AboutUs.com

AboutUs.org is an open Internet domain directory. It operates similarly to DMOZ in that it lists websites along with information about their contents. The primary difference is that it is a wiki, with open editing. Editors may include listings of all domains and catagorize them openly. It was created by Ray King who began the site with a staff of five people.

Popularity

There were more than three million entries as of August, 2006 and the site continues to grow. Some of the more popular sites that analyze domains and traffic are now including AboutUs.org link as a point of additional reference. The advanced domain "Whois" site DomainTools, owned by name intelligence now references the Aboutus.org listing along with standard server information, domain ownership and history, and addtional data. Alexa the popular site ranking website, has it listed as of December 2, 2006 as having an average traffic ranking of Traffic Rank for aboutus.org: 2,129, with today's ranking at 911, which means it has climed exceptionally fast in the rankings.

Criticisms

A simple search engine inquiry will return many articles indicating a strong dislike by some.

The top reason cited for complaint the publishing of information on a websites registrant including mailing address and phone number. Aboutus.org defends itself saying "any "Whois" search site already gives out that information. The general public do not often make "Whois" searches and cannot or do not choose to locate a domain names owner or registrant information. AboutUs.org is a source of easy access to what is already public, but not as commonly found. The phone number of the registrant is in an image form to avoid data mining and resulting spam similar to a Whois request."

Other complaints cried foul on copyright. AboutUs.org takes an image and sampling of random text and republishes it. AboutUs.org defends this by saying Google and Alexa do the same thing, however, since AboutUs.org is a wiki, it is possible to edit off a person's name, or to paste in statements not made by the author.

One comment called for abolishment of being a "Wiki-Slave", which suggested people were working for free on someone's site, because they had to police their own website's Aboutus.org page to make sure it was accurate Ref.on Digg

Neutrality Not Required

Aboutus.org allows open editing and does not require a neutral point of view by posters. The openness of the site and allowance of opinion make AboutUs.org different from wikis such as Wikipedia, in that it is not an encyclopedia but simply a reiteration in many cases of what a webmaster lists on their standard "About Us" page on their websites and can include self promotion.

Funding

The developers of Aboutus.org have reportedly received more than one million dollars in financing for the hosting of the vast number of domain listings on the site. They have a goal and beginning funding for listing every website for inclusion, which is one reason why the site is notable.

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References:

• Article on About Us Obtaining Funding
• TechCrunch article about Aboutus.org
• Startup hits the money with biz wiki in the Portland Business Journal
• Netscape article in oposition and way to not be included in AboutUs.org
• Live example by top WhoIs site(DomainTools) referencing AboutUs.org - sample WhoIs "Wikipedia"