Prog archives I only really bother with if I want to see what the specific demographic of ultra dorks who use prog archives have to say, which isnt often. ANd when I do it’s usually more for curiosity’s sake than for actually taking them seriously. The site is extremely clunky and badly organized, which doesn’t make it easy to use either.

RYM on the other hand is much more nicely organized, I like how you can sort through all the top lists of years and genres, read other people’s lists and things. I’ve never found it necessary to read every single thing on the site. Their various sorting options usually bring the most interesting writers to the top when it comes to the reviews. And I like that it makes it easy for me to chime in on something if I really want to. The demographic skews much younger too, which isn’t always a good thing but I think it gives a better impression than you’ll find elsewhere as to what the current batch of 20-somethings think about various classic albums and whatnot.
They keep me up to date on new releases pretty well, I’ve found out about a lot of things I wouldnt have known were coming out otherwise, like apparently the posthumous final Cardiacs album (RIP Tim Smith) is going to come out next year, I just learned that right now!