[thesite] hosting listings on d.e.o.

[David McCreath]

> From: Ron Dorman
> 
> David McCreath wrote:
> 
> > Since that hosting question keeps coming up on thelist, I was 
> > wondering if it would be within the scope of d.e.o. to put in a 
> > "hosting" section.
> 
> i like that thought.
> 
> > Or we could have a section where evolt members could rate hosts and 
> > leave comments. I know there are several sites out there like that 
> > already, but I personally would trust a stack of ratings from evolt 
> > members more than some group of editors from C|NET.
> 
> i think the second method would work better.  i always trust 
> info from freinds and colleages much more more than media sources.

[ thinking out loud here, so I may contradict myself ]

So if we hold ratings and comments in mind as longer-term goals (I don't
know what Simon would need to do to add that sort of stuff to d.e.o.),
would it make sense to just add a "Hosts" subcategory to the "Resources"
category *now*? Or would that be too open to the sort of abuse Dan
alluded to (hosts posting themselves)?

I'm inclined to think that we're going to need some sort of double
checks. As Ron pointed out, we're talking about getting opinions of
trusted friends. And as Dan pointed out we don't want sales reps from
hosting companies posting themselves.

So would an evolt membership be enough? Or would we need radiobuttons
saying "I am/am not an employee of this host" on the submission form?
Would we trust that kind of self reporting? I think we could. But we'd
also want to have in place some sort of clear and up-front mechanism for
denying or deleting an entry that's clearly just a shill.

David