Hello

No doubt we have better traffic on WHT after recent advertisements.

But I am sure we are not just looking for more traffic here. We need quality more than anything else.

Webhostingtalk has been a professional society but its reputation is under attack by new users (though it is not on purpose).

Let me show an example:

http://webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=70581

User asks for opinions about a company. Others just give either useless comments or just single emoticons etc.

And this is in our most forum, "dedicated hosting forum".

It seems we must think about a way to avoid this kind of posts.

I suggest adding a forum rules post attached to top of every forum and forcing them.

I am waiting to see users and staff opinions.

Regards,
Mac

If you see something you think doesn't belong; report it. That's what that button's there for.

I was not speaking about a specific thread. I just gave a sample.

This is something that I see very much in recent weeks and It isn't interesting to hit that button 10 times a day.

Mac

Well, we don't moderate posts before they are posted, so the only option left is to clean up threads after. There's not a single report from you about this, so I'm not sure what to say.

I've cleaned that thread (a bit too well actually, heh), so it should read better.

Wmac:, your example is interesting.

Owned contacted me about Serverhosts before he created that thread and I gave him my views.

WHat you don't know is that I did talk to him for a signifigant length and they wanted more information from actual users.

So far I see nothing about that thread that would be misconstrued as wrong as mypost of the emoticon was to OWNED, not to you, and I know he knows why I posted it so I think you're barking in the wrong direction.

Rules are important, but whining because you don't like every thread just stiffens the mood, I believe that people within that thread are actually interested in customers opinions of that host and have every intention to find accurate information.

I am suspect of your choice of it as an example...

"How do you know?"
-Lilly
"I know things about people Lilly"
-Clint Eastwood

What? No department of Pre-Thread Violation? No people in tanks seeing the future typing of people off topic or posting fals[DISCONNECTED]

Chicken, Thank you :)

I agree that you can not cleanup those threads before posting :)

I just tell that forum rules may stop this kind of posts a little otherwise you will need to be here all day cleaning up threads. I have at least 7-8 forums some of them with over 1000 members and I know that it is very difficult to manage those threads.

It is not possible for a normal person (except he is chicken) to clean a forum with so many posts a day.

I just thaught some strict forum rules may be useful for a forum like webhostingtalk because it is a serious business and technical forum.

Again I must admit that a big part of WHT reputation is created by its very good moderators.

Mac

SluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUuuuuuuurp

Samuel,

I have never been against you, believe me. My post wasn't about you at all. You have 881 messages.

Did you saw that message with only one statement "I have never used them !"

A new user with less than 20 posts comes to dedicated server forums and posts such a reply about a serious thread.

I myself was looking for a server after I lost my money on eservers.biz/hostmania server story and serverhost was a candidate. Therefore when I saw that thread I wanted to see a serious discussion not those useless comments by those.

Then you think I have a personal problem with you?

But this isn't tha case. And I can not understand what you mean by your recent "sluuuurp" message here in this thread. :confused:

Mac

As this thread could have been handled in private, so will our conversation.

wmac, I completely agree with you. This situation is very often an annoyance for me also, and it does decreases the value of webhostingtalk.com.

Maybe it is time someone write up a "newbie guide."

Peter

If we are going to say what can or cannot be post you ruin the site. To give people the choice is what it is all about. Freedom to talk about anything related to the web/webdesign/webhosting and so on. To say we cannot ask questions, in my mind would make a big mistake. I am sure your making a nice amount of money from this site. Through the banners at the top of your page, and you could ruin your site if you put stupidy and pathdic rules. I mean no offence, I am just statin if you take our freedom to speak whatever we like...you may be turning off some poeple. I hope this helps out...I mean no offence.

This is not about censoring content; it is about keeping the quality of the content.

Think about this - If everyone is allowed to post freely any useless posts they want (e.g. one-liner such as "I have never used them" or "I don't know"), you will have threads that are full of useless posts, and the value of webhostingtalk.com would depreciate.

It has nothing to do with "Freedom of Speech."

Peter

You're talking about moderating all posts.

WHT is no less the hot bed for various issues in the hosting industry today, as it was 2 years ago.

Competent, and proactive moderators are here, and that is plenty.

Originally posted by ckpeter
This is not about censoring content; it is about keeping the quality of the content.

Think about this - If everyone is allowed to post freely any useless posts they want (e.g. one-liner such as "I have never used them" or "I don't know"), you will have threads that are full of useless posts, and the value of webhostingtalk.com would depreciate.

It has nothing to do with "Freedom of Speech."

Peter

ckpeter

Thank you. This was exactly what I wanted to say.

