Bob J.

I ran across Professor Messer's videos on youtube and had to check out his site. His videos are incredibly simple to follow and he doesn't bog them down with a lot of extra nonsense.

If you want to study for the A+ exam or just want to get involved in a great IT community - check it out.

There is a lot of free content - but paid content is also available on some of the beefier IT subjects.

I considered putting 4 stars here just because I haven't personally purchased anything from the site - but I simply can't find a reason to. Professor Messer seems like a very nice guy who just wants to help educate the community and why shouldn't he offer paid lessons?

Obviously this site is very professional. It is a networking and quasi-social site revolving around your professional persona. The only reason it gets 4 stars instead of 5 for me is that I don't know that it actually does anything for me.

Sure, I can network to my heart's content - but I'm not finding job listings there. Sure, I can read lots of industry related articles but I can read those at a number of sites. Sure, employers can read my profile information and send me messages if it fits their bill but they can do that at most job sites.

It's a very solid site with a pretty sleek and easy-to-use interface. I would bump this to a 5 if the actual job listing functions were a bit more robust.

REASONS TO USE
[1] Interface is simple and easy to use
[2] Professional substitute/equivalent to facebook - you can avoid all the facebook drama
[3] It can, potentially, teach you a lot about your own personal, professional persona

REASONS TO LOSE
[1] Not a very robust job search utility
[2] Pesters you to add more to your profile even if it's finished and requests to get into your email to find contacts to add (repeatedly)

Etsy is a solid site that has been around since about 2005. The site itself is clean, navigable, and easy to use. Several of the reviews here on SJ have been about specific sellers - that's not what this review is about.

Like several other online sales sites - each vendor/store is a separate transaction. You are dealing with a different person each time. Look at the star ratings of each store before you buy and leave feedback. Most sellers will want to protect their reviews and ratings and provide you with great service.

This site is heavily craft specific and has a niche following. If you make handmade items you probably already know about it and/or use it.

REASONS TO USE
[1] You like to make/buy handmade items
[2] Clean, sophisticated, easy-to-use
[3] Lots of great person-to-person stores/vendors

REASONS TO LOSE
[1] You are unable to understand star rating systems
[2] You are a compulsive buyer who does no research before you purchase

This review is specifically for the opera browser - not the other portions of the site.

I use opera. It has built in ad-blocking which seems to frustrate some sites (which I love). Some sites even beg me to allow their ads through. No. I hate ads.

Opera does everything I need it to as a web browser. For me it is better than Chrome or Firefox.

I'm not sure what's going on with the other reviews. It's starting to make me doubt SJ's legitimacy. Why are they all the exact same review?

REASONS TO USE
[1] Ad blocking
[2] Provides features you've come to expect in a browser
[3] Free

REASONS TO LOSE
[1] You like lots and lots of extensions and extra things added in. Lots of quirky little extensions aren't currently made for Opera to include SiteJabber's extension. That's unfortunate.

This is the worst kind of evil there is: Evil disguised as something good. A wolf in sheep's clothing.

When I first saw SiteJabber and started reviewing I thought it was different. I thought it was great. I thought it would improve the internet.

I've been proven wrong by finding lots of "spam" reviews that tilt and sway the stars to either side of a site's review ratings. It's fine if you follow certain reviewers who have proven their merit. But I now can't fully trust the overall rankings of webpages on the site.

After years of using the site: this is my last review. Farewell to the few decent reviewers out there. I will not participate in something like this. It's time for a better internet.

I'm not sure how this site became so popular because the concept seems ludicrously simple; but maybe that's just what people want. It has an incredibly sleek interface that couldn't be easier to use and everyone seems to be on it. The only reason this site loses a star for me is because I don't know why I would ever use it personally.

You should probably use Twitter if you're an aspiring youtuber or you do something where you're trying to build a fan base for some reason.

