounts, telephone records, and travel itineraries, the busy, bushy spooks even wanted to know what books you checked out of the library. After the tragedies of September 11, 2001, the president’s administration marketed McCarthyism style intrusions of privacy as modern day acts of patriotism.

While the recent court ruling that orders Google / YouTube to turn over search, user and history records to Viacom may seem mundane as part of a billion dollar lawsuit, where will the intrusions, speculations, profiling, and assumptions end? Will Google soon be asked by the courts to turn over usage information to employers too? What is Susie doing 100% of the time she is at work?

Mr. Orwell your party is waiting at the information counter, Mr. Orwell …