Comments policy
Last updated: July 3, 2026
Best Hosting Guide publishes independent reviews, comparisons, and practical guides about web hosting services for individuals and small business owners. We cover shared hosting, WordPress hosting, VPS, cloud hosting, domain registration, email hosting, and site migration, among other topics relevant to anyone who needs to get a website online and keep it running reliably.
We invite readers to participate in the discussion through the comment sections on our articles. Reader comments are among the most valuable forms of content on a review site. Firsthand accounts of experience with a hosting provider, confirmation or contradiction of our findings, and specific details about support interactions, renewal pricing surprises, and performance under real-world conditions all add genuine information that our editorial team cannot produce on its own. We take reader comments seriously and moderate them with care.
This Comments Policy governs every comment submitted to this site. By submitting a comment, you confirm that you have read this policy and agree to comply with it. If you have questions about this policy or a question about a moderation decision, contact us at besthostingguide@gmail.com.
Section 1: The purpose and value of reader comments on a hosting review site
Before explaining the rules, we want to explain why comments matter on a site like this one. Web hosting is a purchase decision that affects your website’s availability, speed, and reliability, potentially for the full term of a multi-year contract. It involves pricing that is often misleading at the initial purchase because promotional rates can differ dramatically from renewal rates. It involves technical support that you cannot evaluate until something goes wrong. It involves infrastructure performance that varies based on server load, your geographic location, and the specific server your account is placed on.
No editorial team, regardless of how thoroughly it tests and researches hosting providers, can replicate the depth of information available from thousands of people who have used a hosting product for a year or more under real conditions. A reader who explains that a hosting provider’s renewal price doubled after their first term, with specific numbers and dates, is providing information that is more valuable than our general pricing tables. A reader who describes a specific technical support interaction, including what the problem was, how long it took to get a response, and whether the response actually solved the problem, is providing information that prospective customers genuinely need.
We want the comment section on Best Hosting Guide to be this kind of resource. We want it to be a place where someone who is researching a hosting decision can find genuine, detailed, first-person accounts from people who have faced the same decision. This goal shapes everything about how we moderate comments: we are trying to protect the usefulness and credibility of the conversation, not to control the tone of feedback about hosting providers.
Section 2: Who may comment
Any person may submit a comment on Best Hosting Guide articles. You do not need to create an account. We ask for a name and an email address as part of the comment submission process. The email address is used for comment management purposes only and is never displayed publicly. The name you provide is displayed alongside your published comment.
We ask that you use your real name or a consistent pseudonym. We do not require identity verification. Anonymous comments submitted without any name are less useful to other readers because they provide no way to assess the credibility or context of the commenter. Providing a real name or a consistent pseudonym gives your comment more credibility and allows other readers to contextualize your experience.
Affiliation disclosure: If you have a professional or commercial relationship with any hosting provider mentioned in the article you are commenting on, you are required to disclose that relationship in your comment. This includes being an employee, contractor, officer, director, investor, affiliate partner, or competitor of the provider discussed. Failure to disclose a material affiliation and presenting yourself as an independent customer constitutes a violation of this policy and of applicable FTC guidelines on endorsements.
Minors: This site is not directed at children under thirteen. We do not knowingly accept comments from children under thirteen.
Section 3: What makes a useful comment
We moderate comments with the goal of making the comment section as useful as possible for readers making hosting decisions. The following characteristics make a comment more useful and more likely to be published and preserved:
Specificity about the hosting provider and plan: Comments that identify which specific hosting plan you used (for example, Bluehost Plus Shared Hosting on a 36-month term) are more useful than comments about a provider in general.
Timeframe of your experience: Comments that indicate when you used the service, or how long you have been a customer, help other readers assess whether your experience reflects current conditions or past conditions that may have changed.
Specific details about what went well or poorly: Comments that describe specific incidents, specific support interactions, specific performance observations, or specific billing events are more useful than general impressions. “The server went down twice in six months for periods of over four hours each” is more useful than “the uptime was bad.”
