DMOZ Game Plan

The state of DMOZ: “I need to figure out how to get a few new websites into DMOZ. About 5 years ago I created a random site and submitted it to DMOZ and was accepted. Since that time I’ve not touched the site but it has enjoyed #1 rankings ever since. Many of my other sites have not seen anything close to that success. Only thing I can think to attribute it to – is DMOZ. So a few questions: 1. Is it just me or is DMOZ still *very* important? 2. Is DMOZ still being maintained? 3. Should I submit brand new sites, or wait for them to age and rank in the SEs a bit first? 4. Any other strategy I should adhere to? 5. Anything else out there working these days like DMOZ (did)?” (-subscription required)