ayksolutions
11-03-2005, 10:09 PM
I'm sure this isn't just my idea, but I'll throw it out there and see what everyone thinks.
I was thinking today of all the 'horror' hosting stories I have read over the time on all the popular hosting forums. So, why not make a all in one, inclusive horror hosting stories site?
I'm pretty sure if you give it a good marketing campaign, simply by advertising on these forums, the site will become a hit. You'll be able to rent out ad space, run promotions, etc... This site will be set up just like any directory, except for having hosts sign up and post their plans, customers will sign up and post their experiences, mostly negative I'd assume, about their host. Viewers will be able to view all the posts alphabetically. The code can be changed to have the host's company name to be the header for easier viewing. I wont get into any coding details, but it can be done.
Of course, being in the hosting business myself, I instantly see a huge flaw in this plan. There are too many people who bash companies and have no idea what they are talking about. There could also be comptetitors who will use this site to sign up, pretend to be a customer and just post bad reviews.
Well, the first deterrent against such action is to have the signee include their current shared IPs of the host and their website url, so you can have a script automatically check to see whether or not the 2 ips are in the same block. If they are, the person can post about that company, if not, then they cannot. Due to this, this site will not have users, you will have to 're-sign' up for each host you have, and you will be allowed to post only a limited amount of new threads about each host you are currently with. This will prevent the spammers from posting too much.
Of course, the hosts will have a voice as well. As I noted above, there are too many people who do not know what they are talking about when posting their issues/mishaps, thus there should be another side to this story. The way I think this should work is, force the angry client to include the general support/sales email of the host in question and send an automatic email to them notifying them of the complaint with a link that they can use to directly view the thread. There, they can use the "guest" feature and will already have their company name as their username inserted. Thus, they can reply to the issue.
Each thread will only be writeable to the host and the client. The host will be only able to post by using the link received in the notification. To prevent the link from being redistributed, it can 'expire' after a certain amount of time, and another one will be resent that will just point to the real address.
I've honestly brushed this whole idea aside as it will be too hard to monitor, and will take up a lot of resources to truly have an accurate site that regulates all of its posts. Once again, the whole client knowledge and maturity levels come into play here. I have seen, on more than one occasion, that the host is childish themselves and is extremely rude.
The whole point of this will be to have a good sized database of 'live' interactions between a host and a client. It will show the true nature of the company and how it handles itself in the spotlight.
Sorry for the long email, and if there is already a site or a post about this, then kudos to them. Just wanted to see what everyone thought. I'll post this on different forums so don't be surprised if you see it somewhere else.
Hope to get some responses. :D
I was thinking today of all the 'horror' hosting stories I have read over the time on all the popular hosting forums. So, why not make a all in one, inclusive horror hosting stories site?
I'm pretty sure if you give it a good marketing campaign, simply by advertising on these forums, the site will become a hit. You'll be able to rent out ad space, run promotions, etc... This site will be set up just like any directory, except for having hosts sign up and post their plans, customers will sign up and post their experiences, mostly negative I'd assume, about their host. Viewers will be able to view all the posts alphabetically. The code can be changed to have the host's company name to be the header for easier viewing. I wont get into any coding details, but it can be done.
Of course, being in the hosting business myself, I instantly see a huge flaw in this plan. There are too many people who bash companies and have no idea what they are talking about. There could also be comptetitors who will use this site to sign up, pretend to be a customer and just post bad reviews.
Well, the first deterrent against such action is to have the signee include their current shared IPs of the host and their website url, so you can have a script automatically check to see whether or not the 2 ips are in the same block. If they are, the person can post about that company, if not, then they cannot. Due to this, this site will not have users, you will have to 're-sign' up for each host you have, and you will be allowed to post only a limited amount of new threads about each host you are currently with. This will prevent the spammers from posting too much.
Of course, the hosts will have a voice as well. As I noted above, there are too many people who do not know what they are talking about when posting their issues/mishaps, thus there should be another side to this story. The way I think this should work is, force the angry client to include the general support/sales email of the host in question and send an automatic email to them notifying them of the complaint with a link that they can use to directly view the thread. There, they can use the "guest" feature and will already have their company name as their username inserted. Thus, they can reply to the issue.
Each thread will only be writeable to the host and the client. The host will be only able to post by using the link received in the notification. To prevent the link from being redistributed, it can 'expire' after a certain amount of time, and another one will be resent that will just point to the real address.
I've honestly brushed this whole idea aside as it will be too hard to monitor, and will take up a lot of resources to truly have an accurate site that regulates all of its posts. Once again, the whole client knowledge and maturity levels come into play here. I have seen, on more than one occasion, that the host is childish themselves and is extremely rude.
The whole point of this will be to have a good sized database of 'live' interactions between a host and a client. It will show the true nature of the company and how it handles itself in the spotlight.
Sorry for the long email, and if there is already a site or a post about this, then kudos to them. Just wanted to see what everyone thought. I'll post this on different forums so don't be surprised if you see it somewhere else.
Hope to get some responses. :D