Our reviews of Websites are based on a number of factors:

• Believability - If it is a site based on reality, is it believable?  If it is a show based on pure fiction or speculation, does it say so and could it happen?
• Originality - Is this an original concept, or does it seem like I've seen it before?
• Entertainment - Is the website entertaining enough to keep my attention or did I lose interest before clicking through to the next page?
• Content - Is the content of the site pertinent or do they just advertise it to be paranormal based to catch our attention?
• Production - Is the site well put together in a way to allow the viewer to easily navigate and absorb all of the intended information?
• Follow up/Preview - Did I find the site easily in a simple search or click through from another related site?  Does the content change enough for me to want to return to this site?
• Viewer opinion - Cast your votes, they do have an impact on our ratings.

1 BONE

  All I have to say is WOW – what a concept!  We all know how much we love the live episodes of Ghost Hunters and Most Haunted (admit it, you love them both!).  Well, livescifi has gone a step further.  Not only do we get to watch investigations live and interact with the ghost hunters and other viewers in a live chat session or via shout box or even using text messaging, but we don’t have to wait for Halloween!  These investigations go on a couple of times a week!  I was not happy that they start at 8:00 or 9:00 PST because I’m in the Eastern Time Zone and that means they start at 11:00 or midnight for me.  I have stayed up for a few though and I’m thinking of looking for a new job that I don’t have to be up in the morning for so I won’t miss any more!  I absolutely love this site. Thanks to the member who recommended we review it – you know who you are!

  The site is simply put together and fairly easy to navigate, once you figure out that you have to register from the forum and click on the play button for the live stream to start.  There’s a nice blog that covers things paranormal and things not so paranormal but interesting all the same.  The forum has some interesting topics with lots of posts to go through.  There is a page with the archives of past investigations to watch in their entirety.  The chat during the investigations is full of people who are genuinely interested in the investigation.  I saw no chat spamming, nobody asking anyone “M/F/L” or what they were wearing, just people having a good time and participating in a paranormal investigation.  This is armchair ghost hunting at its very best!

  I will recommend this to anyone and everyone who will listen!  5 Bones to www.livescifi.tv!

I not only found true ghost stories there, but also a section for Pictures and Videos and a section on Ghost Hunters (listed by State). There is also a section with Books, Movies and TV shows, with a short summary on each and a link to amazon if you wish to purchase them.

This site is very beautiful and well designed and also very well organized and put together. I have bookmarked it and plan to continue visiting to read up on what they offer. All I can say, is well done to the owners!

 I give this site 5 bones – Don’t miss it!

There is so much information that you will spend hours reading and are left wanting more.  The articles are well written and very entertaining.  This group boasts of experience that few others can claim.  They chronicle some of their public investigations while keeping private ones private, as they should be.  The descriptions and tutorials are straight to the point.  I loved their description of orbs (which I happen to agree completely with) as this is a somewhat disagreed upon issue in the paranormal world these days.  You won't want to miss the "Oldies but Goodies" section which houses outstanding articles on Amityville and Mothman.  I couldn't get enough! 

I've saved this site to my Favorites and recommend everyone do the same.  This one is a Don't Miss!!  5 Bones!

I’m so very impressed with this site! Not only is the site beautiful to look at, but the haunted directory is impressive as it gives a very long list of places in the States and all over the world in fact! The site is going over a major update and it is still being updated, as I could tell by their forum! I hope that they continue the updates and the forum is updated successfully, would love to join it in the future. I did find a problem when clicking on the forum, it was not easy to get back on the main site home page, I hope the owner/s will fix this.

I still haven’t finished looking through their true ghost stories either, but will definitely go back there to read about them as well as the haunted places directory.

I give this site 4 bones, I really liked it!

The first thing I would like to say to get right off my chest is that I usually don’t like it when sites have lots of good information and they make lots of grammatical and/or spelling mistakes when  you start reading. This is the drawback I found on this site, which otherwise shows a great deal of work put into it, and also lots of GOOD information on the paranormal and the occult. I became so absorbed in reading all the articles on different topics that I lost track of time! They also have a forum, which is pretty much the same as all the forums you run into.

I didn’t necessarily agree with some of the things I read, but I do think that this site is very well put up and pleasing to the eyes as well. I would definitely recommend this site for anyone as a resource on various topics. I’m planning to return to continue reading!

