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Forbes.com
Forbes is a site that is not a regular site for me but when I read the news online every day on AOL or Yahoo I always see a link to Forbes for one of those "Richest People in the World" or "Most Powerful Celebrities" lists. These always seem to pique one's interest but after I click on it the site starts off with one of those full-screen ads with the "Skip this welcome screen" link at the top. Then after I get to the main site it brings me to the overall menu page where I have to go find what I was originially looking for. Then after I find the list I was looking for it pops up in one of those Java-coded windows that erases the navigation links and is opened in a preset window size so you have to resize the window right away to see anything. About 75% of the screen is taken up with ads. Then the list of people, which can be as many as 25 or more people, is shown as a slideshow where each person is shown with a picture with absolutely no text. The slideshow is annoying. They have controls where you can make it go faster or slower or stop totally but if you stop the slideshow and try to scroll through manually it just restarts the slideshow. These extra options for functionality are a great example of making things more complicated just makes the viewing experience hell. |
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Classmates.com
Classmates.com has always been an annoying site. The site has been the exact same as it always has been since the mid-90's. There were no functional or aesthetic updates. The worst part is that any features that people actually want to use are paid-only features. The sites boasts that is has so many users but it seems like all of the people who have signed up have just signed up to see who else signed up and have entered the minimum amount of information. They also advertise through pop-up banner ads all over the web as if we don't already know about them. |
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MySpace.com
Right now MySpace is all the rage online and off. But so much of it seems like hype. I understand that the 14 to 18 year old market has a real use for this site. Generation Y is the first generation to have the Internet as they grow up and are integrating it into their life more than older generations. And because the kids in this age group don't have drivers' licenses they can sit home and talk online. But for some reason MySpace is also popular among the 25 to 35 age group and I'm not sure why.
MySpace pages have the crappiest designed pages on the web. It reminds me of the old AOL Hometown pages amateurs used to make during the 1996-1999 era. I'm not talking about pages having a "non-professional look". I'm talking about a design so bad that the page actually becomes non-functional - like pages having a black background and a dark grey font color while also having a non-scrolling image background. Or pages with 4,000 images that take a half hour to load. Or images so big they break the design. MySpace pages makes Goecities pages look like fucking Picasso. Not to mention the site doesn't even load half the time. |
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About.com
The worst thing about this site is the advertising. It starts off with the monster 750 x 90 banner at the top. Then they have the skyscraper banner going down the side. Then they have a text ad box above it. And then they top it off with the most annoying advertising on the Internet - the Sponsored Links which break up and article so you have to scroll down just to read the last paragraph.
Then as far as content goes, it seems to be very disorganized. They basically pay people to write articles on random topics so there seems to be many topics that overlap and multiple articles on the same topic. And the information is poorly organized. When you click on a topic to go to an article it will give you a menu of articles. And the menu looks exactly like the sponsored ads that are infesting the site so I can't even tell what is an ad and what isn't. Granted, the tons of content is done to get good SEO as well as build up a competitive advantage over other sites and it seems to be working somewhat, but About.com is one of those big sites that I'll make a specific effort to not go to it even if I need to. |
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Hotmail.com
Hotmail.com isn't an obvious choice but I think to deserves to be here. It has lagged the two other big free email sites (Yahoo and GMail) in improving their services. They have always had less space and seem to offer additional benefits reluctantly. This wouldn't be bad if it were a small startup but this site is run by Microsoft and they have enough resources to make it the best. Hotmail also deletes user accounts for non-activity quicker than other email sites. I have always used Hotmail accounts as my backup email (for website signups, etc.) but they kept getting deleted. And Hotmail seems to have more spam than anyone. |
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