Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2010 19:40:04 -0700 (PDT)
From: Josey Yelsef <hg_exposed@...oo.com>
To: full-disclosure@...ts.grok.org.uk
Subject: Host Gator exposed: blackhat spammers,
	sock puppet trolls, harassing critics, google bombing

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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