About DOTFORK

Founded in 1999 at the height of the first dot-com boom, DOTFORK has established itself as the internet's most trusted—and most feared—source of website criticism. While others obsess over functionality and user metrics, we ask the questions that matter: Does your pricing page spark joy or existential dread? Is your gradient derivative or definitive? Can a website be too fast?

We believe that websites, like music, deserve serious critical analysis. A SaaS landing page is not just a conversion funnel—it's a cultural statement. A design system is not just a component library—it's a manifesto. We bring the same rigor to reviewing dot-coms that others reserve for albums, books, and films.

Our Rating System

DOTFORK reviews are rated on a scale of 0.0 to 10.0. Scores are assigned with decimal precision to reflect the nuanced reality of website excellence. A 7.8 is meaningfully different from a 7.9, even if we can't always articulate why.

Sites scoring 8.5 or above receive our Best New Website designation, the industry's most coveted honor and/or most pretentious badge.

Rating Guide:
9.0-10.0: Essential
8.0-8.9: Excellent
7.0-7.9: Good
6.0-6.9: Fair
5.0-5.9: Mediocre
0.0-4.9: Poor

Our Staff

Tarcus Mhorne

Founder & Editor-in-Chief

Started DOTFORK in his parents' basement with a 56k modem and an unshakable conviction that GeoCities pages deserved thoughtful criticism. Pathologically precise about decimal point ratings. Has spent forty minutes debating whether something deserves an 8.3 or an 8.4. The ratings are arbitrary but that doesn't make them wrong.

Ciana Dastellano

Senior Writer

Former philosophy major who found her calling reviewing payment processors. Writes 2,000-word essays about gradient choices that reference Heidegger. Once gave a website a 6.8 because the button hover states "lacked intentionality." Unironically uses the word "problematic" to describe CSS. Has strong feelings about Stripe.

Kamie Jowalski

Staff Writer

Lives in Brooklyn. Has opinions. Every review contains at least one personal anecdote about their ex, their roommate, or someone named Jake. Specializes in the intersection of software and existential dread. Currently paying for seventeen SaaS subscriptions they actively use zero of.

Cam Shen

Contributing Editor

Ruthlessly honest with zero patience for bullshit. Covers design tools and no-code platforms. Maintains that FigJam is the worst product name in tech history and will fight you about it. Has a spreadsheet ranking every shade of purple used in SaaS gradients. It's 89 rows long and alphabetized.

Rex Aleeves

Legendary Contributor

Writes like gonzo journalism met tech criticism in a dark alley and they both left changed. Covers everything from infrastructure to social media with the energy of someone who's had too much coffee and not enough sleep. Reviews read like fever dreams but the insights are uncomfortably accurate. Banned from three company Slack channels for reviewing their websites.

Contact

For review submissions, press inquiries, or complaints about our rating methodology:
editors@dotfork.com

Please note: We do not accept payment for reviews, although we do accept strong opinions about monospaced fonts.