Frequently Asked Questions
The questions that come up most often.
Q1 Is Moyu Paradise free?
Yes, entirely. There is no paid tier, no premium categories and no account to create. The site is supported by display advertising, which is why you may see ads between listings.
Q2 Do I need to install anything or sign up?
No. Every listing is a website that runs in a normal browser tab. There are no accounts to create, nothing to subscribe to and nothing to install — the site works the same whether you have been here before or not.
Q3 How are sites chosen?
By hand, and by one rule above all: it has to actually work. Every link is opened and checked before it goes live, and anything that is dead, redirects to a parking page, or needs a desktop app to do anything useful is left out. Beyond that, entries are chosen for being worth the click rather than merely existing — a site that duplicates something already listed only gets in if it does the job better.
Q4 Why do some sites in the list not open for me?
The usual cause is geography or a corporate network rather than a dead link. Some sites are blocked or throttled from certain countries, and plenty of workplace networks block anything categorised as games or entertainment. Links are re-checked periodically, but if one is genuinely gone, reporting it gets it removed rather than left there.
Q5 Is it safe to open these sites at work?
Every listing is checked for the obvious hazards: no drive-by downloads, no sites that exist purely to farm ad impressions, no adult content. That said, this is a directory of things to do instead of working, so what is safe for your network and your manager is a judgement only you can make — which is exactly why the look-busy category exists.
Q6 Is my browsing tracked here?
This site sets no first-party tracking cookies and asks you for no personal information. Your favourites and language choice are stored in your own browser and never sent anywhere. Third-party advertising and analytics providers may set their own cookies; the privacy policy explains exactly how to opt out.
Q7 How often is the list updated?
There is no fixed schedule. New sites go in whenever something genuinely worth opening turns up, and links that stop working are removed during the same passes. Nothing is added automatically and nobody can pay for a place.
Q8 What does "moyu" mean?
"Moyu" (摸鱼) is Chinese for sneaking a bit of personal time out of the working day — literally "feeling for fish", from the idea of staying busy-looking at the surface while doing something else entirely underneath. It is a much nicer word than "procrastinating", which is roughly why this site is named after it.
Q9 Can I get my site removed from the list?
Yes. Owners of listed sites can have an entry removed without giving a reason, and it is deleted rather than hidden. Requests from owners take priority over everything else here.