General FAQs
- Who runs Curlie?
- What does "Curlie" mean, and how is it related to DMOZ or the ODP?
- How is Curlie different from other directories?
- How is Curlie different from a search engine?
- How can I report suspected abuse of the directory?
- How can I link to the Directory?
- Who runs Curlie?
Curlie Project Inc. is first and foremost a self-regulating community of net-citizens. Through a system of self-governance, the volunteer editors manage the directory's growth and development, and through a system of checks-and-balances, ensure the directory is of superior quality.
The administration is by the Curlie Admins, who are a part of the editing community, all volunteers. They are responsible for editorial policies and direction, community management and development, as well as systems engineering.
Curlie is an Open Source inspired, volunteer managed initiative, committed to keeping it a free and open resource via its social contract with the Web community.
- What does "Curlie" mean, and how is it related to DMOZ or the ODP?
Formerly known as DMOZ (acronym for Directory Mozilla), the name reflected its loose association with the Mozilla project, an Open Source browser initiative. DMOZ was also historically also known as the Open Directory Project (ODP). The project was supported for many years by Netscape, and in turn by AOL, before running on its own as Curlie.
- How is Curlie different from other directories?
Other directories are developed and managed by small paid staffs. Curlie was founded on the premise that directories with small staffs can not scale to the growth of the Web, and still maintain a quality, current directory.
Curlie is developed and managed by a constantly growing community of net-citizens who are experts in their areas of interest. Given this vast community of subject expertise and the global nature of the directory, there is always someone working on the directory: processing suggestions, resolving dead links, culling out the bad and keeping only quality information, and discovering new topics to add.
Unlike with small paid staffs, Curlie editors are Web searchers creating a directory for other Web searches. This kind of philanthropy and passion creates a directory that is directly relevant to what people are looking for on the Web, and how they search the Web for information.
- How is Curlie different from a search engine?
Curlie is a Web directory, not a search engine. Although we offer a search query, the purpose of Curlie is to list and categorize web sites. We do not rank, promote or optimize sites for search engines. Curlie is simply a data provider. Its data users, such as Google, Yahoo, and AOL, install their own search functionality on their sites. Curlie has no influence or knowledge on how these search engines process search queries.
- How can I report suspected abuse of the directory?
If you suspect that a web site or editor is abusing the Directory, please provide a detailed account of your claim, using our Abuse Report Form. Suitable things to include are dates, names, links, screenshots, copies of emails, and anything else which can corroborate your claim.
- How can I link to Curlie?
We appreciate links from other web sites, and have a variety of helpful links and user-contributed banners. Check out the section on Linking to Curlie for more information.
Thanks for supporting us!