Verified Hosts and Other Hosts

[ExileAlexC]

Discussed thoroughly here: http://www.mc-market.org/threads/41307/

This is about creating a verified hosts section in the "Hosting" Forum
My "little" snippet from above:


Hello Everyone,

First off, I would just like to say these opinions that will be listed below are my own thoughts (Alex C) and do not reflect the ideas of ExileServers and you might want to get a snack to eat while you read .

I am just going to just jump into this here. tjrgg told me about this thread, so I will just voice my opinions. First, I think there should be 1 staff member fully responsible for verifying hosts and 1 person that checks the specified guidelines(I will list the ones I think there should be below.) and confirms the decision with the 1st person. These people should have to past relation to each other and HAVE to have a good knowledge about hosting companies and how they work. Preferably someone who runs or has run a hosting company before. Their account should not be a company account but rather a personal account (My personal is MCHosting). There should only be 1 Forums called Hosts that contains two sub-forums "Other" and "Verified". Now the guidelines to what can be a considered "Verified" hosting company:

1. Must have been SELLING for 3 months (Must Provide Invoice proof)
2. Must have been a member on MCM for 3 months
3. Must be a legally registered company (Must provide Documentation or Registration Number)
a. If a company argues they are legal and they are outside the US then the person appointed to the position must research the laws.
4. Must have SSL across their website, Main and Billing. (No exception) *"Lets Encrypt" doesn't count.* If a company is registered, they HAVE to pay for a decent SSL. It can be dirt cheap but not free. As long as it serves its purpose.
5. Must NOT have any nulled licenses or panels. (WHMCS will be checked indefinitely for Nulled versions.)
6. Must NOT be fraudulent or not give services as promised

Verified hosts should NOT be based on support. If a host has bad support but has all of the above, then they are verified. The only instance is if a host is advertising false claims and is not providing the promised product, then that would result in the host being removed from the Verified Host. (And a nice small email sent to the state the the company is registered in and the IRS)


Now let me get off my high horse as being part of a big host.
Last year I was able to run a host for 6 months. In that time, I was able to abide by ALL except one of the above guidelines to be verified. The only guideline I didn't meet was the registered company. To be honest, it is EXTREMLY hard to get registered only after 6 months of running. Just in my state, I HAVE to pay $800 tax per year regardless of how little or big income I made through the company. The problem is that the market is just way too crowded and if there is no way to separate the bad hosts from the good, then it will only get worse.

To reply to some of the ideas above...

• There should NEVER be a rating system to verify hosts, the verification process should be minimal and be kept "In-House" to avoid user bypassing restricts to double-vote. The rating system should only be to rate the hosts quality and performance.
• No testing livechat agents or staff. Waste of time and doesn't prove anything to verify them.
• Crappy OVH servers or Voxility-grade hardware that's costs a fortune(I rented a 16gb ram box for up to $250 per month from them, lul), the hosts can choose whatever hardware they want as long as they don't false advertise their products. In the end if their a bad host, then well...the reviews on the thread will reflect that.
• Template or custom. A host is a host.Though it gets quite annoying seeing that "FlatHost" theme around(Every host was there at some point)

Overall, it just needs to be safe for the members of MCM to use the service. Any host deemed a Security Flaw should not be Verified. Looking to see if the Host removed the Install folder for Multicraft is a great idea. There should also be a lot more testing into their network to certify that they are safe from easy unauthorized access to client data and information.



Well that's about all my opinions regarding all of this. I might have missed a few points, if so let me know and I can elaborate anything I missed or explain more. If you want to contact me personally please PM my main(MCHosting) and not this account. I am up to help out with anything that might get this integrated into MCM.

Regards,
Alex C
www.ExileServers.com

 

[ExileAlexC]

Anybody else agree that this should be added to MCM?

 

[spergo-san]

Sounds nice, but that is way too much work, I don't want to have to go to America to register my minecraft company.

 

[Ajdin]

Wouldn't this kill like 90% of the current hosts?

 

[thebaum64]

It would just kill all the small ones which is not fair, everyone should be on equal terms within there, if they want a little boost, they can always buy a sticky.

 

[ExileAlexC]

Maybe have all of the following except registered? There has to be some way to control hosts. Or maybe just have one locked forum for hosts and hosts have to be verified before their thread can be seen? We can do that without shutting out small hosts. What do you guys think about that?

 

[Cooltime2]

This is sounding like the famous forum with their verified hosting section and the other host section of the fourms. Get the reference plz Don't give me a warning xD. Also I dont think this is needed at all.

 

[Lyphiard]

This could help a lot, especially with the network/server security. I've seen way to many new hosts (dozens at least) who have improper file permissions on their servers, allowing any customer to read sensitive information such as MySQL passwords.