REASONS TO USE
[1] Sleek. Easy. Simple.
[2] You want to build a following or a fan base
[3] You care what celebrities have to say

REASONS TO LOSE
[1] Personal preference

This site won't "wow" you. It doesn't have a very sleek interface and it's a bit hard to navigate sometimes. It's been around for quite a long time and not much has changed since it started. That said, there is a LOT of music to listen to. It's original music. You can buy music if you like. It is functionally sound.

If they updated the site with a sleeker, more modern interface, it would go up to 5 stars for me.

REASONS TO USE
[1] Lots of content
[2] Original content

REASONS TO LOSE
[1] Interface is a bit clunky

I haven't found any other sites that are as simple and easy to use as a job-seeker. That said, read the other reviews from recruiters even here on SJ. Recruiters don't seem to like it nearly as much which could effect the future of the site.

My recommendation would be to use indeed as a job-seeker but do some really good research if you're a recruiter. No matter which category you fall in - don't rely solely on this site.

REASONS TO USE
[1] Great filtering for job-seekers to narrow down what they're looking for easily
[2] Incredible, streamlined interface - very clean

REASONS TO LOSE
[1] As a job-seeker you've found a better LOCAL resource for job postings
[2] As a job-poster you don't like the candidates you are getting

This job site may have started it all when it came to job sites. It's not what it once was. It has become poisoned by advertisements and hidden avenues to spam-city. Do yourself a favor and avoid this site.

REASONS TO USE
[1] You don't understand star-rating systems.

REASONS TO LOSE
[1] Propagates your personal data in an unpredictable way opening the door for spam
[2] Saturated with bridges to other sites
[3] There are better options

I look forward to further exploring this site. It offers children's books in various translations. The idea is that you supplement your language learning in the same way you learned your own language as a child.

The site allows you to look for a book based on quite a few different categories and dozens of different languages as well.

REASONS TO USE
[1] Supplement your language learning
[2] Easy to use interface
[3] Ad-free

REASONS TO LOSE
[1] You can't read (wait. Nope. They have picture books too)

You can try to pull the "but it could have been written by a 3 year old" card out for this site but it wouldn't be realistic. Wikipedia is well moderated and there's something to be said for the fact that it appears in the top ten of nearly every internet search.

In fact, I think wikipedia is probably MORE accurate than other "encyclopedias" because of HOW it is moderated.

Either way, if you've been browsing the internet for more than 10 minutes you probably already know (and have used) wikipedia. You don't need yet another review telling you that it's a good thing. You already know.

REASONS TO USE:
[1] Well moderated
[2] Amazingly diverse information library
[3] Relevant to almost every search for information

REASON TO LOSE:
[1] None.

Welcome to learning! Learnerstv contains loads of video courses (which appear to be actual college level classes being taught by real instructors) ranging from Biology to Political Science! There is so much content here that I don't know what to watch first! Sit in on a classroom environment and learn how to program Java or learn about the history of space shuttles. Another great site with free education. I can't wait to spend some more time on learners and learn some cool stuff.

REASONS TO USE:
[1] You like to learn
[2] You would rather listen to an instructor than read a lengthy document
[3] Diverse and plentiful content

REASONS TO LOSE:
[1] Minimal advertising which disappears when you go to full screen.

Great idea for a site! Type in a city/state where you live and browse photos taken from various generations in the area you are searching for. On first look, I found pictures in my area from the early 1900's and even earlier. If you are into history or photography, this site offers a little of both.

"The premise is simple: provide a platform where anyone can easily upload a photograph with two straightforward tags to provide context: Location and Year. If enough people upload enough photographs in enough places, together we will weave together a photographic history of the world (or at least any place covered by Google Maps). So wherever you are in the world, take a moment to upload a photograph and contribute to history!"

REASONS TO USE:
[1] You are into photography
[2] You are into history
[3] Ad free

REASONS TO LOSE:
[1] You aren't into photography or history

My updates:
There are a lot of toxic people on imgur for some reason. They will be quick to downvote even basic pictures from new users. They will also post inappropriate comments quite often. The interface itself is a bit clunky as well.

