Every listing in the Prother directory clears the same six standards. We publish them because evaluators deserve to know what "listed" means, and because makers deserve a checklist instead of a mystery. This post documents each standard and the reasoning behind it.
S1. Live & accessible
If a reviewer can't use it right now, it's not a listing, it's a promise. Tools must be live at a working URL: no waitlists as landing pages, no "coming soon" with a screenshot. A dead link or a gated demo fails S1; the most common fix is shipping the demo you already have.
S2. AI-native
The core value must be powered by AI/ML. "AI button bolted on" is the most common rejection reason, and the most common reason users churn after clicking. A form builder with a model in a modal is not AI-native; a document tool where the model is the editor is.
S3. Complete listing
Logo, a ≤60-character tagline, an informative description, working links, honest pricing. Thin listings get thin traffic: the standard exists because evaluators compare tools side by side, and a listing with three words and a broken link wastes everyone's fifteen minutes.
S4. Honest presentation
No fake "free," no inflated claims, no screenshots of features that don't exist yet. If the free tier has a hard cap, the listing says so. If the model is a fine-tune of someone else's work, say whose. Evaluators forgive honest limitations; they don't forgive discovering them after signup.
S5. Safe & legal
Obvious, still enforced. No malware distribution, no privacy-hostile data practices presented as features, no categories we can't responsibly index.
S6. English listing
Your product can serve any market; your listing must be legible to reviewers and to the evaluators browsing the directory. Localized products are welcome: the listing itself needs English copy alongside.
How the standards get applied
Every submission is reviewed by an editor against S1–S6 before it appears in the directory. Rejections name the failed standard(s) with a one-click resubmit: the median fix time is under a day. None of the standards are about size or budget: a two-person team with a working product and an honest listing clears all six. That's the point.