The Open Grid Index and DirectoryOpen Grid Project - The New Way To IndexThe Open Grid index project and directory begins with the question of Who exactly decides which sites get listed or indexed if you will in a search engine or directory? "Editors", "Guides", and "Site Specialists" have allways made that choice. In other words very small groups of individuals that work inside the directory decide the fate of millions of sites. On the other side of the coin, for those who do not manually submit their sites, the responsibilty of indexing the internet is left to wandering search engine bots to map the internet. Indexing websites should be free, however when it became apparent that charging for this as a service would force site owners to pay in order to be found, capitalism took over the reigns of mapping the internet. Unfortunately, that leaves many great sites out of the loop and limits searchers. Hence, OpenGrid believes that not only should listings remain free for webmasters, but they should remain free in order for the users of the internet to easily find thoses sites. From a searcher's or webmaster's point of view we believe that this power should not be bestowed upon any single individual, inner group, or search engine bot, but rather all users of Internet search should have the power to index websites. Indeed, directories that rely upon insiders to index the Internet has lead to many problems. Which ever way the insiders use their positions for bad or good it inevitably leads to an inaccurate map of the Internet for searchers. No doubt corruption and scalability issues have tainted all of the insider built directories. At Open Grid we believe that giving the public and webmasters the ability to help index the Internet will provide the most relevant search results, or as Clay Shirky wrote "The Only Group That Can Categorize Everything Is Everybody". We also believe in providing websites an easy alternative to being listed and found in an index rather than relying upon a single individual, small group, or automated process to decide if the site is worthy of being indexed. While it takes up to a year or more to get listed in other directories, we are going to streamline this process in order for websites to be listed in a much more reasonable time period. Wondering when your site will be listed on the internet, if ever, is not an acceptable in our opinion. What about scalability? Well the infamous quote about link rot has many heads. On one side of the coin other directories had problems keeping up with defunct listings while an alternative directory has the problem of not enough man power to review sites that have been submitted. Again, by opening the door to allow the public to help index the Internet will allow for a larger scalability than has ever been seen before. There is no doubt more users of the Internet than sites. What about spamming the directory? No doubt the public will be the best judge of what spam is and allowed to help keep it out of the directory. At the same time we will use several pre filters in order to keep the quality of listings at a high standard. We get the part about the Grid, but what does the Open part stand for? As it states on our about page: Open as in: An open index. Open minded. Open to change. Accessible to all. Open to suggestions. Open to reviews of submitted sites. Open forums for editors and the public. Affording unobstructed entrance and exit; not shut or closed. Open opportunity for editors to be equal in that they all can edit anywhere in the directory. What is the open invitation to join all about? Some aspects of the directory require editors and we are always looking for talented individuals who have an interest in helping with the project. One very important note on editors, unlike other directories our editors will all have the ability to edit anywhere in the directory. Hence, all editorial power will be equally distributed. This type of system will greatly reduce the power issues seen at other directories and it also allows for expedited editing. At the same time, editors have a direct connection to end users allowing them to communicate with webmasters and users which is not available at other directories. Editors and the public are encouraged to use the Open Forums as a communication tool to help each other build a better directory. What is the status of the project? We are currently in the developmental stages like any other live directory and working in semi stealth mode. However, you can find the directory and search function here.
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