Comments on: Bite This: Host Gator Sucks?

By: Kevin

Kevin — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 03:54:23 +0000

1. HostGator changes wait_timeout to 20 on Feb. 1
2. Our Magento store starts failing for customers after checking out from paypal.
3. I spend a few hours trying to install fixes, and finally figure out that our wait_timeout is set to 20 seconds, way too low.
4. I call host gator and ask them to increase the setting, they do not tell me that they recently changed it, even though they sent an internal memo out about this, as we were informed later. THey told me that it can not be changed because we are on a shared hosting environment. But we could move to a VPS or dedicated server, which would raise our cost from about $100 a year to $2400 a year…
5. We call again and then are made aware that the change to the wait_timeout was recently made, and this is the cause of all our problems. They made this change and did not notify their customers.
6. So I have been calling them for 4 days, and then finally at 11:30AM a person says they will change the wait_timeout, and that there is a ticket and it is in line to get done, and it should only take a few hours, and they will let me know when it is done.
7. 12 hours later and no email, no change, so I call, and they basically keep telling me they are working on it. So I ask for a manager. I talk to the manager and he says that no one will be able to do anything till monday, because there are no level 3 techs till monday. And that the guy I spoke to at 11:30AM was mistaken. I asked if there was anyone on call that could make this 1 minute change, and he says he can’t do that for me, but he apolpgizes, this call took about an hour. In total I spent probably around 8-10 hours on the phone and now nothing will happen till Monday.

I decided to just try and move our online store to a different company, one that will really support Magento.
SO A WORD OF ADVICE, DO NOT USE HOSTGATOR IF YOU WANT TO USE MAGENTO.
IN FACT I WOULD SAY TO STEER CLEAR OF THEM BASED ON OUR TREATMENT.

This is coming from a programmer of 13 years who has dealt with many Hosting companies.

By: Dan

Dan — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 03:07:56 +0000

Here’s the thing people. BlueHost, iPage, JusHost and many more web hosting companies have been bought over by a company called Endurance International Group in short, EIG. Now EIGis in the business of monopolysing the web hosting industry. When it does that it does away with good practices and to safe cost everything is outsourced and that’s when the problem comes in. The people that take over some of them don’t even understand basic English from the Tech./Sales to all the way billing. Furthermire all their responses are canned. Top that off, they love to lie. For example problem will reside on their server but they will tell you its on you computer. I will have my friends to try visiting my site from their computers but they too will experience the same problems. Basically, they will lir to their teeth but fix the problem. My experience was with 3iX another one of those EIG companies. You can certainly do a Google to find out about what hosting companies fall under this EIG group. You will find out hosting companies that are tied under this group give the most hard time to its customers. I read somewhere on the Internet that Hostgator was offered by EIG but hostgator declined. Do not know how far that info is true but can easily be found on the internet. My advise to you, stay far and far away from any web host that is linked with EIG. My only hope is that EIG does not buy out hostgator and hostgator remains true to its customers. All the above info in my article can be easily Gooled for verification.

By: php developer

php developer — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 16:52:38 +0000

I worked for several large hosting companies and have been doing web application development since 2006 as a consultant.

1) Anyone that owns a site that utilizes 11% or 25% CPU has either a poorly written web app or they are getting a ton of traffic. If properly monetized they should easily be able to afford a dedicated server.

2) $4.00 … $5.00 … to $10/month hosting is what I refer to a mom and pop hosting. If you are running a business off shared hosting you are on the wrong plan. If you cannot afford to be without email for 2 or 3 full days, then you need to find out how to protect yourself.

I use the HostGator reseller account to park my domains and ready them for production. Hostgator does a good job. Better than most in my opinion.

By: Lilian Nawar

Lilian Nawar — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 09:26:46 +0000

My main site hosted on justhost was hacked on April 9th,2011. I am supposed to have a backup,when we tried to use the backup to get the site back, we found that the back up was tampered with by the hacker (so your backup was not saved in a secure location. justhost was unable to restore the site. I got some to help in restoring the site but since April 11, 2011, we cannot log to our cpanel (do not ask me why), we requested a back up of all the files of the site to move it to another hosting account because of our inability to log to the cpanel. We received the files about 2 days ago, when my people were working on the site, they found out that all the public html folder is missing, now it is April 13, 2011. Waiting for the site folders. I do not know if we will ever be able to login to the cpanel . Comparing this with the same problem with Hostgator, in less than 5 minutes, my back up was restored and the site was running again in very short time. Now if you do not believe it, I have 50 emails going between me and their support that testify to my comment here. And if people mention what goes wrong, is just to help another person to avoid these pitfalls. So you can be the judge if justhost is good or not.

By: MarkO

MarkO — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 06:02:02 +0000

And here is more strange math. If as we know, SEO science, practiced for real, is more important to a web, than just good esoteric web design, then that opens a whole new realm, probably inundated with a 1 in 20 ratio of competence. 1, many in that field are knowingly bsing people, 2, it’s a deeper logical science than even web design itself. Now you take 9 out of 10 web idiots, and 19 out of 20 SEO idiots, and you can see why, the majority of webs, are ghosttown failures, where the needed improvements will be directed, and why PPC is looking more and more attractive.

