15 replies to this topic

[TheGreatDane]

If I go to the google directory, and click my way down to http://directory.goo...ling/Vejle_Amt/
(I know this is in Danish, but you should be able to follow me anyway) I am NOT listed (company name SiteWise - sitewise.dk).

BUT if I go to the google directory and SEARCH for SiteWise, the result shows that I should be listed in - yes, your guess is right - in : http://directory.goo...ling/Vejle_Amt/

Anybody got a clue of what the heck is going on?

[Haystack]

I don't have an answer as to why this is happening, but I was able to recreate your issue.

BTW, Google does recognize the DMOZ link on your inbounds, and it's properly listed there:
http://dmoz.org/Worl...ling/Vejle_Amt/

[qwerty]

I know that DMOZ recently moved their search and their drill-down directory to separate servers, and one was updated before the other. My own site was recently added, but until a few days ago I could only find it in DMOZ by searching on my company name. If I looked in its category, there was no sign of it.

I don't know if that's the case with Google's version of the RDF dump, though.

[TheGreatDane]

BTW, Google does recognize the DMOZ link on your inbounds, and it's properly listed there:
http://dmoz.org/Worl...ling/Vejle_Amt/

Yes, I have notized that.

I know that DMOZ recently moved their search and their drill-down directory to separate servers, and one was updated before the other. My own site was recently added, but until a few days ago I could only find it in DMOZ by searching on my company name. If I looked in its category, there was no sign of it.

It sounds like I am experiencing somewhat the same qwerty? At first my thought was that it was just a question of some db not updated, but it has been like this for close to 3 months now.

[qwerty]

I wish I knew. Goolge picks up the RDF dump from the ODP and they do their own thing with it, so I have no idea if they've structured it so that search and drill-down are separate entities. I did a quick search on the Resource Zone to see if I could find anything, but the general rule there is that if a question has anything to do with Google, the editors just respond with something like "We're ODP, Google is Google."

[dragonlady7]

>"We're ODP, Google is Google."

But, Google uses the ODP as the source for its directory... and Google has no place for you to ask questions. ODP is the only place you can ask a question?
Man, that's frustrating.

Well, I guess, if the link from the directory still shows up in your backlinks, it's not as big an issue as it could be. Not that many people use the directory as their first approach.

Still...

I just went and tried it out, and while the danish blinded me and fried my poor tired brain, I was able as well to duplicate your problem. Very, very weird.

[qwerty]

Man, that's frustrating.

Yup, but they have a point. The ODP provides others (including Google) with the data. What those others do with that data is completely up to them, so the ODP is in no position to solve problems anyone has with accessing that data from those other sources.

I have to give them a lot of credit for the Resource Zone, though. They're very good about answering questions about what's actually going on at DMOZ, even though their frayed nerves sometimes show when they have to point out that a given question has already been asked and answered many times.

[bwelford]

I still believe there are different time cycles running for different searches for Google. And of course you now have 10 datacenters, any of which may be at a different point in the update, synchronization cycle. For example, this morning I have no links shown on cw while the other 9 show the same number as they have for the past few weeks.

I believe the updating for the basic Google search is the most current. Then you get "snapshots" for the link: search and for the toolbar PageRank. How old these snapshots are and whether they were "taken" at the same time in the past is anyone's guess.

Barry Welford

[qwerty]

I wonder how many of the datacentres have their own copy of the directory, and whether that has anything to do with the inconsistency.

I also wonder (guess I'm in a wondering mood) how often a new RDF dump is created and how often Google grabs it. I seem to recall reading about a year ago, that ODP created the dump every week or two, but I believe that was before they started experiencing a pile of technical issues. I think there was a period not too long ago when they went a few months without being able to successfully generate an RDF dump.

And by the way, what does "RDF" stand for? I've been using the term for a couple of years now, since I first heard about it, and I've got a pretty good concept of what it is, but I never knew what the name itself meant.... something data file?

[dragonlady7]

You know what, my boyfriend is currently totally obsessed with RDF, so I will ask him, and will post right back here (if he emails me back) with all the explanation you could ever want.
I know it is related to RSS, which could mean either Rich Site Syndication or Really Simple Syndication-- there are two standards and it boggles my mind. RDF is something about RSS D--- F---, and I forget. I know he told me. He'll tell me again quicker than I can find where he told me the first time...

So, sit tight, and I'll be right back!
(Google would probably tell you faster than me, but this is more fun. )

[bwelford]

Hope I'm not spoiling the fun!

Google says:
Resource Description Framework (RDF).

Now if only someone will explain what that means in English.

Barry Welford

[dragonlady7]

Answer:
"
Resource Description Framework, according to its tooltip on
<http://www.w3.org/>. The ODP's RDF dump <http://dmoz.org/rdf.html> is
exactly what it says it is ... everything in the Open Directory, as an
RDF file, for integration with your own database, whatever it may be.
"

And... he forgot his lunch. D'oh! Genius is so fleeting.

[dragonlady7]

Oh, I can explain what it means.

It's exactly what it says it is: a framework for the description of... anything, which they call "resources". For instance, we're working on a genealogical database.
So, you can describe an object (in this case, a person) and everything about that object. He showed me an example, but I don't recall how it worked.
Basically, it's a format that uses XML and defines things. A lot of bloggers have started using it (by A Lot I mean Norman Walsh and Tim Berners-Lee and people like that, not the general blogging masses)... try

http://www.foaf-project.org/
http://www.ldodds.co...af-a-matic.html
http://rdfweb.org/
and this: http://norman.walsh.name/ is an RDF blog.

Everything in his life has been categorically described and entered into a database, so that it's perfectly organized and accessible and the relationships between objects can be understood by machines.
It's actually really freakin' cool. My blog's going to use it.

It's perfect for something like the ODP, too. I think it's going to become more widely used. And it's totally inter-compatible with anything else, because it's XML.
I'm not as up on all of it as I should be, but Dave just won't stop showing me how freaking cool it is. He's been on this kick for months... I don't complain, it means I get The Coolest Website Ever...

[qwerty]

Everything in the Open Directory? Ok, not to be too difficult, but is everything.... everything? Is it all the data, all the data and the structure of the data, all the data, the structure of the data, and the code for accessing that data? Does it include some flag for new data? The presentation? Nah, it can't be the presentation. I'm guessing it's something akin to an XML feed (which I don't know enough about to discuss), or a SQL DB.

[added] oops. Answered and then asked. You beat me to the punch.

[dragonlady7]

> is everything.... everything?

Yup.
The data, the data about the data, and the whole shebang.

I don't know what it looks like, and wouldn't know the first thing about importing it, but that's what it is... Everything!