[ikk157]

With respect and hopefully not to be seen as lack of appreciation to Hostlease as we did enjoy their VPSs, but regarding the claim about "used to get a lot of traffic", this puzzles me.  I specifically don't get the narrative of the traffic and how it generated more sales.  Like how was that measured specifically?  Given in particular that the VPS Plans were being chopped and changed all of the time right from the beginning at end of 2018 to date.  Again you can check the Announcements.  First we had a VPS 15 then VPS 16 on an experimental basis.  Then VPS 15 was withdrawn, then returned, then VPS 16 cancelled and VPS 17 created. And later VPS 18.  Then a monster VPS 16 added back as a gift. Then over the last few months VPS 17 was dropped - we were first told temporarily to overhaul it - then permanently.  We were down to only VPS 18 (2) and VPS 16 (on an end of life basis) over the last few months. Chopping and changing all of the time. So hence also plenty of turnaround in VPS Holders.  I can't see how the traffic could have been measured in those circumstances.  Where did Hostlease get the stats from to measure the performance?

Furthermore, if you check through all of the announcements over the last 14 months we've been experiencing plenty of downtime with Hostlease VPSs compared from before including support discussions informing us the VPSs were down.  A few months back we were told that the sponsorship would end with immediate effect, only to have it reinstated much later with a couple or more weeks of down time when the VPSs had to undergo maintenance yet again - or that is what we were told had to happen.  Like if you check through the announcements you will note countless discussions about issues that Hostlease was experiencing that resulted in down time of the VPSs.  The VPSs were great VPSs, and popular particularly for use as games servers, if and when they were up and running.  But the regular down times couldn't have been good for traffic particularly the down time of longer duration.  So I'm very curious to see how the stats have been generated.

As for how the stats were generated and all of that, I can’t answer that as I’m (obviously) not part of HostLease nor was in any way part of said stats. I’m just going off of what I’ve been told by their staff members... never bothered asking for the stats, I just took their word for it.

Anyways that doesn’t matter as we can’t deny the fact that the backlinks aren’t giving our sponsors what they deserve. I stand by my point that if the site where the backlinks are doesn’t get much traffic, not enough people would be directed to the sponsor.

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@ikk157

About negative reviews, Before we implement this (if it gonna happen), we need to set up some sort of framework for this. For example, the sponsor does need to have a FB page as well as a Google product rating already to get this done. And Then VPS holder should try the server at least one month before doing this. Plus it's better to do the forum review first, starting a conversation with the sponsor about the VPS and the service. Only after then, this rating should be done. So if the server has problems then by the end of the month you can get fixed by the sponsor or go for another VPS. If you don't use the VPS then no need to do the rating about it. That way no negative ratings will happen.

About traffic I agree with @deanhills it's not about traffic. If they say the sponsorship is not beneficial for then yes that might be true. There might be more pressing reasons than that but this is what they have given and I respect that. It was not a smooth ride but they offered us a lot all these years. So we are grateful. I don't think any sponsor gets much traffic from those member links or even from the forum links.  Probably some from those Review posts which have gone to Google search. What you get from links is either authority or traffic. Here from these forum links, they get some authority backlinks to their sites. Which would help them SEO-wise. Apart from that not a lot.

Great suggestion with the “framework” that can be implemented to keep the reviews both positive and honest. The forum reviews are already a requirement to several VPSs over here, so that’s nothing out of the ordinary, which is great news!

I also like the idea of having the sponsor working directly with the holder’s feedback and improving based on that, some sponsors over here already do that, but unfortunately the majority aren’t. We can’t blame them though since afterall, they’re sponsoring these VPSs absolutely free of charge.

As for this entire traffic thing, you seem to be missing the point. Here’s a practical example:

Let’s say I host a site that gets 1000 visits per day. Now if i put in somewhere in that site (such as the header or footer) a VirMach hyperlink such as “Powered by VirMach” (or something more attractive), there’s a good chance that some of those 1000 visits might click on it to know more, and are then taken to the sponsors site, and some would be attracted by their offerings/prices and end up buying a VPS from the sponsor. Which increases their sales!

Now let’s say my site only gets 5 visits per day, the odds of the above happening is significantly less to none. 

I hope that clarifies my point. If not, please do let me know.