I was checking my server logs tonight and noticed a referrer link from http://www.webhostingtalk.com/hostspy.php. Can anyone fill me in on what this is? Thanks

Using HostSpy perspective and existing Hosting clients can enter the domain name of a Host into a search box and get the number of domains associated with the nameservers for that host...along with a list of up to 52 of those specific domains displayed. This way customer can get an idea of how many accounts a host has and be able to test the responsiveniss of some of its customers sites. It's great for the customer...but I'm not sure the Hosts are going to like it... :angry: More power for the little guy :D :D

It was some DNS thing Matt put up for a short (very short) time recently. You'd have to ask him.

Chicken, are you saying that HostSpy won't be coming back? I thought it was a fantastic tool and it worked great.

Originally posted by greggish
It's great for the customer...but I'm not sure the Hosts are going to like it... D The only hosts that wouldn't like it would be those who are trying to hide facts about themselves. Sadly, there are some of those here.

I hope it'll be back. Great tool.

i wanna try it

:bawling: :bawling:

I managed to play with it for a few minutes before Matt took it down - it looked pretty cool.

I managed to get 5 sesrches in yesterday in 5 minutes...and oh man was it good....sooooo good...it was better than...well not that good ;) :D

One of the problems I see with a tool like that is when a host has down time or other mishaps and a user promptly posts the "news" here (as so often happens). Unscrupulous hosts could use the tool to get a list of domains to spam with a "Your host having trouble? Try us!" messages.

The other thing is that the number of domains a company is hosting is *not* an indication of the quality of service by any means. If someone is considering HostA and HostB and sees that HostA has 300 domains while HostB has 1000, is it correct to assume HostB is a "better" company because the number is bigger?

I think HostSpy is great for hosts who want to spy on other hosts (or to keep those guys who are claiming "We host 10 million domains!" honest), but as a tool for customers shopping for a hosting company it has little worth.

Originally posted by Intelligent Hosting
...but as a tool for customers shopping for a hosting company it has little worth.

I couldn't disagree more. Anything that gives the consumer more information is a good thing. Let each customer worry about how they will interpret that info.

It will be back up today. And will probably come back down again. Loads of bugs to fix and optmization still to be done.

Originally posted by greggish
I couldn't disagree more. Anything that gives the consumer more information is a good thing. Let each customer worry about how they will interpret that info.
Since you disagree, please explain how the quantity of domains a company is hosting is an indication of quality.

Originally posted by Intelligent Hosting

Since you disagree, please explain how the quantity of domains a company is hosting is an indication of quality. Personally (and I know you weren't talking to me) I wouldn't say it is. But it's sometimes an indication of fraudulent promotion, in the case of those hosts that call themselves, for example, "one of the largest and most successful hosting companies in the USA," when they actually host a couple of dozen domains -- even counting a few of their own among that number.

And while I'm thinking of a specific WHT member when I say that, they are not alone.

Wow...very COOL!

WebHostingTalk Host Spy Results
Domain Queried: dixiesys.com
Report Generated Date: Sun Jan 13 19:59:10 EST 2002
Nameserver(s) Queried: ns1.dixiesys.com
(other nameservers for this host??? then let us know.)
Number of Internic (com,net,org) Domains Hosted: 317

I didn't see any option to list domains I host, that's good. A company's customerlist is something most corporations protect at all costs.

This doesn't count the domains that use my unbranded name servers (about 20 or so).

Originally posted by Dixiesys
WebHostingTalk Host Spy Results
Domain Queried: dixiesys.com
Report Generated Date: Sun Jan 13 19:59:10 EST 2002
Nameserver(s) Queried: ns1.dixiesys.com
(other nameservers for this host??? then let us know.)
Number of Internic (com,net,org) Domains Hosted: 317

I didn't see any option to list domains I host, that's good. A company's customerlist is something most corporations protect at all costs.

This doesn't count the domains that use my unbranded name servers (about 20 or so).

Hostspy was spitting out upto 100 domain names hosted on the nameservers.....but some time over sunday the code was changed to not list them explicitly (maybe to stop spamming?)

Originally posted by MattF
It will be back up today. And will probably come back down again. Loads of bugs to fix and optmization still to be done.
One of the other things to keep in mind is that pounding on a name server can get you blocked. If you have not experienced this yet, let me assure you it's possible

There are nameservers who pay attention to the incoming hits from a specific IP address and if they exceed a certain number per second that IP is assumed to be collecting SPAM and is blocked.

-t

I think I will be changing my domain nameservers over to something none of my users use tonight. The last thing I need arepeople spamming my my customers trying talk them into switching. Most would pay any attention but some may wonder how the spammer knows who they host with and think we were selling their info.

Originally posted by thewitt

One of the other things to keep in mind is that pounding on a name server can get you blocked. If you have not experienced this yet, let me assure you it's possible

There are nameservers who pay attention to the incoming hits from a specific IP address and if they exceed a certain number per second that IP is assumed to be collecting SPAM and is blocked.

-t

I never thought of that. How are you tracking them? I'm not so worried about this tool as much as another company deciding to use something similar to target ALL of our customers.

i used it when it was showing the domains a rather nice feature that helped me out on a company i have been working with and talking about doing something with thanks to this
it showed me about 75 adult porn sites bad ones like gay-boyoutpost and stuff like that seems like there web entertainment company is into a lot more than they are saying

Thank you for this great program which i would not have been able to find out about this without it

on the other hand i do see taht as a tool that can be put to bad use

but overall i like this gives me a lot of tools to use, not just with webhosting companies but with a lot of other things i do

thanks guyz i like this one =)

I worry that this will give potential customers the wrong idea. It implies that a we hosting company that is small, regarding the amount of sites they host are inferior. Unless the potential customer is looking for a small host they may turn away from many smaller hosts or start ups that may offer superior service and support than many of the bigger companies.

Also there is the issue of confidentiality. I know for example that we have some customers that do not want to be publicized as to where they are hosting. Everything they offer is totally legal but may opposes by other groups. We're talking mostly religious type stuff here. No porn or Nazi groups or anything like that.

Plus all someone would have to do is get these lists and spam my customers. I don't know about you but I worked hard to get my customers and I work hard to keep them.

I would prefer to see this "service" go away. I'm sure there are many more useful services that could be added to this site to help the potential customer.

In addition, I am in no way trying to hide anything from anyone. I'm simply trying to protect my customers right to privacy and my hard earned customers.

Couldn't you also doctor the data to show that you are much larger than you really are? If all if does is look at how many domains point to your nameservers, it would not take much to load up a nameserver with domains that have no value other than raising your domain count...

-t