{"id":1906,"date":"2024-07-03T01:20:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-03T01:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/blogs\/?p=1906"},"modified":"2024-07-03T16:45:20","modified_gmt":"2024-07-03T16:45:20","slug":"web-hosting-forums-the-good-and-the-bad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/blogs\/web-hosting-forums-the-good-and-the-bad\/","title":{"rendered":"Web Hosting Forums &#8211; The Good and the Bad"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-4640 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/handshake-3962172_1280-copy-1-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"680\" height=\"453\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/handshake-3962172_1280-copy-1-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/handshake-3962172_1280-copy-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/handshake-3962172_1280-copy-1-512x341.jpg 512w, https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/handshake-3962172_1280-copy-1-920x613.jpg 920w, https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/handshake-3962172_1280-copy-1.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Of course, there are a few web hosting forums that stand out among the rest, and those are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.webhostingtalk.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">WebHostingTalk<\/a> (WHT), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hostingdiscussion.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Hosting Discussion<\/a> (HD) and <a href=\"https:\/\/forumweb.hosting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">ForumWeb<\/a>. How so? The overwhelming difference between these three and many others is in their moderation, their membership and their value-add to the hosting industry.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_80 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/blogs\/web-hosting-forums-the-good-and-the-bad\/#What_the_numbers_dont_tell_you\" >What the numbers don\u2019t tell you<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/blogs\/web-hosting-forums-the-good-and-the-bad\/#Membership\" >Membership<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/blogs\/web-hosting-forums-the-good-and-the-bad\/#Discussion_has_dropped_over_the_past_few_years\" >Discussion has dropped over the past few years<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/blogs\/web-hosting-forums-the-good-and-the-bad\/#Advertisements\" >Advertisements<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/blogs\/web-hosting-forums-the-good-and-the-bad\/#Stickies\" >Stickies<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/blogs\/web-hosting-forums-the-good-and-the-bad\/#The_cost\" >The cost?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/blogs\/web-hosting-forums-the-good-and-the-bad\/#Reviews\" >Reviews<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/blogs\/web-hosting-forums-the-good-and-the-bad\/#Forums_that_have_gone_the_way_of_the_dust_storms_of_days_long_past\" >Forums that have gone the way of the dust storms of days long past<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/blogs\/web-hosting-forums-the-good-and-the-bad\/#Who_frequents_these_forums\" >Who frequents these forums?<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/blogs\/web-hosting-forums-the-good-and-the-bad\/#BROUGHT_TO_YOU_BY_PROLIMEHOST\" >BROUGHT TO YOU BY PROLIMEHOST<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-5' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-5'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/blogs\/web-hosting-forums-the-good-and-the-bad\/#VPS_SERVICES_LIGHTNING_FAST_SSD_VIRTUAL_SERVERS\" >VPS SERVICES: LIGHTNING FAST SSD VIRTUAL SERVERS<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-5'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-12\" href=\"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/blogs\/web-hosting-forums-the-good-and-the-bad\/#DEDICATED_SERVERS_BACKED_BY_A_999_SLA_NETWORK_UPTIME_GUARANTEE\" >DEDICATED SERVERS: BACKED BY A 99.9% SLA NETWORK UPTIME GUARANTEE<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-5'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-13\" href=\"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/blogs\/web-hosting-forums-the-good-and-the-bad\/#ASIA_OPTIMIZED_SERVERS_IMPROVING_CONNECTION_SPEED_AND_QUALITY\" >ASIA OPTIMIZED SERVERS: IMPROVING CONNECTION SPEED AND QUALITY<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_the_numbers_dont_tell_you\"><\/span>What the numbers don\u2019t tell you<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Numbers don\u2019t tell the whole story though as the quality of their threads and posts are typically much higher than you find on other web hosting forums, and that\u2019s due largely to voluntary staff that moderates those forums to rid them of shills, spam and scam artists.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: inherit;\">The topics on these forums is separated into sections, or sub-forums, like running a Web Hosting Business, VPS Services, Dedicated Services, Colocation, Security, Programming and even off-the-shelf stuff like gardening and cooking.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Membership\"><\/span>Membership<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>WHT touts hundreds of thousands of members with over one and a half million threads started and over nine million posts.<\/p>\n<p>Hosting Discussion &#8211; The number of users online on that forum was nearly 7000 last January 2024<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Discussion_has_dropped_over_the_past_few_years\"><\/span>Discussion has dropped over the past few years<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Over the years though, and this applies to all forums, less discussion is taking place and we\u2019re seeing an increasing number of advertisements on their marketplace forums. Typically, if you click on New Posts, a list of 25 or so threads will be displayed, but on average on three or four of those are actual discussions, while the rest are \u2026 well, advertisements.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Advertisements\"><\/span>Advertisements<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Talking about advertisements \u2013 usually forums allow vendors to post advertisements once every six or seven days, but some go as low as four days and others not until your ad scrolls below the fold. I\u2019ve seen some ads sit at the top of their respective forum for weeks. While I see the logic between these variances, money comes into play \u2013 big time.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Stickies\"><\/span>Stickies<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>How much money does it cost to stand out among the crowd if your goal is to advertise your services on these forums? Some forums make you pay for what\u2019s called \u201cstickies.