Honest assessment of both strengths and weaknesses: Comments that acknowledge nuance tend to be more credible and useful to other readers. Pure five-star or one-star assessments with no supporting detail contribute less to the conversation than balanced assessments.
Relevance to the specific article: Comments that address the specific topic, comparison, or provider covered in the article on which they appear are more useful than general comments about the hosting industry or about providers not mentioned in the article.
Corrections to outdated or inaccurate information: If you know that information in one of our articles is outdated or inaccurate, a comment that explains specifically what has changed and when is extremely valuable. We actively read and act on this type of feedback.
Section 4: Content standards for comments
Comments submitted to Best Hosting Guide must meet the following standards. We apply these standards consistently and do not make exceptions for otherwise high-quality comments that violate them.
Relevance: Comments must be relevant to the content of the article on which they appear. Comments that have no connection to web hosting or to the specific subject of the article will be removed.
Accuracy and honest representation: Comments must honestly represent the commenter’s genuine experience or genuinely held opinion. Submitting a comment designed to create a false impression of a hosting provider’s quality, whether positive or negative, is prohibited.
Respectful tone: Comments must maintain a respectful tone toward other commenters, toward our editorial team, and toward named individuals connected to hosting providers discussed on this site. Disagreement, even sharp disagreement, is welcome. Personal attacks are not.
Substantiated criticism: Critical comments about hosting providers are welcome and will not be removed simply because they are negative. We ask that critical comments include specific reasons for the criticism and that the criticism be grounded in genuine experience or verifiable information. Vague negative comments with no supporting detail contribute less to the discussion than substantiated ones.
Compliance with applicable law: Comments must comply with applicable law. Comments that defame individuals or companies, that infringe on intellectual property rights, or that violate privacy laws will be removed.
Section 5: Content that is not permitted
The following categories of content are not permitted and will be removed. In cases of deliberate or repeated violations, the commenter may be permanently blocked from the site.
Spam and commercial promotion: Any comment whose primary purpose is to direct readers to a commercial website, affiliate link, referral code, coupon, or product offer. This applies to links to hosting providers not discussed in the article, links to competitor comparison sites, links to services of any kind, and any form of self-promotion. Links to authoritative reference sources that directly support a factual claim in the comment may be acceptable at our discretion.
Fake or manufactured reviews: Comments submitted by employees, contractors, agents, or partners of a hosting provider presenting themselves as independent customers. Comments submitted by the same person under different names to create the impression of multiple independent opinions. Comments submitted as part of a coordinated campaign to inflate or deflate ratings of a hosting provider. These practices violate our policy, FTC guidelines on endorsements, and potentially applicable consumer protection laws.
Hate speech and discriminatory content: Comments that contain hateful language targeting any person or group based on race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, age, or any other protected characteristic.
Personal attacks: Comments that attack, insult, mock, or threaten any individual, whether another commenter, a member of our editorial team, or an individual associated with a hosting company. Criticism of a company’s products, business practices, or pricing is entirely distinct from personal attacks on individuals at that company and is permitted under our policy.
Defamation: False statements of fact presented as true that could harm the reputation of a company, individual, or other entity. Opinion is protected and permitted. Stating false facts as true is not.
Privacy violations: Publishing private information about any individual without their consent. This includes contact details, home addresses, financial information, medical information, or other personal data that a person has not made publicly available.
Off-topic content: Comments that have no connection to web hosting, to the specific article, or to the discussion. This includes comments about completely unrelated products, services, or topics, regardless of their intrinsic quality.
Illegal content: Comments that promote, facilitate, solicit, or constitute illegal activity under applicable law.
Intellectual property infringement: Reproducing substantial portions of copyrighted content, including text from other websites, published articles, or proprietary materials, without permission.
Malicious links: Links to websites that distribute malware, engage in phishing, or otherwise pose security risks to visitors who click them.
Section 6: The moderation process
Best Hosting Guide reviews all comments before or after publication using a combination of automated filtering and manual review. Our moderation process is designed to protect the usefulness and integrity of the comment section for all readers.
