hostspy.co.nz - totally disgusting.

Forums › IT Pro and developers › hostspy.co.nz - totally disgusting.

michaelmurfy

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Topic # 113937 2-Feb-2013 00:51

Just came across hostspy.co.nz - it's one of those "Review" sites except in this case the reviews are bias and normally badmouthing other companies, first off it's hosted at Hosting Direct on one of their core servers and they don't do web-hosting anymore, also it's breaking the magical NZ rule regarding whois details:

registrant_contact_name: Host Spy
registrant_contact_address1: Auckland City
registrant_contact_city: Auckland
registrant_contact_postalcode: 0123
registrant_contact_country: NZ (NEW ZEALAND)
registrant_contact_phone: +64 9 4125874
registrant_contact_email: ben@hd.net.nz

admin_contact_name: Host Spy
admin_contact_address1: Auckland City
admin_contact_city: Auckland
admin_contact_province: ACT
admin_contact_postalcode: 0123
admin_contact_country: NZ (NEW ZEALAND)
admin_contact_phone: +64 9 4125874
admin_contact_email: smith5321@gmail.com

Third, it's operated by Ben himself.

I find this totally disgusting, I know this is a old site but why still host such a thing?

Guess this is why we can't trust those online reviews on webhosting anymore..

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
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BDFL - Memuneh
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Reply # 754682 2-Feb-2013 09:03

Not much different from people coming to Geekzone and saying they got bad service from ISP A or ISP B, really.

Most of the times people won't post good reviews, unless you have volumes. It takes a lot of momentum to get enough volume so that good reviewers post more than bad reviewers.

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networkn

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Reply # 754702 2-Feb-2013 09:37

freitasm: Not much different from people coming to Geekzone and saying they got bad service from ISP A or ISP B, really.

Most of the times people won't post good reviews, unless you have volumes. It takes a lot of momentum to get enough volume so that good reviewers post more than bad reviewers.

I think what he is saying, is it would be like you hosting a site reviewing other geekzone type sites, and YOU writing the reviews yourself, and publishing it as an unbiased review site.

xpd

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Reply # 754703 2-Feb-2013 09:39

If its operated by Ben, he should put that in the disclaimer....

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michaelmurfy

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Reply # 754731 2-Feb-2013 10:41

networkn:
freitasm: Not much different from people coming to Geekzone and saying they got bad service from ISP A or ISP B, really.

Most of the times people won't post good reviews, unless you have volumes. It takes a lot of momentum to get enough volume so that good reviewers post more than bad reviewers.

I think what he is saying, is it would be like you hosting a site reviewing other geekzone type sites, and YOU writing the reviews yourself, and publishing it as an unbiased review site.

Yep, that's the correct way of putting it, and also if so you'll use the correct WHOIS info...

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freitasm

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Reply # 754739 2-Feb-2013 11:02

I give the benefit of doubt. The WHOIS seems ok with Ben's contact details. One if the reviews is by Ben but others apparently are not.

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michaelmurfy

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Reply # 754761 2-Feb-2013 12:48

freitasm: I give the benefit of doubt. The WHOIS seems ok with Ben's contact details. One if the reviews is by Ben but others apparently are not.

Not really, I got pinged by the DMC personally for having "CHCH" as my address - this is not a real contact name, nor landline number, there's no way to get in contact with Ben through the WHOIS details apart from an old email he seemed to have left there.

About 3mo ago the WHOIS details on his site were the same as hd.net.nz, but he's changed it to the above and removed "Hosting Direct" off the list of reviews - as usual HD has the top reviews with EVERYONE raving about it.

It's like if I owned a company selling shoes - I deny ownership of a shoe review website but post my own bias reviews saying every sort of shoe is crap and only the shoes I make and sell are the right shoes for everyone and delete all other "good" reviews of the other shoes other people post, it's a bad practice and if I got found out this could mean bad things for my company.

But in general, even if you give him the benifit of the doubt there is no excuse for having fraudulent details on whois records especially if he knows the law - this is why I mirror my whois details between all my domains.

