How do I evaluate a webhosting review?

Hello all,

Last few months, I needed some reliable cheap hosting.
I came across few forums where I read a couple of members posting their reviews.

One of the review there was of a first time blogger who posted his review immediately after 2 days after buying the service. That review was 'all goody-goody' with absolutely not a drawback mentioned. Over the days, i found some more such reviews flowing in that were 'all goody goody' and posted within a couple of days after buying the service? By now, that hosting company has about 60 customers and 20 customers have posted a 'all goody goody' review about that host on www.webhostingstuff.com

I am growing suspicious and I feel that all the reviews are not sincere and/or truthful enough(the too-good to be true types). I feel as the site owners have been enticed to write a all good review in return of some incentive like may be some extra bandwidth or space?

Can you guyz please share your tips so as to how do i evaluate a review as 'sincere' or 'endorsement'? I know its not possible get a 100% correct answer, but still, how can we evaluate such a review?

Thank you.

 

95% (or similar percent) of web hosting directories feature web hosts because they pay them. It is advertising and no one has problem with this. The only thing that is unfair is that all the reviews are fake. It is much better hosting directories to say "We publish paid reviews and advertisements".

 

To be honest, WebHostingStuff shouldn't be taken at completely face value. For example, did you know that the "Top 10" chart is actually the Top 10 companies with the highest CPC bid? It's at $2 something per click at the moment, but you'll only see it if you login to a merchant account!

 

update: I just contacted two of their customers and they said that they were not lured into giving the review. But still, I am doubtful about the review by people who rate a webhost as excellent on account of 'instant account activation' and '0% downtime in last 20 days'.

@fcolor,
Ya, even I smelled that its sort of 'paid' but needed some one who has more experiecne to confirm that.
Thank you.

@Jay Shah
I never knew that about the 'Top 10'. When I was new to website managing, I had checked out that pages n no. of times, but had to settle down for an affordable host due to currency conversion ration. Even if it was as low as $50/year, it would mean slightly higher Rs. 4,000/year whereas I settled on a webhost for Rs. 300/yr thourgh an forum. I am glad I did that, else I would find myself paying for those sponsored ads!

Thank you.