Mac

Being active in other forums, I would have to agree. :mad:

The negative posts, the one smiley posts, just degrade the offer. If you don't like, don't reply.....simple! If it is post counts you want, go to the lounge where inane posts are mostly ignored :eek:

Whatever happened with this thing, it's a heck of a lot better for the board than Dot5Hosting's customers being instructed to spam the Web Hosting forum. Now THAT'S degrading. A disgrace in fact.

:disagree: moderating posts

Lightning i know its a disgrace,

i already reported it to the mods once and xstrike did the right thing about it :D


Originally posted by lightnin
Whatever happened with this thing, it's a heck of a lot better for the board than Dot5Hosting's customers being instructed to spam the Web Hosting forum. Now THAT'S degrading. A disgrace in fact.

Originally posted by edude
Lightning i know its a disgrace,

i already reported it to the mods once and xstrike did the right thing about it :D




Cool, glad to hear that. I can only imagine what would happen if we all started asking our happy customers to post at WHT. There would be an endless sea of 'thumbs up for lamehost.com!'

i agree, i have posted about this many times and i have been flamed, great to see someone agrees with me.

i think asking your customers to post recommendations is the samething as spam and anyone who does this should be banned...

and company name censored.

I totally agree with you. IMHO, when someone is asked to post at WHT recommending a host, they cease to be come just a satisfied customer looking to 'spread the word' and become, in effect, an agent of the company they are recommending.

I would be incredibly embarassed to ask my customers to post anywhere. I have no shortage of happy customers who would be glad to comply if I asked them to post at WHT. But I really think that doing so is unethical and detrimental to the board in general.

Originally posted by lightnin
I totally agree with you. IMHO, when someone is asked to post at WHT recommending a host, they cease to be come just a satisfied customer looking to 'spread the word' and become, in effect, an agent of the company they are recommending. . . . . .Although I totally agree with that; maybe this is a topic better served by a new thread. It would be interesting to get feedback from other members.

Why is it a disgrace?

So you ask your customers to drop by and give a thumbs up to your service. That's smart business not spamming. That's why WHT exists ... to allow people to share how they feel about their hosts.

Well, that and to give Ned Patter something to do.

Well, while positive reviews are appreciated, too much of them can be detrimental. Webhostingtalk.com could be overwhelmed by "reviews" while other discussions give way to "positive reviews."

One thing about dot5's review is that most of their clients come by to "review" after signing up for a few weeks (or less). Their reviews, however truthful, may not be representation of the service quality of dot5 in the long run.

By encouraging their clients to "review" at such an early stage, dot5 is, in a way, spamming webhostingtalk with their clients as agents.

Peter

Agreed on the timeframe, but ....

If someone comments about the specific parts of the experience such as account set up or help moving a site, etc. I think that is fine.

Maybe they are receiving a free month in exchange =) J/K!

Originally posted by pgrote
Why is it a disgrace?

So you ask your customers to drop by and give a thumbs up to your service. That's smart business not spamming. That's why WHT exists ... to allow people to share how they feel about their hosts.

Well, that and to give Ned Patter something to do.

It is disgraceful because it lessens the impact of REAL reviews from people who weren't asked to post. Call me old fashioned, but I don't think it's good business at all. I think it's really rather slimy.

I say again. What if we all did that? I could have 25 people here in 15 minutes to each post about how great my services are. Should I do that? Is that smart business? I can't see that it would be. Perhaps that would actually hammer my arguement home, if 10 or 20 of us hosts who are in agreement about this went and asked a few people to post.

:disagree: pgrote

But the funny thing is, if Dot5's ever going to have massive downtime etc..

All these people he asks to post here are going to come and start new topics on the downtime etc..

so it works 2 ways :D

Sorry, but I thought the forum description was:

Discussions on all aspects of web hosting including past experiences (both negative and positive), choosing a host, questions and answers, and other related subjects.

Sounds like it's a solicitation for experiences with hosts. Maybe a different section needs to be created for reviews.

The problem that you aren't choosing to recognize, for whatever reason, is that it's known that hosts have in the past, on occasion, "Talked to themselves" with multiple usersnames etc. This is why I believe the multiple username rule exists imo, chicken could confirm, but needless to say, there is a valid point to being suspicious of positive reviews that fit certain criteria as this board is mined seriously from just about every angle you can think of and false front mining is about the worst.... if not bordering on intent to fraud.

Originally posted by pgrote
Sorry, but I thought the forum description was:



Sounds like it's a solicitation for experiences with hosts. Maybe a different section needs to be created for reviews.

I believe you are missing my point. I am not arguing against people posting reviews of hosts. Quite the contrary. What I am against is hosts blatantly soliciting their customers to spam WHT.

I don't know ... that's a murky line. Why would you call it spam?

If you know that people post reviews of hosts on WHT why wouldn't you want customers posting their thoughts here? Obviously by inviting them to do it, as someone else mentioned, you risk they will revist when/if things are perceived as bad.

