Up to about about two years ago, DMOZ was probably a V.Good idea. So I gather, anyway. But as GreenGuy has said, so was Communism: Like best intentions don't always mean best results or returns for the masses
Not so sure that GG [and others] got turfed out for being 'big', but the whole perspective of that project seems to have changed, withered and become mostly useless these days
Perhaps they got bored with adult sites [as there are so many, and so many are so bad], or maybe they just can't be arsed to complete what they set out to do. Know I get days like that
Either way, we're all probably better off not worrying about it - just so long as Google sees you in the top 10-20 ???