Blimey, just seen a right slating (Top Ten Websites)

Member Name: dave27

Product:	Top Ten Websites
Date:	28/09/02 (58 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Mine, not yours

Disadvantages: Of course not

First of all, I'd just like to say a couple of words about an op that I've just read by a member called thehud on Ciao UK. His first effort included a pretty lengthy cut and paste of all the subject matters included on the other side, and he got a pretty nasty reaction to start with, one reader going so far as to state (albeit tongue in cheek-y) "This undoubtedly goes down as one of the most boring opinions I have ever read!!"

There was actually quite a lot of interesting stuff in the op outside of the cut and paste, although the padding certainly didn't help the op. Anyway, it's been modified now and the cut and paste has been radically trimmed down, so don't judge him too harshly.


Anyway, back to the matter at hand. My top ten websites.

Now, I have some pretty odd Internet interests and it's unlikely that you would have the same list as mine. They're not even in every case the top websites, but they are the ones which I tend to visit most often for a variety of reasons. I don't much care whether you agree or not, but just remember this is my list.

No 1 - Dooyoo - http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/
I'm not creeping, honestly, it's just that this wonderful consumer op site is just the site where I spend the most time, and not because it's where I make money, although I do. You can actually use Dooyoo for the purpose for which it was actually designed - finding out about consumer items before you decide whether to buy them or not. I love the whole feel of the place, even though the powers that be did their very best to try and ruin everything with their recent redesign. Things have settled down now quite nicely as was predicted, even though the site's nowhere near as busy as it used to be.

No 2 - The Mighty Whites - http://www.mightyleeds.co.uk/
As a rabid fan of Leeds United, this site is an absolute must for me, containing as it does in depth informatio
n of the history of the club, rather than aping a thousand and one other sites which all carry the same much of a muchness news of the day and scanty features. I've written about this site before on Dooyoo, and you should check that op for the detail. However, the site covers the history of Leeds United right from the very early days when they were called Leeds City, and has some wonderful photographs.

No 3 - BBC - http://www.bbc.co.uk/
One of the original information sites and still one of the very best. The Beeb's net presence contains some great stuff, majoring on news and sport and is constantly bookmarked in my house. Its authoritative writing and range of coverage are eternally interesting.

No 4 - Google - http://www.google.com/
This is universally regarded as the best search engine around and constantly produces the most useful results. What you should also check out, however, are the facilities for searching out images and checking through newsgroups, while they also provide a customisable search engine for your own website. I've checked this service out and it is a great added value function.

No 5 - SoftHome - http://www.softhome.net/
This is a great free e-mail service (increasingly rare these days, regrettably) which is thankfully free opf spam and online ads, and also has the facility to operate in tandem with Outlook Express. It's very functional and useful, and it's rare to be able to get the twin advantages of webmail and POP operating in tandem.

No 6 - Commission Junction - http://www.cj.com/
Commission Junction provides banners and links to load up onto your websites to enable you to earn money from ads. I have to say that I've found it difficult in recent months to make money in this way, but what I really like about the CJ service is the reporting function, which allows you to track visits to your site each day, month, quarter and year. I'm a bit of a saddo, c
os there must be easier ways, but this one works for me.

No 7 - Ebay - http://www.ebay.co.uk/
This is the premier auction site and has some great functionality. It's EXTREMELY addictive, and I'm just about to complete my first sales from the site having bought my first goods last week.

No 8 - PayPal - https://www.paypal.com/
PayPal is a great service. It allows you to sell stuff on the net via credit card without all the bother and cost of setting up proper E-commerce services. I set such a site up once, but it cost me a packet in transaction fees, and honestly PayPal is just as effective and far easier to use. It's secure and extremely useful if you want to do business on the net.

No 9 - It Pays To Learn - http://www.itpaystolearn.com/
Another money making site, this time for answering all sorts of asinine and not so asinine quizzes. It passes the time, but is extremely dull. However, it pays, and that's what matters to dave27.

No 10 - Ciao - http://www.uk.ciao.com/
Read thehud's op, chaps. It's not as popular as it once was for me, b ut I still like it.

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