 

[Produce]

This is litters just an attempt to kill off your competition. If a company had been trading for more than 3 months on mcm why should they need to be a registered company.. they have already proven they are here to stay.

 

[ExileAlexC]

This is litters just an attempt to kill off your competition. If a company had been trading for more than 3 months on mcm why should they need to be a registered company.. they have already proven they are here to stay.

The whole thought process behind being Registered is so that Clients feel safe about purchasing from the company as they have to abide by certain laws. If they don't abide then the clients can take legal action against the company. Proven to stay or not, a lot of companies have security flaws that could lead to leaked client credit card information. To be honest, ExileServers does not receive many clients from forum advertisements on sites such as MCM. Our clients usually come from Word of Mouth, Google Ad's and existing client referrals. We have been around since 2011 and have enough clients to provide DDoS Protection, Our own IP Blocks from ARIN and pay a full staff team. My main goal from this is to create a safe environment for members looking for a host not eliminate the competition.

 

[Produce]

The whole thought process behind being Registered is so that Clients feel safe about purchasing from the company as they have to abide by certain laws. If they don't abide then the clients can take legal action against the company. Proven to stay or not, a lot of companies have security flaws that could lead to leaked client credit card information. To be honest, ExileServers does not receive many clients from forum advertisements on sites such as MCM. Our clients usually come from Word of Mouth, Google Ad's and existing client referrals. We have been around since 2011 and have enough clients to provide DDoS Protection, Our own IP Blocks from ARIN and pay a full staff team. My main goal from this is to create a safe environment for members looking for a host not eliminate the competition.

Registering as a company or not. Anyone trading within the UK must abide by said trading laws anyway. So how does that make a difference to me? You would be swatting potential business from me and other hosts for 0 reason. We have to abide by the same laws. You realise in the last 47 customers since launch not 1 has asked or cared about if we are registered or not. Heck I've had more people ask if we own our hardware.[DOUBLEPOST=1460009069][/DOUBLEPOST]

The whole thought process behind being Registered is so that Clients feel safe about purchasing from the company as they have to abide by certain laws. If they don't abide then the clients can take legal action against the company. Proven to stay or not, a lot of companies have security flaws that could lead to leaked client credit card information. To be honest, ExileServers does not receive many clients from forum advertisements on sites such as MCM. Our clients usually come from Word of Mouth, Google Ad's and existing client referrals. We have been around since 2011 and have enough clients to provide DDoS Protection, Our own IP Blocks from ARIN and pay a full staff team. My main goal from this is to create a safe environment for members looking for a host not eliminate the competition.

While I'm at it. What will the rules be for exceptions? There are companies here that have been trading for years that aren't registered. Are they not "verified" it's a biased system.

 

[ExileAlexC]

Registering as a company or not. Anyone trading within the UK must abide by said trading laws anyway. So how does that make a difference to me? You would be swatting potential business from me and other hosts for 0 reason. We have to abide by the same laws. You realise in the last 47 customers since launch not 1 has asked or cared about if we are registered or not. Heck I've had more people ask if we own our hardware.[DOUBLEPOST=1460009069][/DOUBLEPOST]
While I'm at it. What will the rules be for exceptions? There are companies here that have been trading for years that aren't registered. Are they not "verified" it's a biased system.

I completely understand where you are coming from. My whole idea for the registered companies was that people feel safer around them. If everyone on the forum doesn't mind unregistered hosts then I am all for it. My exceptions were based on giving the members the feeling of Security in the hosts that they invest in. After a few people expressed that they don't want the hosts to have to be registered to be verified, I added a new thought:

Maybe have all of the following except registered? There has to be some way to control hosts. Or maybe just have one locked forum for hosts and hosts have to be verified before their thread can be seen? We can do that without shutting out small hosts. What do you guys think about that?

 

[Produce]

I completely understand where you are coming from. My whole idea for the registered companies was that people feel safer around them. If everyone on the forum doesn't mind unregistered hosts then I am all for it. My exceptions were based on giving the members the feeling of Security in the hosts that they invest in. After a few people expressed that they don't want the hosts to have to be registered to be verified, I added a new thought:

Ajdin it should be like the scam reports. They have to be verified before posted. Simply checking trading periods on mcm and checking if licenses are legitimate.

 

[Lyphiard]

Ajdin it should be like the scam reports. They have to be verified before posted. Simply checking trading periods on mcm and checking if licenses are legitimate.

Don't forget network & server security

 

[Produce]

Don't forget network & server security

Now we are getting somewhere XD we might be able to get a decent verification system XD

 

[ExileAlexC]

I am for checking network and server security, If need be I can help with the Verification process.