My original review:
I cannot add anything special that wasn't posted on the previous review. However, I can concur with a lot of it. Imgur is a very simple site that allows you to either register or sign in using Twitter, Facebook, Google, or Yahoo credentials. Everything about the design of the site is sleek and simple.

It is yet another thumbs up / thumbs down site that will allow you to browse a boatload of images from users across the world.

REASONS TO USE:
[1] Fun to browse vast library of images
[2] Ad free

REASONS TO LOSE:
[1] You prefer another image browser site

As previously reviewed, this site is a comic book for nerds. But, not only for nerds. Anyone who is reasonably intelligent will be able to enjoy the humor found here. Some of it is just interesting artistry, some of it will have you googling something to figure out the pun. All in all it's a good time.

REASONS TO USE:
[1] Ad-free
[2] Intelligent comics
[3] Cool artistry

REASONS TO LOSE:
[1] You hate comics.

Intriguing site that will walk you through a plethora of projects that will keep your brain moving. Learn how to build robots, cool things out of paper, and a slew of other things here.

The advertisements are there, but they don't prevent you from enjoying the content.

Very useful for keeping you involved with your kids and making them think as well. Users create step by step instructions on how to complete cool projects and you complete them, comment on their work, and go to the next project. Simply awesome.

REASONS TO USE:
[1] Gets your mind moving
[2] Makes for entertaining weekends
[3] Tons of content

REASONS TO LOSE:
[1] Minimal advertisements
[2] You don't like building things.

Great site overall. I would like to see some design changes so that it doesn't look so. Simple and non-artistic. On the surface it just looks like a bunch of links. Sort of like a search engine's results. For this reason I bypassed it the first time around and didn't go back for some time. I kept hearing of reddit on various other websites though and had to come back for a closer look. As it turns out, reddit is a very addicting, content driven site that I could browse for hours. And it will probably become part of my weekly routine in some form or fashion.

There is a boatload of content and it is safe for work. I don't think it's necessary to describe what the site does as anyone curious can learn more quickly by visiting. It clearly has good reviews already.

REASONS TO USE:
[1] Boatload of content
[2] Simple navigation system
[3] Has the "addiction" factor (you'll see what I mean if you visit)

REASONS TO LOSE:
[1] Minimal ads and slightly boring interface

Great forum site for troubleshooting computer problems, helping others troubleshoot theirs, or just learning more about how computers work. There are a few tutorials on various subjects including how to speed up your computer, how to trace a hacker, and many other advanced topics.

Minimal ads and a great userbase make this site worth making a favorite.

REASONS TO USE:
[1] Get help fixing your computer
[2] Minimal ads
[3] Tutorials on various subjects
[4] Site has been around for years

REASONS TO LOSE:
[1] You prefer to figure out computer problems on your own

Rivals many other wallpaper sites for quality and diversity of content. This site contains a flagging system to let the administrators know if there is a "sketchy" image or not. It also contains an active forum and the ability to search for images based on keyword, popularity and specific resolutions. The ability to search for images matching a specific resolution means that you can find images that perfectly match your desktop resolution. If you're so inclined, you can even search the images by aspect ratio.

Very sleek design, intuitive interface and best of all... Ad-Free!

REASONS TO USE:
[1] Find wallpapers by resolution
[2] Flagging system to remove sketchy images
[3] Active forum
[4] Ad-Free

REASONS TO LOSE:
[1] You're not into wallpapers or high resolution images

Very rare to find a site with this much content and so few advertisements. There is so much content here that I can't imagine ever tiring of it. It is almost overwhelming.

For the most part, the games are decent. Granted they are flash games. But some of them manage to work in some complexity. Great site.

REASONS TO USE:
[1] Outstanding variety
[2] Virtually ad-free

REASONS TO LOSE:
[1] You don't like flash games