Re: Host Gator exposed: blackhat spammers, sock puppet trolls, harassing critics, google bombing

[Christian Sciberras <uuf6429 () gmail com>]

Anonymous sources....how convenient!

Don't waste our time, ok?






On Fri, Oct 29, 2010 at 4:40 AM, Josey Yelsef <hg_exposed () yahoo com> wrote:
> I first noticed this business years ago when I set up a website for a friend's forum. He was extremely appealed by 
> the deal. After hosting with them for a very short time he parted ways.  At first I thought they were just another 
> lowly shared host. Recently, I checked back to see how this web host innovated.
>
> Instead of innovation, such as cloud architecture, exchange or inhouse solutions, they're making millions google 
> bombing and spamming their homepage, and are one of the most prolific corporate spammers I've seen. By my estimates, 
> they likely spent well-over 7 figures on blackhat SEO campaigns which earned the #1 result for hosting on Google 
> search.
>
> Further, They are Google bombing results like "Hostgator sucks" and "Hostgator scam" to bury criticism and constantly 
> policing blogs for any critical comments. If it's a fraudulent bill, it was a mistake out of odds. If it's an 
> ex-employee, they'll say it's a personal grudge over incompetence firing.
>
> What is most despicable about this business is their management and lackey employees scour and attack people who have 
> legitimate criticism of their business.
>
>  Real ex-employee reviews
>
> 1.) "Terrible company, stay away". 2010-10-28
> http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-HostGator-com-RVW690066.htm
> http://bit.ly/cqTnB6 Accessed: 2010-10-28.
> (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5toGFVrXM)
>
> 2.) "The 5/5 review was written by Hostgator management". 2010-10-28. 
> http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-HostGator-com-RVW598581.htm
> http://bit.ly/99MpO5 Accessed: 2010-10-28.
> (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5toGJpPo1)
>
> 3.) "Just Another Callcenter". 2010-10-28.
> http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-HostGator-com-RVW562768.htm.
> http://bit.ly/93ZDq3 Accessed: 2010-10-28.
> (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5toGO2o9b)
>
> 4.) "Not disgruntled but disappointed". 2010-10-28. 
> http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-HostGator-com-RVW306863.htm
> http://bit.ly/crwXrU Accessed: 2010-10-28.
> (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5toGUotjs)
>
> 5.) "#1 Reason for an IT Union". 2010-10-28.
> http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-HostGator-com-RVW292019.htm
> http://bit.ly/94v04q Accessed: 2010-10-28.
> (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5toGdxKeJ)
>
> 6.) EX-HOSTGATOR.COM EMPLOYEE SENTENCED FOR COMPUTER INTRUSION. 2010-10-28.
> http://www.justice.gov/criminal/cybercrime/wadeSent.pdf
> http://bit.ly/beVXBK Accessed: 2010-10-28.
> (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5toHZOuFr)
>
> 7.) "Hostgator is a very unprofessional, and unethical company to work for."
> 2010-10-28. http://rateyourjob-rateyourboss.com/?p=52
> http://bit.ly/bZDC7k Accessed: 2010-10-28.
> (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5toHjggqs)
>
>
>           ========================================
>
>  Consumer reviews:
>
> 1.) "Company is full of idiots". 2010-10-28.
> http://www.ripoffreport.com/Web Hosting/HostGator/hostgator-do-not-deal-with-hos-bpfa3.htm http://bit.ly/aY0HX2 
> Accessed: 2010-10-28.
> (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5toHrr2uP)
>
> 2.) "They claim they give unlimited bandwidth and ... claim anything to make a sale".
> 2010-10-28.
> http://www.ripoffreport.com/web-hosting/hostgator/hostgator-they-claim-they-giv-75ce5.htm http://bit.ly/9Ltl29 
> Accessed: 2010-10-28.
> (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5toI0ZrID)
>
> 3.) "... They seem more like thieves". 2010-10-28.
> http://www.ripoffreport.com/web-hosting/hostgator-com-llc/hostgator-com-llc-after-cancel-f4c8e.htm
> http://bit.ly/dBAg5J Accessed: 2010-10-28.
> (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5toI7NCsP)
>
>           ========================================
>
>  Here is a list of anonymous Host Gator employees sock puppeting and trolling critical comments, scam and fraud 
> allegations:
>
> 1.) Ex-employee harassed by hostgator's sockpuppet commenters. 2010-10-28.
> http://www.googlelady.com/1281/exhostgator-employee/
> http://bit.ly/9ZGoz6 Accessed: 2010-10-28.
> (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5toFY9HVi)
>
> 2.) "try spelling it CORRECTLY". 2010-10-28.
> http://www.ripoffreport.com/advertising-deceptive/hostgator-hosting-co/hostgator-hosting-com-does-not-9f59a.htm
> http://bit.ly/ci6dDJ Accessed: 2010-10-28.
> (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5toIBLwIi)
>
> 3.) hgfan sockpuppet. 2010-10-28.
> http://www.hostingdiscussion.com/web-hosting-reselling/23460-hostgator-nightmare.html
