We discuss a lot here about how high school kids can start up a hosting company or really anyone for that matter. Fly by night hosts take people's money and then close up shop later...hurting the industry. How do you feel about the idea of having some sort of web hosting consortium and/or certification for web hosting companies?

Obviously the hosts have to really get something out of it for it to be valuable, and the public needs to know about it.....both fairly expensive propositions.

Just curious on other's thoughts....

I don't know if there would be any way for it to be required. But if there were some sort of label or something you could put on your website (like an ICANN seal of approval :) ), and it was widespread enough, it could help regulate the industry.

On the other hand, I don't know if there's anything truely wrong with the typical high school kid services that often get mentioned. The laws of econimcs will take care of them. If they provide poor service, they don't last, if they provide good service, they can grow into a large provider. At the same time, there are large companies that are subject to the same laws.

I am not sure how feasible it would be.

IN my opinion:

1) It would have to be sponsored by a large well known name for it to have any affect. For example, there are several places out there that offer you a college degree at home! While these are actual degrees as defined by law and scholastic standards, how many of them would you reust and be willing to rely on for your future? I would choose a Community Colege first...

2) It would take massive advertising. I have to admit, i do not want to advertise anybody else. I saw a thread about an idea for "franchising" out hosting companies. Where smaller hosts can join a consortium of sorts that does all the advertising and you, as a franchisee, get clients which are divided equally among the franchisees. All you do is pay a 10%-20% fee fom your earnings to the Mega-Franchise for advertising purposes. While god in concept, it seems like I am spending money to give away clients.

3) The "seal of approval" would have to have a well regulated set of standards. With so many hosts out there, how could they all be regulated? Again, this would be a massive undertaking.

4) It would have to go beyond just a test that measures knowledge. Most of the "kids" KNOW what they are doing, they just have bad business saavy, or don't care, or are just plain crooked.


I am sure there are other things...

It is an EXCELLENT concept though!

My .02
:secret:

Why not just have your staff certifed in the software? I think with the flurry of dead certifications coming out that adding another one would be pointless.

If you want to start something how about a Web Hosting Association?

Competition is competition, that's something the last almost 2 years in the industry has taught me.

Personally, I used to be in full support of some sort of regulatory measure that would try and keep these fly by nighters and $1.00/month operations out of the picture. If you're doing what you're supposed to do and you stick at it, you won't even need to worry about these guys. Time will certainly see to that.

I think it also comes to a point where you police an industry too much - or at least here in the good ole United States. Such an 'association' would apply just fine to the country(ies) that implement it, but what about those that don't? Such regulation would require a fair effort IMHO to be fair all across the board - and that's just not something that can be fairly and economically done at this point IMHO.

As for some type of loose association, I for one might support that a bit. I think it could be offered as an optional method where a company could apply for membership and pay perhaps a small fee or even not one at all. You'd have a central *independent* panel to research any complaints and revoke membership at any time, although these days that might not work as intended. One would have to make certain the judges were nonbiased.

Anyways, enough of my ramblings. To sum it up, I don't think Government regulation is at all the way to go. The industry really isn't in horrible shape. As any other industry, it does have problems, but there are many diamonds out there as well. Perhaps some small volunteer agency would work, but I'd not step in any more than that. It's pretty clear to see Darwinism can be applied to business, so let 'nature' run its course in this one, and stick to your guns(and worry about them only). All the others will fade in time.

CracyTech, you are right, competition is competition. But the idea behind certifications is to protect customers. Protecting customers from having to deal with the headaches that some of the fly by night companies can cause.

The question is at the expense of the industry though?

What good does paying a fee really do in the obtain some 'certification'? Sure it's going to wipe out some of the cheapest of companies, but paying a fee alone would not stop all of the mess.

There's the option of some sort of 'training' or something of that genre, but the costs would be quite large in the end and it leads into my argument below.

IMHO it comes down to free industry. You simply couldn't have the government come and crackdown hard on the industry at this point, so that's all but out of the question. Perhaps some independent organization would work, but what stock are potential clients really going to play in that organization? What good would a voluntary organization really do?

In order for clients to be protected, they must first at least try and protect themselves. Owning and/or operating a website is an investment and as with in investment one should do a bit of research and caution when diving into it. I understand a client should not be expected to know everything, but on that very same token a little bit of sense can go quite a long way. A large part of the reason you see these fly by night operations is the same reason SPAM continues to thrive. People jump right into something without taking a look around. Often comparing a bit will let you learn many things.

I understand what you mean. I am a high school student with a SUCCESSFUL hosting/design company. And I don't know if they could have some sort of certificatation, because if they do have it, what makes them any good? PayPal has a secure server and according to many people they steal money. I think that a certificatation thing like that would be a great idea, but it would be hard to run, at least I think.

P.S. My business is reg. with my state, making it LEGAL.

indeed certification is a major factor that leads to genrate good sales,