But wait! One more realm you have to machette your way through the bs-ers to capitalize correctly. But all in all, probably the most cost efficient, inspite of the fraud and accidental idiots, to get traffic. I know the web is a much tougher game, and a much deeper science than most people, even at it for 10 years realize. Now as tough times have more and more businesses examining new, more efficient vehicles of ROI, we see why these big web enterprises, like Intuit, are targeting this growth of suckers to snag, and why they will just further retard the progress, with the illusion of numbers. It also shows why, the poor businesses who are just dropping into this, will see a repeat of the last ten years of illusion becoming exposed as junk, that still 90% of their competitors are just realizing now, in coming years.

What that equals, is a bunch of dumb axe companies, who expected ROI, for RONI. They want profit, with zero, or contemptuously small investment. The math alone, of the ROI game, tells you they are wasting their money. The days of the Internet Gold Rush’s foundation were done, in 1999. If you want an internet vehicle like a Porsche for moped prices, you are wasting your money. And even if you do pay for a Ferrari mechanic to build it, you gotta hope he even knows what wrenches to use. This invisible science, is why this invisible architecture, is hard to grasp by companies who are living under bridges, in holey tents, and believe they are laying the foundation of a future internet mansion.

If you have a cheap axe client, you may want to inform them, that a return requires investment, and expertise (so many of those fools, think web developers owe them, and that it’s all simple, free and easy). If they corner cut, they might as well just put that money in a savings account, if they are not willing to realistically assess what investing in this world means. Np pay, no play.

By: MarkO

MarkO — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 05:44:02 +0000

I forgot to mention, that I’m talking about webs who want to organically build, more than 10 or 20 visitors a day. Many people are happy with their various web hosts, but have they checked the stats? If you just want a fun web, or brochure, a GoDaddy, or Hostgator, I guess is fine. But if you want to organically build a moderate 300 or 400 people a day, a moderate web, they will limit your performance.

Then someone may say, hey the host pornhub at hostgator. Yeah, but many webs pay for their traffic, and are NOT one man operations. If you pay per head, you can drive a so much traffic as you want, to anywhere in the world. Yet, congestion will lose you leads. To some they have so much it does not matter.

It’s tricky driving truly organically based traffic. It’s not a one time deal. It’s not common either. I have had friends build and host with big agencies, for 6-12 people a day, or less, and they see no problem paying for that. I have realized, many “professionals” in this business are professional by collecting fees, not by expertise. If the so called “experts” are guessing, assumikng, and blowing a lot of hot-air filled pride bs, where does the average joe stand?

This is why 90% of the web traffic, is ruled by 10% of the web oresences out there. It’s also why that other 90% of the web volume, built by 90% of the web “experts”, is just a bunch of junk, an illusion people believe because they see the web on their own screen, but don’t realize it’s as big a secret to the rest of the world, as if it was buried in their own backyard.

It’s a 1 in 10 shot, you will ever be dealing with a true expert, regardless also, of their fee. The place is inundated with dodo birds who actually think they know what they are doing. It’s accidental.

By: hrh

hrh — Wed, 12 May 2010 02:11:09 +0000

I am a VERY HAPPY EX-Fatcow customer, going on four months now. I had Fatcow for about a year and was MISERABLE the ENTIRE TIME (OK, the first month was so-so). There is a night and day difference between Fatcow and my new company, Hostgator.

I didn’t know that hosting could be so effortless and consistant. It’s so much less stress NOT having to argue all the time with my hosting company and I’m SO HAPPY I made the decision to cancel. It wasn’t easy, but sometimes you don’t know what you’re missing until you walk away.

If you’re considering Fatcow, do yourself a HUGE favor and avoid them at all cost. Hostgator is slightly more expensive, but well worth it in my opinion.

By: admin

admin — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 10:14:59 +0000

I don't think that is such as good idea. Although Hostgator is one of the most lenient web hosts in terms of suspending accounts, you should not be using their service to store non-related files or even sharing the files around. Let us also be fair to the others on your shared hosting server and I would strongly suggest you use a file hosting if you need Unlimited space for storing and sharing other work files.

By: Jon

Jon — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 06:09:32 +0000

I am a webmaster of my company. Since Hostgator is giving unlimited disc space even on their Baby plan, I am thinking of using this extra space to store and share some office files with my coworkers. Would this be okay you think?

By: Sean Day

Sean Day — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 08:09:35 +0000

i have been with host gator for many years and i have never had any bad issues when i was on a small package and my site was getting high traffic they did kill my site for taking up to much CPU and this was overcome fast because of there live support chat also i did get an email warning me before they killed my site i now have a Dedicated server with them and i can tell you know there support team don’t care if your Dedicated or a small package everyone gets the same level of support and i was glad to see this when i got my Dedicated package they did not change the way they give support to me that is a 1st h and sign of a good website and saying host gator sucks is a little Over the top with all the websites they host there is no way that no body is going to have issues its all part of web life