WebHostingTalk.com is a great site for interacting with other hosting providers. Occasionally, I will glean some knowledge from WHT members. The one thing I wish could change on WHT is the freedom that any freely registered user has to post anything about any hosting provider. This freedom often portrays hosting providers in a bad light and without any justification. There needs to be a check and balance system in place. Hosts that get a bash every so often have to monitor WHT to make sure they aren’t being dragged through the dirt. So, as a host, you can either (1) battle the moderator to get unproven bashes removed, (2) post a defensive stance or (3) just forget about WHT.
(1) Battling the evil overlord (Moderator)
Once we had a guy posting false statements, making false accusations, etc. and the WHT moderator wouldn’t remove the post. We actually had to call the owners of WHT, provided several pieces of evidence, and then the post was quickly removed. Of course, the moderator didn’t like that we went around them. But, the moderator wouldn’t listen to reason and wouldn’t accurately look at the evidence. You give a person a little power, and it goes straight to their heads.
(2) Taking the Defensive Stance
If you are correct in defending something that you are accused of, you should take a defensive stance. Post the facts. There are a lot of intelligent hosting providers out there that will read your facts and start to question the original posting author. In my opinion, this is the best approach to handling inaccurate posts.
(3) Forget about WHT
I like WHT for the information and the valuable advice you can get from hosting providers that have a paid subscription to WHT. I think WHT is a great place to exchange ideas and get advice. The thing I really hate is the bashing threads I run into all of the time. This really is non productive and a complete waste of time. So, I started limiting my scanning of WHT. I’ll check in once a week and see if there is anything worth looking at. If WHT changed the policy of free range rage posting, I would use the site more often. I get really tired of kids posting nonsense on the site.
I really don’t like whiners and complainers. So, to take a pro-active stance I started a new site: http://www.webhostingabuse.com. This site allows registered hosting providers and normal web host users to start identifying abusers. When a post is made, it is first run through the moderation board. If the post is accurate and we can verify the person is older than 18, we will post the details. Otherwise, it will be declined and put on a watch list internal to WHA to monitor for future posts. This site will allow paying members to check new client signups for a past history of hosting porn, torrents, wrecking havoc by ‘griefing’ servers, etc. Have a look and let me know what you want the site to be.