 4 bones -  I really liked it!

I was contacted and asked to review this very new website by whom I believe to be the owner.  The site is only five days old as of receipt of the initial contact just a day ago.  This is seemingly a Russian based research project's website.  The project, as I understand it, is ongoing research on clairvoyance, astral projection, lucid dreams, and a person's ability to develop psychic abilities.  There are a couple of tests to take with promise of more to come, and a limited amount of information about the project for everyone to see. 

The subject matter is very interesting so far, although it seems to be incomplete, likely because the site is so new and there is a lot of information yet to fill in.  The pages themselves are plain, bare and unimpressive, or at least not typical of a common paranormal website, lacking the usual graphics and overload of links, widgets and shout-outs.  I believe it is intended to look more professional in order to appeal to the masses including, but certainly not limited to, those of us who are seeking out the paranormal on the web. It is easy to view and navigate and quick to load, which is a nice change.  The two tests include one which tells you if you are clairvoyant and one that determines if you travel out of body during sleep.  I had a lot of fun taking these tests and look forward to more tests to come. 

Unfortunately, it seems most of the information on the past ten years of research on this fascinating subject is buried in a restricted access area - restricted to those willing to pay $100 to become a member.  I am unwilling and therefore unable to view the restricted area.  I have, however, asked to gain temporary access for the purpose of reviewing the site.  I've not yet received a response and will therefore hold my rating until such time as I am allowed or denied this access (the lack of reply over a week's time will be concluded to be a denial).  In the meantime, I will recommend this site for the two tests it offers.  They are quite interesting and it is fun to see where you fall on the psychic/OBE scale.  I am on the high end of "common" with the ability to advance my clairvoyant powers with hard work and am a 100% lucid dreamer with little to no ability to project astrally in my sleep, unless, of course, I take the time and effort to learn how. 

I will update this review with comments and a rating next week.

UPDATE:  The site owner was very quick to respond to my request for a freebie peek, which was denied, and for good reason.  It was explained to me that the restricted area is for researchers and research subjects.  It consists of test results and the like that frankly is none of our business, unless the owner wants us to know some details and puts it up in public view.  I did suggest that this be better explained on the home page of the site so that it doesn't seem as though the general interested public is required to pay a fee to gain access to the good stuff.  I'm rating the site as though this has already been done.  Understanding that the site is brand-spanking-new and there is still a lot of work to be done, including some photos that will be put up that are very interesting (I got a preview!), I had so much fun taking the tests and can't wait for the new ones, and the subject matter is fresh and fascinating, I'm going out on a limb and giving this site 4 Bones with anticipation!  (I think it will turn out to be a Don't Miss with time!)

I really don’t like it when I get to a site, where there is sound or music in the background and there is no option to turn it off! It really becomes annoying after a while! That said, I  turned my volume down and decided to take a closer look at this site. I enjoyed reading their compilation of ghost stories. They have an orb page that I didn’t like at all, particularly because all of those pictures can actually be easily explained away. I must say here that I am really tired of running into orbs on sites! Their weird gallery was a collection of breath, reflective orbs, moisture, rain orbs, and even hair strands. They have a forum, too, with 24 members. The content they display is outdated, particularly in stating that a ghost is rarely that of an animal, I quite didn’t understand where they wanted to go with that one! In fact all the explanations they give are quite contradictory!

The site is really a beautiful one, a lovely layout and well put together! I was looking mostly for content, however, so I’m sorry to say that instead of giving it 4 bones, I will be giving it just 3 bones!

This is the first blog that we’ve reviewed.  It wasn’t something that was intended when I started this site, but I did get a request to review it and so I awkwardly comply.  Awkwardly?  Well, you see, this blogger, spookannie (aka: Judy) seems to think we have no business doing what we do, and she’s quite vocal about it.  Not only in an article she wrote specifically about Watchdog, but also in other articles where she calls people bullies and tells her readers what “badd apples” we all are.  Hmmm, that sounds a little like what we do, doesn’t it?  Isn’t that kind of like the pot calling the kettle black?  I think so.  I think that Judy has the wrong impression about what we do and who we are.  She seems to think we are a group of people that she’s had some dealings with in the past on some level.  I assure you, I am not those people.  Oh, you might find them here in our forum, but as guests, just like Judy and her friends.  All are welcome here!  Maybe this is why she takes such offense to us doing basically the same thing she is doing.  Maybe that is why she seems to put up a banner on her blog to endorse just about every website that has received an unfavorable review here.  Unlike Judy’s attacking on a personal level the people and sites she and her friends have had troubles with in the past, we give a fair review to everybody, as if we’ve never heard of them before or had any contact with them other than for the purpose of reviewing them.  Yes, even for Judy I will be fair in my review.

