Jeremy Schoemaker, aka Shoemoney, posted on his blog that he's been extorted by a corrupt DMOZ editor. Without naming names, he was told that he'd have to pay $5000 to keep his website in the ODP.
There's been a big stir at DigitalPoint Forums (in two posts) about this, with many individuals suggesting that there's no benefit in being in DMOZ since it's nothing special. Still, however, a good number of people (and Google) put weight on the DMOZ listings and a lot of tools still put weight on it.
However, as forum members notice, DMOZ is pretty much dead and it's impossible to get your site listed there. And with corruption that dates back two years, why give juice to DMOZ at all?
Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums (thread #1) and DigitalPoint Forums (thread #2).
Update: Joost De Valk, a former DMOZ editor, adds more about the DMOZ corruption to his blog.
