Directories check their listings
Link directories check the addresses they list
What a green badge means
That something answered at that address and rendered a page. That is the whole claim, and it is the only thing cheap enough to automate.
A phishing clone answers. It answers faster than the real platform, because it carries no load and runs no defences. Every automated status system in this space would show it green, and most would show it green with a better response time than the genuine article.
The four stages, all identical from outside
| Stage | What you see | What is happening |
|---|---|---|
| Active | Timestamps move, entries come and go | Somebody is actually looking |
| Coasting | Timestamps move, entries never change | A script runs, nobody reads the output |
| Abandoned | Looks exactly like active | Nothing checked in months |
| Sold | Looks exactly like active | Different owner, and the addresses have changed |
The last row is a business rather than an accident. A directory with steady traffic and an inattentive owner is worth buying precisely because its readers will not notice the handover, and nothing on the page changes when it happens.
What they are good for
Cross referencing, and only that. One directory tells you nothing. Three independently run directories agreeing is weak evidence and it is real evidence, because getting one wrong address into three separately operated lists is meaningfully harder than getting it into one.
Independently is doing the work in that sentence. Sites in this space copy each other heavily, so three lists carrying the same address are frequently one source wearing three hats, and from outside that looks identical to agreement. Aggregation inherits every upstream error, which is also why the largest and most complete looking directories are usually the most derivative.