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Software Listing Sites - Hall of Fame vs. Hall of Shame

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mouser:
i think i'm going to make a web page with this info but i thought i'd start it as a thread here to get comments and additions, etc.

I don't know if you guys know how software submissions work.. basically there are tons of sites that list shareware and freeware.  A very few of these sites have some really dedicated people who go and find software on their own (i've heaped well deserved praise on freeware world team for example).

most other sites rely on authors to submit their software announcements.

now there are two basic main ways that an author can submit software announcements, with lots of minor details different between sites.

the main ways are using an industry standardized PAD file, which describes the program, its license, download and screenshot urls, etc.

sites which support PAD file submissions are 1000x easier to submit too, and much less prone to mistakes.  such sites get much love from me.  here are some noteworthy sites that i have gradually accumulated that support PAD file submissions:

RocketDownload
Sofotex
Softpedia
DirFiles
SixFiles
3d2f.com

other sites insist on having their own unique forms which gather exactly the same info as a PAD form but make you type everything manually. REALLY ANNOYING.  thumbs down to these sites. i am seriously thinking about trying to mount a letter writing campaign/boycott to get them to convert to PAD file support:

FileForum
SnapFiles
MajorGeeks
Shareware Junkies
NoNags
Tucows

There is absolutely NO EXCUSE for a site not supporting PAD files, except plain laziness.  These sites are in my hall of shame - if you know people at these sites, or you are a member of their forums, or just want to help, please drop these sites an email and tell them to get with the 21st century and add support for submitted PAD files.

zridling:
Indeed. Many of those sites suffer from terrible design, Snapfiles being one. Their RSS feeds are often no better. But more than anything I hate it when an author forces a user to download their app via FileForum, which is not only a terrible site because of its inconsistency and bad journalism (they often just fail to check the facts), but because doing so is a bad idea from a security standpoint. Support PAD files, you fools!

mouser:
the one thing that fileforum (betanews) does better than any other site i know about is list program updates, with lists of whats new.  can be really helpful though it is a bit uneven regarding which authors provide good change info.

mouser:
i agree with you zaine about security risk downloading from another site.. but then some software authors dont have good hosting of their own.

Scott:
FileForum sucks.  Anyone can update a program on that site.  You could post a phony update to a well-known program, with a plausible-but-fake list of changes, and they'd post it within minutes or hours.  I'm tempted to do it just to prove a point.  ("Hey, Process Tamer now has an egg timer built in?  Cool.")

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