The Samizdat software implements the principle of "open moderation" (Open Editing) for creating the structure of the site. This means that this process is open for all participants in the project, and everyone with internet access can observe the process.

The entire structure rests on the connection between the messages (resources) and the themes (foci), to which these messages relate. Any participant in the site (registered user), by means of open voting, can create such connections, though the software also makes it technically possible to limit access to voting only by the fixed list of moderators.

A connection is created as follows.

• The first step: choose a theme, called a "focus", to which you wish to link a message ("resource"). This can be either an already existing theme (focus) or it can be any already existing message (resource), which will gain the status of a theme (focus) after the connection has been made.
  For a new theme (focus), it is best to choose a message whose title clearly represents that theme, and whose text describes the essence of the theme (if it is not obvious from the name).
• Go to the message (resource) which represents the theme you want, and scroll down to the section "Related Focuses", located below the text of the message. You will find text something like "Focus on this resource" or "to select this resource as the current focus". (This text is present only if the user has a right to connect resources to foci). Click on that text in order that your chosen theme (focus) becomes the active (selected) focus.
• The second step: go to the message (resource) which you wish to connect to the theme (focus). Scroll down to the section "Related Focuses".
• Now you should find your previously selected theme (focus) listed as one of the related focuses. If you are authorised to "vote", you can then click on vote and then choose the degree to which you consider the resource to be related to the focus.
• Third step. The votes range from -2 to +2. The vote of each individual user is stored separately and can be changed subsequently. The collective estimate of the connection strength is defined as the arithmetic mean of all votes. Choose your vote from -2 to +2 and then click on submit to make the connection.

If the collective estimate of the connection strength is more than 0, then the message (resource) is linked to the theme (focus) and is listed on the page of that theme, sorted according by publication date.

If the collective estimate of the connection strength is greater than the threshold value for "theme messages" (by default a value of 1.5), then this message is also included on the main page in the theme column, sorted according to the date/time of when it was first linked to this theme.