How to Post a Review Without looking like an idiot

ub3r · #1 04-25-2005, 07:30 PM

Lately, I have noticed an abundance of reviews where the thread starter appears to be an idiot.

With this tutorial, I will guide you on the steps needed to post a review without looking like that complete idiot.

Thread Titles

Avoid Non-AlphaNumeric characters In Thread Titles
Some of the most idiotic posts are those where the thread creator will wrap the title in *'s, $'s, #'s, and @'s. This is not to say you may not use a special character in thread titles, but you should avoid using them in an unnecessary fashion.

Use Proper Capitalization
One of the most irritating things a thread poster can do is TYPE THEIR ENTIRE THREAD TITLE IN CAPITAL LETTERS. Use your indoor typing style, and avoid looking like an idiot.

Exclamation Points
Use a maximum of 3 !'s in your thread. Anything more is just annoying.

Post Content

Be Rational
Don't go flaming a host because your website went down for 20 minutes one month. If they run such a system, make sure to keep up with your host's scheduled maintenance outage system. If you cannot access your website, the problem may be on your own connection. Contact some friends who are on different internet connections, and ask them if they can access your website. If they are also unable to access your website, contact your host's support team. If they fail to respond after 36 hours, run a whois query on their domain, and attempt to locate a phone number where they can be reached. If nobody answers when you call, you have a right to bitch.

Calm Down
Keep use of the

smiley to a minimum. Remember the Proper Caplitalization rule, and do not type complete sentences, or even complete words in all caps.

"My Host doesn't know anything!"
If you believe your host is an idiot, save some live chat / helpdesk conversations, and post them with your review. That'll help your review even more.

"My Website is Always Down"
Setup a siteuptime.com account to monitor your website's uptime, with your review, post your statistics in screenshot or plain old statistics.

Prove You are a Customer
Make sure to include the domain you are hosting with the company in your post, or in your profile. If you lie, we will know.

Make sure to read and follow the WHT Rules wherever you post.

Da Writer · #2 05-09-2005, 03:44 PM

that sure shall help a lot of guys... if its read. Im new to WHT but in have seen lot of incomplete reviews on other forums..

Rubal · #3 05-10-2005, 07:11 AM

Gr8 !! I'ld try to not to look like an idiot.

wire · #4 05-27-2005, 07:20 AM

Would be great if you can add more for other reviews. This was only realting to webhosting reviews.

BlueJean · #5 08-09-2005, 04:40 PM

I'm a new member, but I visit WHT quite often and see far too many bad web host reviews with incomplete and biased information. Usually 5 to 10 people have to respond with the request for more information… I vote that mikeylove’s tutorial be posted either as an addendum to the rules or as a sticky in the Web Hosting Forum

.

Shaliza · #6 08-12-2005, 07:32 PM

Good one. Too bad some people probably won't pay attention to it...

mrFoce · #7 08-15-2005, 05:41 PM

yeah, that would save me a lot of frustation, seen to many posts like.. Don't go with this host : withouth backing it up why not

twhnman · #8 08-29-2005, 02:15 PM

Great points! Each review should be taken with a grain of salt. As a web host, we strive to make all our customers happy, but there are always the select few that simply cannot be made happy or do have a bad experience for one reason or another. A rule I always tell host searchers, is to find multiple reviews on the host. One single review may not be completely relevant, but multiple reviews complaining about the same thing is definitly relevant.

johncesta · #9 12-07-2005, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ub3r

Be Rational
Don't go flaming a host because your website went down for 20 minutes one month. If they run such a system, make sure to keep up with your host's scheduled maintenance outage system. If you cannot access your website, the problem may be on your own connection. Contact some friends who are on different internet connections, and ask them if they can access your website. If they are also unable to access your website, contact your host's support team.

If they fail to respond after 36 hours, run a whois query on their domain, and attempt to locate a phone number where they can be reached. If nobody answers when you call, you have a right to bitch.

Good points!

Let me add this:

Also run a whois on your own domain. I have had plenty of clients's domains expire and they don't know about it.

AdeptHosts · #10 12-07-2005, 11:44 AM

What about if its a good review?

ub3r · #11 12-21-2005, 04:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ipotweb

What about if its a good review?

Same rules apply, but you can act very happy if you like.

sgarbus · #12 12-22-2005, 12:02 AM

Nice one, ub3r! Hopefully people will read this and start posting reviews correctly!

getweb · #13 02-17-2006, 04:44 PM

Good advice! As ipotweb pointed out, suggestions for the elusive positive review would be a nice balance. But what about advice for hosts who don't want to look like an idiot?

You see, uh, I have this friend...

waxdoll · #14 02-17-2006, 06:25 PM

The ultimate aim of posting a review is to make sure people know fully about the company that we are talking about. So if we give a review without the company name or any confirmation or with out the witness, it will definetly look stupid.

Also the way we place them(we write them) is more important than writing this and that.

It should be perfect and the things that we are narrating should give the readers a good or bad impression and the reader should be able to come to a decission whether he can go with them or not. That should be the final conclusion for him.

Good thread !!!