[wp-hackers] Why are we supporting BlueHost?

[Jared Bangs]

On Jan 16, 2008 9:38 AM, Ryan Boren <ryan at boren.nu> wrote:

> On Jan 16, 2008 8:49 AM, Otto <otto at ottodestruct.com> wrote:
> > Seriously, I could not recommend BlueHost to anybody, as I've never
> > heard anything good about them. I think GoDaddy is a better host, and
> > that's saying a lot because I detest GoDaddy hosting. So why is
> > WordPress.org recommending them? Are they paying for top billing or
> > something?
>
> We get hosting feedback through hosting at wordpress.org.  If we get
> enough complaints, we remove the host from the list.  We've only had
> to do this once before, but we'll do it again if needed.
>

Taking the page text at face value, I would assume that whoever made the
call to put BlueHost on that page has had consistently good experience with
that company.

Based on:
"We've dealt with more hosts than you can imagine; in our opinion, the hosts
below represent some of the best and brightest of the hosting world."

If this is the case with BlueHost (and any others listed on that page),
perhaps it would be useful to put up a quick blurb with some specific (or
even general) details for each provider regarding what warrants their
inclusion in "the best and brightest" category.

I don't think you'd necessarily want to get into the business of allowing
and managing individual user comments on each provider, and adjusting the
list accordingly - that would probably be overkill. But some measure of how
the quoted statement above applies to each provider might go a long way
towards clarifying why a particular host was included, if they have in fact
been included based on merit.

If, on the other hand, this list is primarily driven by which companies have
click-thru benefit arrangements with WP, I think it should be made more
clear that that is the criteria for inclusion on this list. It's not that
there's anything wrong with that, and it is alluded to in the intro
paragraph, but it should probably (IMHO) be made more clear if that
relationship is a primary factor in inclusion.

- Jared