[11] The website provides an online form so that visitors can submit potential matches between missing and unidentified persons, which are subsequently reviewed by volunteers prior to submission to authorities.

[2][12] After the form is completed by a reader, 16 members of the Doe Network's administrative panel evaluate the importance of the possible match and whether or not to submit it to investigators handling the case.

[13] Matthews had assisted in the 1998 identification of Barbara Ann Hackmann Taylor, who was previously nicknamed "Tent Girl" in her cold case.

[2][18][19] Over the years, the Doe Network has been recognized for its work as one of a number of amateur groups who use the Internet to assist families and law enforcement with trying to identify missing persons and unidentified victims.

[26][27] Criswell, who had been missing from Spokane, Washington, was identified after family members saw the case file on the Doe Network of an unidentified teen found in Arizona.

[28] Samantha Bonnell's mother recognized a facial reconstruction created by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, usually for the use of law enforcement, which the Doe Network posted in its Internet file of the young woman.

[32] The Doe Network has been criticized for forwarding too much unrelated data to law enforcement officials, according to a 2008 interview with Matthews by National Public Radio.