Editing in the Open-site can be a fun and gratifying experience. By joining the Open-site, you are helping to build the most comprehensive and widely distributed encyclopedia of the web. The Open-site is a diverse community of editors representing many nationalities, cultures, and interests. The common denominator is an interest in creating an unbiased, objective resource for the general public, fully covering the breadth and depth of human knowledge, and representing all topics and points of view.

The project guidelines outline the principles and standards governing the Open-site's editorial content and community activity. All editors are expected to follow these guidelines, and use them as a basis for good editorial decision making and common-sense judgment. While there are definitive polices given here, many guidelines are sufficiently generalized to allow for unique and special circumstances. While it is critical that you follow these guidelines, it is equally important that you not apply them so rigidly that you sacrifice user-friendliness for the sake of editorial purity. Use these guidelines as a basis for your editorial decisions as well as category specific charters. Remember to always keep the end-user in mind.

Each section of these guidelines is described below.

Selecting and Evaluating Content Content Selection Criteria - Covers content to include and not to include. Content Specific Guidelines - Explains guidelines for specifics types of content. Describing information Editing Style Guidelines - Includes details regarding the recommended style to be used when writing Open-site content. Organizing Content Subcategories - Explains creating and naming subcategories. Category Features - Covers alphabet bars and @links. Link Maintenance Link Errors (Robozilla) - Details regarding link maintenance. Spamming - Outlines policy on spam submissions. Editor Information Accounts - Explains that multiple logins are prohibited, and provides common reasons for removal. Communication and Codes of Conduct - Covers e-mail, editor forums, communications privacy, writing to submitters, and editor abuse. Conflicts of Interest - Explains how editors are required to be totally objective in their editing practices. Copyright Information and Data Users - Provides policy on copyright, and information on data users.