Pre-publication moderation: All comments from first-time commenters are held in a moderation queue before being published. This review typically occurs within one to three business days. During high-traffic periods, it may take up to five business days.
Post-publication review: Comments from returning commenters with a history of policy-compliant submissions may be published immediately and reviewed after publication. We may retroactively remove or edit comments that are found to violate this policy after publication.
Editing: We may correct obvious typographic errors or basic formatting issues in comments without changing the substance or meaning of the comment. If we correct formatting, we may note that the comment was lightly edited for formatting. We will never alter the substance, opinion, or meaning of a submitted comment.
Removal: Comments that violate this policy may be removed at any time, including after publication. We will generally notify the commenter that their comment was removed and indicate the reason if we have contact information available. We are not obligated to provide detailed explanations for every moderation decision.
Blocking: Commenters who repeatedly violate this policy, who submit spam, who submit manufactured reviews, or who engage in personal attacks after being warned may be permanently blocked from submitting future comments. Blocking is determined on a case-by-case basis.
Appeals: If you believe your comment was removed in error or that a moderation decision was incorrect, contact us at besthostingguide@gmail.com with the subject line “Comment moderation appeal.” Include the text of the comment and the article it was submitted on. We will review the decision and respond within five business days.
Section 7: Our commitment to editorial independence in moderation
We apply this Comments Policy consistently, regardless of whether a comment is positive or negative about a hosting provider, regardless of whether we have an affiliate relationship with the provider, and regardless of whether the comment agrees or disagrees with our editorial assessment.
We earn commissions from some hosting providers through affiliate relationships. This does not mean we protect those providers from critical reader commentary. A critical, substantiated comment about a hosting provider we recommend and earn commissions from will be published. Only comments that violate the content standards in Sections 4 and 5 will be removed, and those standards apply equally to positive and negative comments about every hosting provider discussed on this site.
We believe this commitment to consistency is what makes the comment section useful. A reader can trust that the comments they see are genuine reader experiences rather than curated testimonials, because our policy does not permit curation along those lines.
Section 8: Responsibility, disclaimer, and limitations
Comment content is the sole responsibility of the person who submits it. Opinions expressed in comments do not represent the editorial position of Best Hosting Guide. We do not verify every factual claim made in comments and cannot guarantee that information shared by commenters is accurate, current, or applicable to another reader’s specific situation.
Comments published on this site reflect the individual experiences and opinions of their authors at the time of writing. Web hosting providers change their products, pricing, and service quality over time. A comment describing a positive or negative experience with a hosting provider two years ago may not reflect current conditions.
We encourage readers to treat comments as one data point among many rather than as definitive assessments. Use comments alongside our editorial reviews, official provider documentation, and your own evaluation during any trial period before committing to a long-term hosting contract.
Best Hosting Guide is not responsible for any hosting decisions made based on information in comments published on this site.
Section 9: No professional advice through comments
Our editorial team may occasionally respond to questions left in comments. These responses are informational and educational in nature. They do not constitute professional technical advice, legal advice, or financial advice. Best Hosting Guide is a publishing operation, not a technical support service and not a professional services firm. For technical issues with a hosting product, contact that product’s support team directly.
Section 10: Privacy and your comment data
When you submit a comment, we collect your name or pseudonym, your email address, and the IP address of the device you used to submit the comment. Your name is displayed publicly alongside your comment if it is approved. Your email address and IP address are never displayed publicly.
We use your email address only for comment moderation purposes, such as contacting you if we have a question about your submission or notifying you if your comment is removed. We do not add commenter email addresses to marketing lists.
We retain comment data for as long as the associated article is published on this site. If you request deletion of a comment you submitted, contact us at besthostingguide@gmail.com and we will process the request within thirty days.
For complete information about how we handle personal data, see our Privacy Policy at best-hosting-guide.com/privacy-policy/.
Section 11: Comment longevity, archiving, and the challenge of aging reviews
One of the unique challenges of a web hosting review site is that comments, like the articles they appear on, can become outdated. A comment describing an excellent support experience from two years ago may not reflect the current state of that provider’s support team. A comment describing terrible performance may predate a significant infrastructure investment by the provider. A comment describing a pricing structure may refer to plans that no longer exist.
