I'm sorry you think that we are just one of 'those spam VPN review sites'. As a team member, I can assure you that we hate them just as much as you. [1]

VPNs used to play a large role in the site (they no longer do), but we've never accepted any affiliate requests. (We do however operate a sponsorship programe which we are working on making a criteria for). [2,3] We have a strict criteria for the few VPNs we do list on our site. [4] We strive to educate users on the purpose of VPNs [5], and try not to recommend when there are other options.

[1] https://blog.privacytools.io/the-trouble-with-vpn-and-privac... [2]https://www.privacytools.io/sponsors/ [3]https://github.com/privacytools/privacytools.io/issues/2134 [4] https://privacytools.io/providers/vpn/#criteria [5] https://blog.privacytools.io/understanding-vpns/

(freddy-m: first-up, thanks for your work on ptio)

I hope the process around software-suggestions gets clearer with this move; the backlog has been growing steadily for over a year [0] with developers left hanging without any follow-up (for ex, a suggestion I submitted hasn't been looked at in over 6 months).

[0] https://github.com/privacytools/privacytools.io/labels/%F0%9...

One of the first things we plan on doing with the new organisaion is creating a criteria for each section. (We already do this for some sections, e.g. email and vpns). That way we can just judge each software suggestion against our guidelines and bypass all the fuss. And then we can focus on more exciting things like expanding the site and working on the community.

No, I find them to be a lot more ambitious than that. Worth browsing around the site, and you'll see it's not spammy at all.

If you run a serious web project, ownership of domain names is critical asset management, especially if you care for privacy. If the current domain was to get hijacked by someone's commercial ambitions, the site would probably be reworked towards the kind of BS VPN blabbering you described.

I don't agree with all of PrivacyTools' angles and priorities, making a lot of their advice pretty impractical for most people. But the purist approach is also interesting to follow, even if one doesn't jump on the bandwagon.

You were wrong.

Their privacy recommendations are good. It’s my go-to place, and I have been a frequent user.

Their privacy suggestions are basically the best around and packaged in a pleasant UX.

Glad you like the site!

Why did you think that? Did you ever visit the site?

The styling and the stock photos.

which stock photos