Bob's Good Stuff Lists

The Internet has a lot of good stuff which I constantly look for but always seem to run into bad stuff which I usually ignore. When I do find stuff that is good, I like to share it with others, thus, the purpose of these good stuff lists. Most of the sites found in my Good Stuff Lists are things on the Internet that are FREE but there are commercial sites as well. As I find new good stuff, I add the links to them on one of the lists or, if there is no appropriate list, I either create a new list or add them under the Other category if the site meets my requirements.

These lists were created so that visitors to this site can find things without having to weed through search engine generated lists. If you like or dislike these lists, please let us know. You can leave your comments in the Bob's Good Stuff Lists Guestbook. In any case, we would like to know that you were here and the Guestbook is the way to do that.

If you know of a link that you think should be included in one of Bob's Good Stuff Lists, you can add it using the Add a link option at the top of each page (except the Bookstore pages). Please note that the information you add is not immediately available. Instead, it remains in a special file until I have had time to review the site in question and decide whether or not it is suitable for inclusion in Bob's Good Stuff Lists. Not every submitted site will be included and the decision is mine to make using my own criteria. You will be advised, via email, whether or not your submission is accepted for inclusion to Bob's Good Stuff Lists and, if not, the reason. Please read the Add A Link Guidelines before submitting a site.

You may be asking yourself, why have another list of lists since the many search engines on the internet already contain this information? Well, let's take a look at the reasoning for my madness.

Search engines will index anything. They cannot discern between the good, the bad, or even the downright ugly! So, when you search for a specific type of site, you may end up getting the results of hundreds, maybe even thousands, of worthless sites that you need to weed through. The only alternative you have is to research using more (or less) keywords in an attempt to get the search engine to give you more specific and better results. You may succeed, you may not. Bob's Good Stuff Lists do not have this problem because:

1. Everything on the World Wide Web (WWW) is not indexed here. Only a select number of sites are in Bob's Good Stuff Lists.

2. I know what is good, and none of the bad or ugly is included in Bob's Good Stuff Lists.

3. You get meaningful descriptions (when any descriptions are included for an item) for each item even when searching using the Bob's Good Stuff Lists search engine.
Unlike search engines, Bob's Good Stuff Lists do not depend on web spiders, the robots that go out looking at a site and then indexing it. Each and every site is reviewed by a human, personally! When possible, as much information as possible is included from the site's "About" file (if there is one) or some other part of the web site. The various search engines may only give you the first 200 characters of the web page (not always informative, to say the least) or use the META tags and give you just a list of keywords. If I do use a META tag, it would only be the one that contains a description of the site, not any containing keywords. In most cases, if a description of the site cannot be found, I try to write one that is meaningful. Sometimes the site title is descriptive enough so no description appears.
Most search engines do not tell you when something has been added to their list, nor do they give you anyway to find out. On Bob's Good Stuff Lists, every link that has been added within the last 14 days is clearly marked as shown below:
- Link is less than 3 days old.
- Link is 3 to 7 days old.
- Link is 8 to 14 days old.
In addition, some links get updated with a new description or URL, or some other information is changed. When this occurs, the symbol is displayed and will remain for a period of 14 days.
These graphics are also displayed next to the categories themselves. However, if there are multiple new links of varying ages (for example, one or more is less than 3 days old and one or more are 8 to 14 days old), the graphic displayed in the category list will be the one for the newest link. So you always know when something new is available and approximately how old the new link is. In addition, there is a separate What's New page where you can look at the new items by date of addition. If there are both and updated link and a new link in the category, both graphics will display next to category in the main category list, but not in the Category Tree list on the right side of the screen.

Currently, there are 9 main categories in Bob's Good Stuff Lists, most of which have subcategories. The 9 main categories are shown, with their descriptions, on the Bob's Good Stuff Lists home page. In each bos for the main category is a drop-down menu that will allow you to select a sub-category. The numbers in parenthesis indicate the total number of links each category or subcategory contains, including any subcategories beneath the category or subcategory shown.

All the links to the good stuff on all of Bob's Good Stuff Lists were validated and accurate at the time they were added to the page. Each link is reviewed weekly to ensure that it remains valid. If you find that one of the links no longer exists or has moved, please let me know using the Contact form. The problem will be corrected immediately. You may also use this form for recommending a new category if so desired.

Each link contains information concerning when the link was added and how many times it has been accessed. In addition, the number of votes and the rating a link has received by visitors is also included. If you want to rate a link, you may do so using the "Rate This Link" option that appears immediately above the link's description. The statistical information (hits, votes, rating) about each link is automatically updated every 6 hours (sometimes even more frequently) at 4:15 and 10:15 a.m., and 4:15 and 10:15 p.m. (all times Eastern). So, if you vote for a link, your information will not appear until the next update.

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