When it takes up to two years to get a web site listed, there's a serious problem. When perfectly qualified web sites are rejected for no other reason than fact editor considers them serious competition to his or her own site, there's a serious problem.

When you e-mail DMOZ about status of your web site and don't even receive a courtesy response to your questions, there's a serious problem.

When you have egotistical DMOZ editors fighting each other to have their own web sites listed, there's a serious problem.

And quite frankly, I don't see how mess DMOZ has created can be fixed. With an apparently endless backlog of web sites waiting to be approved, how can they possibly catch up. The answer is, they can't.

But this isn't just a performance issue we're talking about here, this is a morality issue. The very fact that it's a matter of public record what DMOZ is doing speaks volumes about character of many of their editors.

After all, much of what I've written negatively about DMOZ came directly from mouths and/or keyboards of DMOZ editors themselves. At least they claimed to be DMOZ editors. And for life of me, I can't imagine why anyone would want to own up to that dubious distinction, unless it were actually true.

I will give example of Bidz.com. Bidz.com uses Flash technology to constantly update in real-time auction bids right before your very eyes! The price goes up, up, up and time clicks away ... down, down, down!. Add flashing green highlights for added new bids and red flashing for ominous approaching 0 minute and to say least, it is quite thrilling.

On Bidz home page, there is a link that says 3-minute auctions. This is a separate category all by itself. If you click that link you are taken to 3 minute auctions, usually consisting of jewelry. (Note: See end of article for "The 3 minute auction - too good to be true?")

A word of caution: It takes a little finesse to bid at these fast-paced auctions - and I mean FAST! You must be EXTREMELY CAREFUL when bidding. The highest bid I came across on my visit was for $1500. My advice would be to practice on dollar starting bids. Bids quickly escalate to $15 and $30. In words of BidZ:

"If you are bidding on items in 3 Minute Auctions category, you will not be notified if you are outbid. These auctions move very quickly, so you have to monitor your winning bids very carefully."

Back on 3 minute auction page of BidZ, what do you see? From left to right: product picture, item number, title, price, bids, and time left. The "bids" and "time left" are where auction action is at. But just as its nearing 0 minutes left, it jumps up to more time left - what gives? According to Bidz.com: