Interested users should use last month's column as a guide. We will discuss certain features of these directories to help users analyze which ones are most applicable to them. These features should help you to determine the amount of filtering and quality analysis that has taken place in each directory. The reason for this is that each subject index uses different subject terms and arranges subject hierarchies differently. You may or may not find the same resource under the same term or hierarchy in Yahoo and Galaxy, for example.
Ratings are of course subjective, and depend largely on the following.
You must know what the rating system is in order to determine what it means. Most rated directories use similar criteria, but they should state those criteria clearly. Most of the subject indexes that rate are fairly obscure when it comes to actually identifying who does the rating. The annotation should give the user a concise idea of site content before he or she connects to it. If an index discriminates in the sites it contains, and annotates those sites, the user has the benefit of a double filter, and thus has a better chance of finding quality resources.