ZOMDir's FAQ answered

This FAQ is based on questions asked in the original FAQ wiki of ZOMDir. For maintenance reasons this original FAQ wiki is now replaced with this website. The only way to ask a new question now is by sending an e-mail to zomdir@gmail.com.

More information regarding ZOMDir could also be found at the pages About ZOMDir and What is ZOMDir?.

 

Quick links

Functional questions

  1. What is the purpose of ZOMDir.com?
  2. What is the target audience of ZOMDir?
  3. Is ZOMDir useful for Search Engine Optimalisation (SEO)?
  4. The removal of a link is very easy. Aren't you afraid of abuse?
  5. Does ZOMDir has a moderator?
  6. Why are not all letters available in the index?
  7. Is it possible to create a private collection of links?
  8. Do you have a businesscase for ZOMDir?

Technical questions

  1. Which language did you use to program ZOMDir.com?
  2. Why is it called ZOMDir?
  3. Is ZOMDir's logo the salamander of Escher?
  4. When I want to add a website I sometimes get the message that the webpage is not found. I know the webpage exists. So what is happening?
  5. Does ZOMDir get many visits?
  6. Do you log who added a link?
  7. Sometime when I add a new page, to the Dutch directory, the title contains the phrase **English**. Why?
  8. Sometimes I get a “404:Page not found” error message that states “The requested URL /wiki/nl/anything/anywhere was not found on this server.” Why?

Functional questions

What is the purpose of ZOMDir.com?

 

ZOMDir.com is a link directory with wiki characteristics. So you could browse the link directory, but also add links.
When you want to add a link, please add a link at the correct page. When the page is related to a location, use the appropiate location, otherwise use the “location” Anywhere. Please, first think before you add a link. You should answer the question: “Where should my link be found?”.
Read the guidelines, view this Slideshare presentation and this Prezi.

What is the target audience of ZOMDir?

 

The target audience of ZOMDir.com are webmasters who want to promote their website. When there are over the 100,000 links ZOMDir will be probably interesting for the average internet user.
However a tool like Internet Speed at a Glance might be useful for almost everyone.
BTW an overview of all tools created for ZOMDir could be found at the page Spin-offs.

Is ZOMDir useful for Search Engine Optimalisation (SEO)?

 

ZOMDir is unlike almost every other link directory highly automated with some smart rules to ensure the quality of the link directory.
Not only isn't it possible to add a link twice (which prevents spam), it also isn't possible to add an 'unsafe' link. A page will automatically added to the sitemap when there are at least 5 links at a page. Pages with less than 5 links are considered automatically as low quality and get the noindex tag.
ZOMDir is free to use, so there are no paid links at all. Hence every link at ZOMDir is a 'do follow' link.
So, yes, I think ZOMDir might be useful for Search Engine Optimalisation when you add links at relevant pages.

The removal of a link is very easy. Aren't you afraid of abuse?

 

No, I'm not afraid of abuse. In general people tend to build rather than destroy. Easy removal of a link is essential for a quality directory. Unlike other directories due to this feature (and the automated check for broken links) linkrot will be probably no problem at all. However when you are afraid for abuse I suggest that you subscribe to the newsfeed of the page where your link is located. You will find the newsfeed icon at the lower left of each page.

Does ZOMDir has a moderator?

 

There is no formal moderator. Everyone might moderate one or more pages (or even the whole linkdirectory).
Tools for moderators are the RSS feed at every pages and the overviews of added links, removed links and the history of the site structure.
Besides that are some guidelines automatically forced by the website itself. For example it is not possible to submit an URL twice. It is also not possible to add an "unsafe" webpage.

Why are not all letters available in the index?

 

This is because the index is based on the available subjects. If there is no subject with the letter “Q”, the letter “Q” will not appear in the index. However when you create a subject which begins with a “Q”, you will see the letter “Q” in the index. You can try this feature at the site try.zomdir.com

Is it possible to create a private collection of links?

 

No, that will be practically impossible. Besides that ZOMDir doesn't want to know who you are, there is a rule implemented that a link is allowed only once in the directory. You might try ZEEF.

Do you have a businesscase for ZOMDir?

 

No, not yet. I use Google App Engine. Google promises me more than five million free pageviews per month. Although I initial thought one million free pageviews is more realistic due to the chosen architecture for ZOMDir.com. However my assumption was wrong. Due to the amount of storage and CPU capacity needed for ZOMDir, I owe Google a fee every month.
Hence the business case is purely negative in financial terms, but ZOMDir can also be considered a hobby project. Seen from this point of view, it is still a very affordable hobby.
Funfact, when I showed ZOMDir to the Chamber of Commerce I was told that registering was not useful. ZOMDir is therefore officially a hobby project.

Technical questions

Which language did you use to program ZOMDir.com?

 

ZOMDir.com is programmed in Python at Google App Engine.

Why is it called ZOMDir?

 

I wanted to re-invent DMOZ. Reverse the bold letters and you have ZOMDir.
DMOZ was one of the oldest directories of the web. In the past a link in DMOZ was very important for a good ranking in search engines.
Curlie is the successor of DMOZ.
BTW: DMOZ is an abbreviation of Directory Mozilla. Mozilla once developed an browser engine named Gecko. So there is some similarity in the logo's used.
Another funfact is that ZOMDir was put into use exactly 15 years after DMOZ.
In honor of DMOZ, the first link added to ZOMDir was dmoz.org.

When I want to add a website I sometimes get the message that the webpage is not found. I know the webpage exists. So what is happening?

 

There could be a couple or reasons:
(1) the website is to slow to detect
(2) the website redirects to another page with meta refresh
(3) the website responds with an http status code unequal to 200 Ok

Does ZOMDir get many visits?

 

I do not know. I'm only counting the number of links. See the stats which are kept since the launch on June 5, 2013.

Do you log who added a link?

 

No, ZOMDir does not log who visited ZOMDir or added (or modified or deleted) a link.
ZOMDir even doesn't use cookies. For more information see the Privacy Policy.

Sometime when I add a new page, to the Dutch directory, the title contains the phrase **English**. Why?

 

Well, the reason is that the webmaster of that page has indicated that the language used on that page is “English”. Because you add a page to the Dutch directory you get a signal that probably this page should be part of the “English” directory.

Sometimes I get a “404:Page not found” error message that states “The requested URL /wiki/nl/anything/anywhere was not found on this server.” Why?

 

his error occurs when I update the website with a new version. This is a rare error due to the fact that the update process takes only a few seconds. Sorry, I can't avoid that this occurs.

Other questions

Do you have another question regarding ZOMDir, and you can't find the answer?

Please let me know by sending an e-mail to zomdir@gmail.com.