Why isn't there a legitimate hosting review site?

Because at the moment, pretty much all of them are just based on who pays more in the affiliates program, with the only real 'source' for information being either admin/webmaster forums or Web Hosting Talk.

How come nobody's actually set up a somewhat neutral site yet?

I mean, sure you don't make as much from referrals, but I'd suspect a 'real' site would get a lot more traffic and ad clicks anyway from word of mouth and general recommendations alone. Maybe have the system set up to count all reviews and average out the scores like Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic.

Is there no one out there who's honest enough to try this and do it right?

 

It is probably very hard to resist the affiliate payouts which generate much more revenue than ad clicks would for a small site starting out.

If a site accepted affiliate payouts and stayed neutral by allowing users to post reviews and having a transparent grading system, I would use it.

 

Too much work to do this without a ton of help.

 

^This
Which is probably the same reason someone hasn't come up with a better version of http://www.big-boards.com/

 

I don't see what would be so bad about making an honest review site I mean you wouldn't suggest hosting a GoDaddy but you could always get still put a banner up and said they're hosting sucks.

 

Exactly, if a script was made to crawl certain forum's stats daily, it would be a lot easier to track. Or a small code that forum owners add to their forums. It's quite a shame that Big Boards isn't updated frequently. I'd love to get a forum listed there one day. Same thing with the DMOZ directory really. Webmasters were trying their hardest to get their site listed. Some did, some didn't.

But, anyways, I agree. I haven't seen a reviews sites-only not being on forums. It's a good idea though.

 

I thought about it but figured I'd just get lumped with the affiliate pimping sites no matter how much I tried to be upfront and honest about it.

My options are build a site that's going to suck a lot of time and not be able to monetize for fear of being lumped in with the other dishonest sites or just run Adsense for a few dollars here and there.

It's not worth my time and effort even moreso when I have to SEO-fight with a bunch of sleezeballs.

 

Essentially you would have to create a site on each and every hosting. Purchase hosting for each and every host. Check out their support, the times, etc of what you need to run. Traffic needs to be around the same for every site and then test it with traffic. Plus, you need to review over an extended time. Waste of time and money unless hosting companies allowed you to do it for free.

 

Or just search wht for reviews.

 

In that case, you need permission for the review. Duplicate content. The validity of the review along with the host's rebuttal if any. Trust me, I am all for this, but the factors involved is quite a lot.

 

FWIW this seems like a decent hosting review site http://www.webhostingreviews.com/

 

ugh wht.
They usually cater to the people who donate to their site, in my opinion. I sense a lot of favoritism at the site when it comes to reviews and the like.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of companies hire people to write reviews for them there.

 

Well, I know some hosts tell their clients to write them a nice review, and I wouldn't be surprised if some offer a discount for doing so as well.

I remember Web Hosting Talk actually discussing that before.

 

As I own a host myself, I have to consider the ethics in web-mastering. If something isn't legitimate or authentic, I don't even bother to publish it.

 

Just want to point out that WebHostingTalk hosts with Liquidweb, I host with them.