It is something that customers should do on their own, not be asked to do. PERIOD :D

Just think about what a mess would be created if more hosts did what dot5 has been doing. While I can appreciate the desire for instant gratification on the part of a host, good reviews will come in time, if you really do provide good service. Pushing the issue is not necessary.

I agree to what Andrew said. As a matter of fact, because of this incident(s), I don't think too highly of dot5, because those reviews were very annoying and distract me from other discussions.

Peter

It is something that customers should do on their own, not be asked to do. PERIOD
So true!

For those that still don't get it, here is a simple test:

Have you "asked" your Clients to make posts about your service at any Forums?
Was it a selective list (by you) of only Clients that have had a positive experience?
Did you provide them with a list of Forums? (after all, let's make it as easy as we can, right?)
Were they told to only post positive things or could they actually use their own discretion?
Were the postings checked on to make sure they were positive? (recriminations for those that were not?)

The above are all various reasons (and things to wonder about) when Reviews are not initiated by the Client themselves. To "ask" Clients to go around making posts about "your" services is to take advantage of not only your Clients, but also the Forums where they make the postings.

If your services are good and your Clients are happy, don't worry. They "will" spread the word -- and in better ways than you might imagine. ;)

Um, I've been on Dot5 for over a month now and have never been asked to spam WHT and I've seen no record of it either.

I think it is a shame that a good host is being jumped on for something that may not be happening at all. When I first came here and posted my review on (yes dot5) it was a simple case of wanting to let people know how impressed I was with their service.........(Yes I was new at the time and never gave thought to how my few days with a company would be received) but I was not asked to come here and post.

In this time when so many hosts seem to be either falling by the wayside or playing at being a real host, I think there are probably just a lot of new people(people that have been burned-myself included) that are so happy to actually have a host do what he says he will that they may be a little overzealous in there review.

Also the other thing that comes to mind is dot5 has an affiliate program and perhaps many are thinking that since they are happy anyway they may as well post and maybe the person would join from there website addy......( I am not one of those either)

I don't really have the answers here ....I can only say from my personal experience that I WAS NOT asked to come here and post (and actually I wish I had waited a couple of months,so I wouldn't have been jumped upon and made to feel as I did) however if I were to write that review today after a couple of months it would probably be more glowing ..............

It seems that:
if you post a good review you are attacked

if you post a bad review you are attacked
if you are new you are told you are to new for your opinion to matter

if you have only been there a couple of months you are told to come back in six months and tell us again

Many people are referred to WHT to look for and research a host.
When they first come here looking everyone is so eager to help and offer suggestions and opinions.Why not tell them "when you
take our suggestions and use our opinions to find the new host , don't bother coming back to tell us for at least a year". Then the real scam hosts will have some good lead time to burn more people.

Well this is my opinion (of value only to me) but instead of bashing a good host why not go to the source and ask ?

If someone asks about dot5 I will continue to give my opinion .If it were to be bad I would still give my opinion.I owe them nothing and they owe me nothing except the service I paid for.

Thanks for listening

Originally posted by clio
Um, I've been on Dot5 for over a month now and have never been asked to spam WHT and I've seen no record of it either.

So you were in no way asked or told that by posting here you would help them out?

Sorry, but I don't buy it.

Andrew, don't be so harsh on him.

Although, as it is pretty obvious, the mass amount of "dot5 reviews" have a negative impact of those of us who are not end-clients. Webhostingtalk.com is about web hosting, not just reviews. The flooding of reviews is definitely a source of annoyance (if not anger).

I am in no way saying that dot5 is malicous or that the user reviews are fabricated (they may or may not be). But the matter, as it stands, is inappropriate.

Peter

I'd never ask clients to post reviews into WHT. Just let the reviews and testimonials happen naturally. It's less desperate and a more dignified approach.

Should I return that check then, Bob? :D

Seriously, it's a tenuous line. Some see it as direct spam others see it as effective marketing.

I think the difference that people have to understand is that WHT is a forum as oppposed to a review site. Though people are solicited on the forum for their experiences it could be considered slimy when hosts asks customers to post here.

Now, if all the reviews were the same .... :)

Originally posted by ckpeter
Andrew, don't be so harsh on him.

Although, as it is pretty obvious, the mass amount of "dot5 reviews" have a negative impact of those of us who are not end-clients. Webhostingtalk.com is about web hosting, not just reviews. The flooding of reviews is definitely a source of annoyance (if not anger).

I am in no way saying that dot5 is malicous or that the user reviews are fabricated (they may or may not be). But the matter, as it stands, is inappropriate.

Peter

Yes, a much more eloquent way of saying what I'm trying to say. You're right. I apologize for attacking Clio.