Mini:Dmoz

The Open Directory Project (ODP), also known as dmoz is a multilingual catalog of Web links owned by AOL. It is constructed and maintained by a community of volunteer editors. The Open Directory Project is a human edited catalog of web content containing over 5 million links, and its content is redistributable under a specific open content license which was criticized by the GNU foundation for not being a truly free content license.

[edit] Editor Structure

Dmoz has a hierarchal editor structure consisting of many different editing levels and privileges the most significant of these are "category editor", "catmods", "editall", "meta", and "admin". Category editors can edit in specific categories where they have been accepted and all the categories "below" them in the directory structure. Catmods can edit anywhere in a single branch of the directory. Catmods are often found in the non-English portion of the directory. Editall can edit anywhere in the directory. Metas can accept new editors and remove privileges from existing editors. Admins have greater access, and they are able to make some system wide changes and are tasked with leading the community.

[edit] Listing Process

URLs are submitted by the public or found by editors. Submissions are filtered against a blacklist before being listed in a category's unreviewed heap. Each category in the directory includes a list of websites. The websites are broken into two main groups, reviewed and unreviewed. Submitted websites are unreviewed until an editor with permission to edit in that category "lists" them. Then they become viewable by the public.

[edit] Site Inclusion

Editors are expected to follow the editorial guidelines. Specifically editors are supposed to seek out for inclusion:

1. Original, unique and valuable informational content that contributes something unique to the category's subject.
2. Contrasting points of view on major issues.

There is also a list of types of sites that should be avoided. The list includes many types of sites that are built specifically for SEO.

1. Identical Mirrors
2. Redirects and "Cloaked" URLs
3. Site Listings Including Search Results
4. Spider Food, Lead Generators, and Content Mills

Affiliate Marketing sites and sites which are designed to sell or distribute single products are also specifically excluded from listing. Illegal sites are also proscribed.