  Spookannie’s Blog is exactly what it should be, a compilation of one person’s viewpoints about whatever subject they wish to talk about at the moment they put their fingers on the keyboard.  Spookannie chooses, for the most part, to discuss things that are related to the paranormal.  She writes articles about what’s on her mind and then invites readers to comment on these articles.  Of course, if the comments are not to her liking, she tends to get a bit defensive, but that’s okay, it’s her blog.  Her articles are interesting and quite well written and I do enjoy poking around the blog and seeing what she has to say from time to time.  On that alone, I would highly recommend that you go on over and see what Spookannie has to say.  I would give her blog at least 4 bones.  However, when someone stoops to name calling and contradicting themselves in order to make themselves look good (p.s. It’s not working) I have trouble endorsing them on character.  Sorry, but I’m going to have to give Spookannie’s blog a 3- Bones rating.  Hey now, a 3 minus is better than a 2!

  (I can’t wait to read what she says about us now!)

I found this website very difficult for viewing. The home page looks very messy and is disorientating. The fact is that they have too much crammed into it (awards, voting buttons and content all put in randomly), and you cannot focus on one thing. The first thing I did was click on cemeteries, and was pleasantly surprised to find their articles well written, using copyright permission for pictures and articles written by other authors. On clicking on the rest of the links in Asylum for example, I also found the articles well written but something did bother me, and that was that they wrote about the history of a place, but said little of the actual hauntings experienced there. When they do, it is always another article written by yet somebody else. Also annoying is the fact that the site is best viewed on Internet Explorer, on any other browser it becomes unreadable as the words and pictures literally cover parts of the text. There is music on some other pages, but no option buttons to turn it off or down. Some of the links don’t work, particularly the Guestbook one. The site was last updated on 6-23-07.

I give this site 2 bones.

The owner clearly says on his forum that he is having great problems with homestead as a server, which is giving him trouble on posting and so on. However, even if there is problem with the server, the homepage is not very inviting and we are left with a number of loose links to read some ghost stories and upon clicking on Haunted Places you are left with a whole page letting you know of just one you can visit and giving you no history or information whatsoever, which kind of depressed me. The stories are well written, but I do wish people would use a spell check! The site also has a ghost photo gallery that is mainly of orbs (visitor submissions mainly), a few of apparitions which I really didn’t think were supernatural but could be explained away. The whole site was last updated in October, 2007. I do wish the owner would update and maintain the site as the idea on the whole seemed to have been a good one at the beginning!

 On the whole, I’m sorry to say I give this site 2 bones, I really think it needs improvement!

I really didn’t feel like joining the site, as it was very difficult to navigate. The pages up are mainly flash intros and information pages with very general information on them. There is also general information on the haunted locations of the island and their mission statement, as well as the team member’s pictures on a page with a short biography of each related to their interest in the paranormal. Another thing that made me double back and look was that they are advertising a magazine, soon to be out in June 2008. The title? “Wight Phenomenon Magazine”.  I didn’t understand why this seemed so familiar, till I returned to Isle of Wight Ghosthunterz website (http://www.theisleofwightghosthunters.co.uk/page_678838.html) and saw that they have a “Phenomenon” magazine on their home page as well. The difference is that the Isle of Wight Ghosthunterz “Phenomenon” magazine already launched and is currently producing the second issue, whereas the “Wight Phenomenon Magazine” is to be online on June, 2008. I wonder if they are one in the same?  If so, why would I pay for a book-in-hand subscription when I can read it online in a month? If they are not the same, I sure wish that people wouldn’t use the same name for their magazines as it sometimes makes things really confusing for the visitor/reader/potential buyer.

In short, due to all the difficulty in navigation and the format they used, and also mainly due to the fact that it is not very inviting, I give this site 2 bones – Bad, Needs improvement.