It wasn't in 90s and early 00s… Along with Freshmeat (and The Linux Game Tome :)), they were pretty useful websites.

Wikipedia says SourceForge launched November of 1999. I remember as early as 2003 thinking it was sleazy how it tried to trick you into downloading adware with their big "Download Now!" ads. So maybe not literally "always", but certainly the majority of time.

Seems about right, maybe my memory tricked me. Thanks.