Existing shareware product descriptions are too short. It's almost impossible to tell one program from another not to mention frustrating to download a program, print out documentation and try the program only to find out things the author could have told us in the first place.
Most of us are not interested in doing more than necessary. If authors want to reach us, there's a few things that we require. We want enough information in advance to make sure the program is worth our time.
The information provided has to be complete. Not riddled with holes for our imagination to fill in. We have to understand who the program is intended to serve. Who needs it most? With this we can determine if we're one of the people who might benefit.
We really need to know a program's limits. What can it do or not do? If an author says it does EVERYTHING then tell us specifically what this means. Unanswered questions means work for us. If something looks like work we'll look elsewhere.
It's all well and fine to make claims but some supporting evidence makes a big difference. We just don't have the time and patience to walk a zillion miles down the wrong road. A reference, such as a review, would go a long ways towards assuring us a particular product is worth while.
This is the information we need. Why should we do the author's work for them? A commercial product wouldn't do this. We'll meet the authors half way, they give us what we need to make informed decisions and we'll take their products seriously.
Fair enough?