Who knows what they mean. I just pointed out what they wrote and each person reading it can come up with their own interpretations. I think just about all of the directories which promote themselves have some type of editorial reviews. My site www.linkspub.com which is a directory goes a step further and make sure people submitting their site have a valid email from their domain so I know the person submitting it is authorized to do so.
Actually when you submit site to DMOZ you gain quality link(s) not because DMOZ is so great , but also you know there are LOT of dirs which are complete DMOZ clones. Anyway they closed atm.
And thanks for pointing out the link where Google says "submit to Yahoo and DMOZ". Hehe - I think all directories should link to that stated "policy".