I think you need a mission statement/elevator-pitch style intro to the raison d'etre of the site. At the moment I'm having to invest time reading multiple snippets and inferring the overall goal of your project from them, which is difficult.
I agree that it might not be obvious what the site does when you see it the first time, I will put a up faq but i don't want to take room on the front page to explain the site, it doesn't seem right.
Agree with @user24. Are these snippets essentially quotes of interesting articles?
Yes, they are quotes from blogs and personal stories, some are short and the have whole story in the quote but most are longer and you have to go to the source to read it all.