| The Open Directory Project is the largest, most
comprehensive human-edited directory of the Web. It is constructed
and maintained by a vast, global army of volunteer
editors. |
The Republic of the Web
| The web continues to grow at staggering rates. Automated search
engines are increasingly unable to turn up useful results to search
queries. The small paid editorial staffs at commercial directory
sites can't keep up with submissions, and the quality and
comprehensiveness of their directories has suffered. Link rot is
setting in and they can't keep pace with the growth of the
Internet.
Instead of fighting the explosive growth of the Internet, the
Open Directory provides the means for the Internet to organize
itself. As the Internet grows, so do the number of net-citizens.
These citizens can each organize a small portion of the web and
present it back to the rest of the population, culling out the bad
and useless and keeping only the best
content. |
The Definitive Catalog of the Web
| The Open Directory follows in the footsteps of some of the most
important editor/contributor projects of the 20th century. Just as
the Oxford English Dictionary became the definitive word on words
through the efforts of a volunteers, the Open Directory follows in
its footsteps to become the definitive catalog of the Web.
The Open Directory was founded in the spirit of the Open Source
movement, and is the only major directory that is 100% free.
There is not, nor will there ever be, a cost to submit a site to the
directory, and/or to use the directory's data. The Open Directory
data is made available for free to anyone who agrees to comply with
our free use license. |
The Internet Brain
| The Open Directory is the most widely distributed data base of
Web content classified by humans. Its editorial standards body
of net-citizens provide the collective brain behind resource
discovery on the Web. The Open Directory powers the core
directory services for the Web's largest and most popular search
engines and portals, including Netscape Search, AOL Search, Google,
Lycos, HotBot, DirectHit, and hundreds of
others. |
You Can Make a Difference
| Like any community, you get what you give. The Open Directory
provides the opportunity for everyone to contribute.
Signing up is easy: choose a topic you know something
about and join. Editing categories is a snap. We have a
comprehensive set of tools for adding, deleting, and updating links
in seconds. For just a few minutes of your time you can help make
the Web a better place, and be recognized as an expert on your
chosen topic. |
Join the Open Directory Project
- Find a category that you would like to maintain.
- Follow the Become an Editor link at the top of the
category page.
Note that some categories do not have a
Become an Editor link; you should find a more specific category
which interests you, and apply there. Once you have joined, and gained
some experience, you can apply for more general
categories.
The Open Directory Project is copyrighted by Netscape. Surfers Choice has been some subtle changes to it for use on this site.
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