November 1, 2007 (Vol. 27, No. 19)

URL:
http://insectasylum.com

Rating:
Strong Points: Hierarchical organization of insect orders with pics
Weak Points: Dysfunctional identification guide

Summary:
InsectAsylum wins some major points for a clever title, though if one takes it literally, it doesn’t really make any sense at all – not unlike the remainder of the site itself. Aimed at people interested in identifying insects, the site abounds with hierarchically organized information sorted into a Virtual Collection (27 of the 30 insect orders with sub-links to relevant images), an Identification Guide (organized in a rather bizarre fashion as a timed slide show!), a Blog (consists mainly of update information to the site rather than discussion of topics), a Gift Information Guide (care to buy a mug or tee-shirt with insect images on it?), and a rather redundant Shopping section (care to buy a tee-shirt or mug with insect images on it?). The most disappointing aspect of the site has to be the timed slide show for identifying insects. Surely they don’t expect anyone to use it for any practical purpose. The pics in the first section are pretty good, but the rest of InsectAsylum borders on the weird and is not especially useful.

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