> http://bit.ly/d4CSCk Accessed: 2010-10-28.
> (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5toIIA6KR)
>
>           =========================================
>
> Legal threat to censor hostgator-sucks.commenters
>
> Host Gator takes a bite. Takedown threat. 2010-10-28.
> http://www.chillingeffects.org/domain/notice.cgi?NoticeID=4029.
> http://bit.ly/ai0Ne5 Accessed: 2010-10-28.
> (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5tpYhg16c)
>
>           =========================================
>
> Here is a list of Host gator google bombing with fake websites and prolifically self-aggrandizing "sponsored 
> conversations" to bury negative reviews:
>
> 1.) "I think HostGator has been successful because it has innovated in the industry while at the same time keeping to 
> its roots as an honest web hosting company that strives to deliver personal service." (As of October 28th, 2010, 
> Hostgator uses Cpanel) Hosting secrets revealed.
> http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/featured-articles/10-questions-with-hostgator/
> http://bit.ly/9cHueg Accessed: 2010-10-28.
> (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5toFiyzPP)
>
> 2.) "Hostgartor.com [sic] likes to brag about numbers", "Even though Hostgator has their own building, it does not 
> appear they have their own server center, and they to [sic] like the first three companies I reviewed that are also 
> using theplanet.com.", "Even though Hostgator.com is only in number 5th position, they probable [sic] should be in 
> the top position at webhostingstuff.com." 2010-10-28.
> http://hosting-reviews-exposed.com/unlimited-hosting/hostgator-bad-web-host-read-honest-hostgator-review.html
> http://bit.ly/9T4wpR Accessed: 2010-10-28.
> (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5toFua6jj)
>
> 3.) "They don’t have too many bells and whistles, marketing ploys, or anything of the sort.". 2010-10-28.
> http://www.clickfire.com/hostgator-review/
> http://bit.ly/IetFt Accessed: 2010-10-28.
> (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5toFzkmnH)
>
> 4.) "My only regret about Hostgator is that I didn’t join them earlier and ignored all the good hostgator reviews for 
> too long". 2010-10-28.
> http://myeasyonlinepay.com/one-year-on-has-hostgator-lost-its-appeal/
> http://bit.ly/6hgOAH Accessed: 2010-10-28.
> (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5toGxxCpe)
>
> There literally thousands more. They have spent 6 or 7 figs burying negative reviews, making them one of the top 
> black hat spammers on the internet. This is pure blackhat SEO.  A sponsored conversation means Host gator paid 
> bloggers to write a puff piece, see sites like https://payperpost.com/. Rarely do you see a legitimate client, out of 
> 20 pages of sifting through hostgator ads, almost  9/10 of them were bought through ad services.
>
> They will likely proffer it's by rogue affiliate advertisers. This is for the most part untrue - they're not even 
> pretending to hide it with affiliate or referral links. They are that sloppy and obvious about it.
>
> Hostgator even claims their own spam campaign speaks in their favor them:
>
> "From the above number, only 1 out of every 10000 pages about HostGator says that this hosting sucks. This is still 
> quite good considering other hosts we have looked at have way worst [sic] ratio.". 2010-10-28.
> http://www.hostingsthatsuck.com/hostgator-sucks/
> http://bit.ly/bxV6w8 Accessed: 2010-10-28.
> (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5tpYmmFZL)
>
>
>        ======================================
>
> A Small Orange: Brent Oxley, a trust funder from Boca Raton Florida, owner of hostgator bought a small orange. The 
> owner of a small orange said: "ASO will not be turned into a HostGator clone by any means. I am very interested in 
> continuing to develop ASO as a high-end hosting company that prides itself on quality customer service."
>
> To which an ASO user responds:
>
> "I hope that's a promise :) HostGator seem to suck in a lot of newbies with over-inflated packages for 
> below-reasonable prices and almost certainly with unfair conditions to stop you using it."
>
> ASO user bboard. 2010-10-28.
> http://forums.asmallorange.com/topic/13626-how-will-the-hostgator-acquisition-impact-aso/
> http://bit.ly/bSaObj Accessed: 2010-10-28.
> (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5toITkkXG)
>
> That is my fair and truthful review of hostgator. Haadquartered in Houston, Texas. In 2010 it opened a satellite in 
> Austin, Texas. Your unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth, shared hosting services has been exposed.
>
>
>
>
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_______________________________________________
Full-Disclosure - We believe in it.
Charter: http://lists.grok.org.uk/full-disclosure-charter.html
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