leaving aside the homegrown software we make on this site (that can be subject of another post) -
it seems that a common thread here is trying to discover the best software/services/websites.
those are perform best, are most convenient to use, and also reputable, trustworthy, reliable, and worth supporting.
i notice in myself one of the things that bothers me most about the internet (and the world in general) is how much marketing and advertising seems to be *the* determining factor for success of a product/service. I'm sure i can't be the only one troubled by such things.
so that the inferior product can get marketed into financial success and market dominance, while some great single-person or small company products can get completely overlooked.
so i was thinking,
maybe we should start thinking about one of the "missions" of this site (and especially this forum), being to cut through all of the marketing hype, and help each other and others find the best programs/webservices for their needs, bypassing the hype and marketing.
of course this is what we are pretty much already doing, and i have always tried to emphasize this idea w.r.t. reviews (i.e. try to help people choose the best programs) but maybe it helps to think about this as a real central mission. so wherever there is a field or category of software/webservice where we feel marketing hype may be overshadowing a better service/software, we can try to bring some attention and clarity to the issue.
Let's make sure that if there are underdogs which might be better products and are getting lost in a blizzard of marketing for competing inferior produts, that we can help shed some light on stuff.
As always, we aren't zealots for free software or open source. There are innate values in those kinds of software, but our primary concern should be: what is the best tool for the job. If we can make a contribution to the internet by being a resource for discovering the best tools without regard to hype and marketing dollars, I think everyone will be the better for it.
Opinions?