Re: [Full-disclosure] Host Gator exposed: blackhat spammers, sock puppet trolls, harassing critics, google bombing

[Christian Sciberras <uuf6429@xxxxxxxxx>]

Anonymous sources....how convenient!

Don't waste our time, ok?






On Fri, Oct 29, 2010 at 4:40 AM, Josey Yelsef <hg_exposed@xxxxxxxxx> 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
Hosted and sponsored by Secunia - http://secunia.com/