About the Open Directory Project
The Open Directory Project is the largest, most comprehensive
human-edited directory of the Web. It is constructed and maintained by
a vast, global community 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
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.
Source: The Open Directory Project (DMOZ)