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freitasm

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Reply # 754830 2-Feb-2013 18:33

michaelmurfy: But in general, even if you give him the benifit of the doubt there is no excuse for having fraudulent details on whois records especially if he knows the law

There's no "law". There's a terms of service from the DNC. This is not "law". I understand where you are coming from, expecting full disclosure, etc.

Truth is, complaining here won't change that site and people will still find it through Google. There's nothing that can be done to close it, short of someone taking offense and taking the site owner to courts and suing for defamation.

And it seems you have something of a feud going on with Bend|HD at the moment, right? So what are your motives here? Full disclosure is good both ways.

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LennonNZ

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Reply # 754841 2-Feb-2013 18:53

It is pretty simple. I have done this quite a number of times to get domain names "fixed"

http://dnc.org.nz/content/rmc.html

Under 3.7

"Registrants will be identifiable individuals over 18 years of age or properly constituted organisations."

As "Host Spy" is not a company as identifiable under the companies office and I am sure no real person has the name of "Host Spy" then the person who has registered the domain has broken the T&C of the DNC.

I would contact their Registrar Sitename and basically say this and ask them to get the real contact details updated. If they don't reply/are slow email the DNC and let them sort it out.

michaelmurfy

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Reply # 754847 2-Feb-2013 19:24

freitasm:
michaelmurfy: But in general, even if you give him the benifit of the doubt there is no excuse for having fraudulent details on whois records especially if he knows the law

There's no "law". There's a terms of service from the DNC. This is not "law". I understand where you are coming from, expecting full disclosure, etc.

Truth is, complaining here won't change that site and people will still find it through Google. There's nothing that can be done to close it, short of someone taking offense and taking the site owner to courts and suing for defamation.

And it seems you have something of a feud going on with Bend|HD at the moment, right? So what are your motives here? Full disclosure is good both ways.

Yeah I was mistaken - I think of it as the "law of owning a domain in NZ" not "NZ Law"

I don't know, he just seems to block anyone with an opinion - I don't have anything against him but the fact he does stuff like this, it's not very professional imo. You can't issue constructive feedback on a site when there is no contact info for the site, or if emails go to an un-monitored inbox.

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Reply # 754867 2-Feb-2013 20:34

Quite a good website if thats what your into.
Im guessing this is a new website as there aint that many reviews so I fail to see what the fuss is all about.

Zeon

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Reply # 754870 2-Feb-2013 20:48

Gooseybhai: Quite a good website if thats what your into.
Im guessing this is a new website as there aint that many reviews so I fail to see what the fuss is all about.

If you knew the history of the people who run it....

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Reply # 754873 2-Feb-2013 20:58

First time I've heard about this site etc. Any clued up person would check the providers website for actual up to date information anyway and of course carry out their own due dilligence.

Edit: corrected my england.

mattwnz

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Reply # 754911 2-Feb-2013 23:14

LennonNZ: It is pretty simple. I have done this quite a number of times to get domain names "fixed"

http://dnc.org.nz/content/rmc.html

Under 3.7

"Registrants will be identifiable individuals over 18 years of age or properly constituted organisations."

Interesting, because several of the domain registrars listed don't appear to be company names, but instead are using their trading names, which are also listed in the 'Registrar' field.

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Reply # 754928 3-Feb-2013 01:07

the funny thing about mr ben simpsons post about "unleash" it says this in 2008 "One of my companies www.foxyhub.com purchased 13k worth of new Supermicro servers from Erin"

now it says "My company Ezi Site Software Ltd purchased 13k worth of new Supermicro servers from Erin"

so Ben make up yer mind mate, if you want to bash your competitors at least be smart about it.

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Reply # 755377 4-Feb-2013 09:47

When choosing a host, a site like this wouldn't alter my opinion at all. Being blunt, it's just a junk site I would have never visited except that you posted it here.

As Mauricio said, people very rarely post positive feedback so when looking for providers, you can't depend on anonymous comments to base an opinion on.

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