  <h1 align="center">Redirecting URLs</h1>
  <ul class="toc">    
  <li><a href="#what">What Are Redirecting URLs?</a></li>
  <li><a href="#why">Why Doesn't DMOZ List Such URLs?</a> </li>
  <li><a href="#how">How Do I Identify a Redirecting URL?</a></li>
  <li><a href="#seealso">See Also:</a></li>
  </ul>
  <h2><a name="what"></a>What Are Redirecting URLs?</h2><p></p>
  <p> URLs which resolve to another URL. For example, the URL http://example.com/ 
    may, when accessed, take you to http://products.example.com/ . </p>
  <h2><a name="why"></a>Why Doesn't DMOZ List Such URLs?</h2>
  <p>They are frequently used by site owners in an attempt to obtain multiple 
    listings for the same site. For example, consider two URLs: <code>http://www.unscrupulous-company.com/ 
    </code>and <code>http://www.the-unscrupulous-company.info/</code> , which 
    redirects to the former. If one editor listed <code>http://www.unscrupulous-company.com/</code> 
    , then another editor, who received a submission for <code>http://www.the-unscrupulous-company.info/</code> 
    , wouldn't necessarily know that both sites contained the same content, and 
    the site may receive two listings -- a situation prohibited by the Guidelines. 
    In addition, by masking the real URL of a site, redirecting URLs may confuse 
    <a href="/ddp/06014/">Robozilla</a>, the automated 
    link checker, thus preventing inaccessible URLs being flagged -- this is clearly 
    undesirable, as it increases the likelihood of a user choosing a dead link. 
  </p>
  <h2><a name="how"></a>How Do I Identify a Redirecting URL?</h2>
  <p>It completely depends on the type of redirect used, however there are some 
    common types: </p>
  <ol>
    <li><b>'Vanity URLs'<br>
      </b>There are a vast number of companies that offer free, advertising-supported 
      redirection services, whereby a user can sign-up to have a URL such as redirect.com/user 
      that redirects to their actual URL of <code>http://users.isp.net/homepages/u/user234/</code> 
      . Such services are popular because the URLs they provide are shorter and 
      easier to remember than many user's real ones. Common redirection services 
      include CJB.net; go.to/; ipfox.com; and iscool.net, and such URLs are useful 
      to remember so that you can recognise them where necessary.<br>
      <br>
      Typically, these services employ 'cloaking': a technique which results in 
      the redirect URL remaining in the browser's address bar, even as you navigate 
      to different pages on the site; as opposed to non-cloaked URLs, whereby 
      you see the URL change, as you browse the site. In these cases, the real 
      URL of the site is typically available from the page's source code, however 
      if you are unfamiliar with such things, finding this URL can be a difficult 
      process. Another method to try is -- depending on the availability of this 
      feature in the browser you use -- to copy the address of an internal link 
      to your clipboard, and paste it into your browser's address bar. This should 
      provide you with the real URL of a sub-page, from which you should be able 
      to navigate back to the site's main page, and then capture the site's real 
      URL...confused yet? <br>
      <br>
      Alternatively, if the URL you are dealing with is a <a href="http://www.cjb.net/">CJB.net</a> 
      one, you can use <a href="http://www.rpfuller.com/odp/decjb.html">DeCJB</a> 
      to find the real URL easily. It is important to note that not all such services 
      offer solely URL redirection; some offer a dynamic DNS service. If this 
      is a foreign concept to you, just remember that not all such URLs, specifically 
      CJB.net ones, are redirects.<br>
      <br>
    </li>
    <li>The easiest type of redirection to identify, happens when you access a 
      URL, e.g. <code>http://www.example.com/</code> , and the address in your 
      browser's URL bar immediately changes to another address, e.g. <code>http://www.example.com/content/main.htm</code> 
      . In these instances, list the shortest, canonical URL, e.g., in this case, 
      <code>http://www.example.com/</code> .<br>
      <br>
    </li>
    <li> In a similar vein to the above type, there are immediate redirects that 
      are browser/session independent. That is to say, the final URL the user 
      is directed to will differ depending on their browser make/version and/or 
      the time they accessed the site; the page they accessed the URL from; or 
      some other criteria. Again, the shortest, canonical URL should be listed. 
      For example, <code>http://example.org/</code> may, on access by the Internet 
      Explorer browser, redirect to <code>http://example.org/index-ie.html</code> 
      but when accessed via Netscape, redirect to <code>http://example.org/index-ns.html</code> 
      -- list <code>http://example.org/</code> .</li>
  </ol>
  <p>Don't worry if this article has confused you, just try your best to list 
    site's real URLs as opposed to redirects, and ask in the New Editors forum 
    if you have any questions. </p>
   <h2><a name="seealso"></a>See Also:</h2>
   <ul>
   	<li><a href="/ddp/07007/">Trailing Slashes</a> - Explains what they are, the effect of adding them, and what to do about them.</li>
   </ul>

