We highlight commercial websites that are unreasonably
hard to use, don't work properly, or don't actually offer
what they promise. It's a way for web developers everywhere
to learn what kind of mistakes they should avoid -- and of
course, an opportunity for the companies listed here to fix
the problems we document.
We highlight sites that are
unreasonably hard to use, don't work properly,
or don't actually offer what they promise.
We're not here to nitpick, and don't expect
sites to be perfect. (Heaven knows our own sites
are far from perfect.) We list sites here only
when they have glaring problems that
dramatically hinder the visitor's ability to use
the site properly or get the information they're
looking for.
Why are you doing
this?
It's educational. Webmasters
everywhere can easily see examples of mistakes
they should work to avoid. Our work is used in
college textbooks and class assignments,
especially our Website
Design Tips.
It encourages the companies listed here
to fix their sites. No company in its right
mind wants to appear unresponsive to the
problems we list here about their sites. Getting
listed here gives them strong motivation to get
their site working properly.
It provides validation for other
frustrated web users. Every day, web users
everywhere are frustrated by sites that don't
work properly. It's validating for these people
to see that others share their sense of
frustration. Heck, our own frustration with
problem websites was a powerful motivation to
start listing them here.
Why don't you just tell
the companies about the problems with their sites
instead of embarrassing them here?
Because it doesn't work. If we'd
had any modicum of success in getting companies
to respond to our concerns over the last ten
years then this site likely wouldn't exist. In
fact, some of the sites listed here completely
blew us off when we tried to bring the problems
to their attention.
Besides, listing problems with websites here
serves as an important educational tool that
shows professional and aspiring webmasters what
kinds of mistakes to avoid.
How do you find sites to
list here?
Easy: We just use the Internet.
Problem websites abound, and we can't use the
web for long without running into one.
How do I submit a site
with a problem that I want you to list?
Sorry, you can't. We don't
accept suggestions for sites to review. We can
find enough on our own. We list as many sites
here as we have time to review; we have
no lack of candidates to put up. We
already have a backlog of sites to review
even without suggestions from our
readers. There's no point in our taking
suggestions that we don't have time to act on.
We have no lack of fodder for this project just
browsing on our own.