\u201d Those ads stick to the top of the page, and may be bolded or highlighted in yellow.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_cost\"><\/span>The cost?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>That can vary from a few dollars a week to over $200 per week. Let\u2019s hope your closing ratio is really, really good. Why do I say that? Prices have gone so low for example, dedicated servers, that profit margins are razor thin. Add in set up costs and a provider\u2019s return on their investment may take a year or more. Then you have to hope that new clients stick around long enough to make that model work.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Reviews\"><\/span>Reviews<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>This is what separates the good from the bad in terms of the quality of web hosting forums. On WHT, reviews are verified and if unreasonable, other members are very quick to call out the OP (original poster). The same goes for Hosting Discussion.<\/p>\n<p>What you won\u2019t find on these forums are threads that start like, \u201cI\u2019m glad I just joined,\u201d on new member\u2019s intros, followed by threads opened by them that read, \u201cI\u2019m interested in xxxxx.com hosting and yyyyy.com hosting. Which is best?\u201d And then followed by \u201cI\u2019m interested in zzzzz.com hosting or abcdef.com hosting. Which is best? And then a typical reply will be like, \u201cI think you should try xyz.com hosting or lmnop.com hosting.\u201d And then pages and pages of that garbage (just one affiliate post after another).<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Forums_that_have_gone_the_way_of_the_dust_storms_of_days_long_past\"><\/span>Forums that have gone the way of the dust storms of days long past<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>I can\u2019t even begin to list all of the forums that have dropped off the face of the Internet, for whatever reason. More often than not, either they were unable to grow their membership or they were inundated with spam. A couple of noticeable forums that are missing in action are WebmasterTalk.net and WebmasterPeak. Back in the day, these were both very popular forums.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Who_frequents_these_forums\"><\/span>Who frequents these forums?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Lots of the members on these forums are either the owners of their respective hosting firms or their corporate representatives, followed of course by the general public \u2013 mainly those with queries about various providers or are looking for recommendations.<\/p>\n<p>If you have a query about hosting, SEO, marketing and so on, web hosting forums are an excellent resource to get down-to-earth, competent answers from professionals who eat and breathe this stuff every day.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-5482 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/image.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"80\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/image.png 400w, https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/image-300x60.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"BROUGHT_TO_YOU_BY_PROLIMEHOST\"><\/span>BROUGHT TO YOU BY PROLIMEHOST<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>We\u2019ve been in the web hosting industry for over a decade, helping hundreds of clients succeed in what they do best and that\u2019s running their business. We specialize in Virtual Private Servers (VPS) and dedicated servers, with data centers in Los Angeles, Denver &amp; Singapore.<\/p>\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"VPS_SERVICES_LIGHTNING_FAST_SSD_VIRTUAL_SERVERS\"><\/span>VPS SERVICES: LIGHTNING FAST SSD VIRTUAL SERVERS<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h5>\n<p>Our\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/ssd-vps-server\/\">Virtual Private Servers<\/a>\u00a0all feature high performance Xeon processors and SSD storage in a RAID10 configuration to optimize your server\u2019s performance, which dramatically enhances visitor experiences on your site.<\/p>\n<p>That speed is backed by unparalleled 24\/7 support, featuring both outstanding response AND resolution times to maximize your uptime.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Now is the time to join the ProlimeHost virtual private server revolution.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"DEDICATED_SERVERS_BACKED_BY_A_999_SLA_NETWORK_UPTIME_GUARANTEE\"><\/span>DEDICATED SERVERS: BACKED BY A 99.9% SLA NETWORK UPTIME GUARANTEE<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h5>\n<p>We only use enterprise-class hardware in our\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/los-angeles-dedicated-servers\/\">dedicated servers<\/a>\u00a0and offer a four (4) hour hardware replacement. Throw in IPMI for remote management, support for public and private networks, free operating system (OS) re-installs, and SATA, SAS &amp; SSD (including NVMe) storage. Call 1-877-477-9454 or\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/contact\/\">contact us<\/a>. For everything from gaming servers to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/discounted-dedicated-server-deals\/\">cheap dedicated servers<\/a>, we\u2019re here to help.<\/p>\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"ASIA_OPTIMIZED_SERVERS_IMPROVING_CONNECTION_SPEED_AND_QUALITY\"><\/span>ASIA OPTIMIZED SERVERS: IMPROVING CONNECTION SPEED AND QUALITY<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h5>\n<p>Procuring an Asia optimized server improves the connection speed and quality between the server and the users in Asia or China. This can reduce latency, packet loss, jitter, and bandwidth issues that can affect the performance and reliability of the server and the applications hosted on it. For more information, please call 1-877-477-9454 or\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/contact\/\">contact us<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Of course, there are a few web hosting forums that stand out among the rest, and those are&hellip;","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4640,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"csco_display_header_overlay":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1,13],"tags":[120,123,43,24,107,113,139,106,33,162],"class_list":{"0":"post-1906","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-around-the-web","8":"category-geneal","9":"category-news-updates","10":"tag-asia-optimized","11":"tag-china-optimized","12":"tag-dedicated-server","13":"tag-dedicated-servers","14":"tag-dedicated-servers-usa","15":"tag-gaming-servers","16":"tag-prolimehost","17":"tag-virtual-private-servers","18":"tag-vps","19":"tag-web-hosting-forums","20":"cs-entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}