We try to address this challenge in several ways.
We add editorial notes to comment sections when we become aware that the discussion is significantly outdated or that a major change has occurred with the hosting provider being discussed. For example, if a hosting provider significantly changes its pricing structure, we may add a note at the top of the comment section alerting readers that some pricing-related comments may not reflect current rates.
We periodically review comment sections on our most-visited articles to identify comments containing specific facts, pricing details, or feature descriptions that have changed. Where we identify outdated specific claims, we may add a bracketed note indicating that the information was accurate as of a specific date but may have changed.
We encourage commenters who submitted comments in the past and who have updated information to submit a follow-up comment with their current experience. Follow-up comments from the same user that include a specific timeframe and context are particularly valuable to readers.
We retain published comments even when they are old unless they violate our Comments Policy. An old comment describing a bad experience with a hosting provider may still be useful to a reader trying to understand the provider’s history, even if current reviews are more favorable. The comment’s age is visible alongside the comment, allowing readers to assess its relevance.
If you submitted a comment in the past that contains specific information you now know to be inaccurate, you are welcome to contact us at besthostingguide@gmail.com to request a correction or to add a follow-up comment clarifying the update.
Section 12: How hosting providers can engage with this site and its comment sections
We occasionally receive inquiries from representatives of hosting providers who want to respond to critical comments on our site, request removal of specific comments, or otherwise engage with content about their company. Our policies regarding hosting provider engagement are as follows.
Hosting providers may submit comments on articles about their products under the same rules that apply to all commenters. Any commenter who is an employee or representative of a hosting provider must disclose that affiliation in the comment itself. Comments from hosting company representatives that are substantive, accurate, respectful, and properly disclosed will be published. We welcome hosting providers who want to provide factual corrections to outdated or inaccurate information in our articles or in reader comments.
Hosting providers may contact us at besthostingguide@gmail.com to request correction of specific factual inaccuracies in our editorial content. We take these requests seriously and will investigate specific, documented claims of inaccuracy. If we determine that content is inaccurate, we will correct it and note the correction.
Hosting providers may not request removal of accurate critical reviews, negative but genuine reader comments, or our editorial conclusions simply because they disagree with the assessment. We will not remove accurate content in response to commercial pressure or legal threats that we assess to be without merit.
We do not accept payment from hosting providers in exchange for removal or modification of editorial content or reader comments. Any communication from a hosting provider that proposes payment in exchange for editorial coverage will be declined.
Section 13: Using comments to improve your own hosting research
We want to give readers practical guidance on how to use the comment sections on this site most effectively in their hosting research process.
Read comments with a sense of their age and specificity. Comments from one to two years ago about a specific plan and a specific issue are more useful than vague comments from five years ago. Use the date displayed alongside each comment to assess its relevance.
Look for comments that confirm or contradict specific claims in the article. If our review says a hosting provider’s support is responsive and several recent comments say the opposite with specific examples, that discrepancy is worth noting. If recent comments broadly confirm our findings, that is additional evidence in favor of the conclusion.
Pay particular attention to comments about renewal pricing. More readers are surprised by renewal pricing than by almost any other aspect of a hosting purchase. Comments that describe what a specific plan cost at renewal, and how that compared to the promotional price, are among the most useful pieces of information a prospective customer can have.
Consider leaving your own comment after you have used a hosting provider for six months to a year. Your experience is exactly the type of information that would help the next person facing the same decision.
Section 14: Changes to this policy
We may update this Comments Policy at any time to reflect changes in our moderation practices, applicable law, or site operations. The most current version will always be available at this page. Changes take effect immediately upon publication. We encourage you to review this policy before submitting comments.
Section 12: Contact
For questions about this Comments Policy, to submit a moderation appeal, or to report a comment that you believe violates this policy:
Best Hosting Guide besthostingguide@gmail.com best-hosting-guide.com/contact/