Looking for opinions on Media Temple for hosting a blog....

February 19, 2016 3:20 PM

Just curious if anyone has any strong opinions about switching to Media Temple -- which is owned by GoDaddy. Has GoDaddy improved its image or reputation or anything since I last checked (which was years ago)? Does it matter that GoDaddy and MT are run separately or not?
posted by mhh5 to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)

It's not a vehement opinion, but it's an opinion: I still say "No."
It's not based on a damn thing other than the bitter taste in my mouth that still lingers even though I left them years ago. I'd been with them for probably 10 or more years, and they still tried to screw me over for a few bucks. I learned that they valued procedures and the almighty buck rather than doing the right thing for a long time customer who had hundreds of dollars invested in them every year.

I'm with A Small Orange, and always highly recommend them.
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 4:38 PM on February 19, 2016

No, GoDaddy is still gody. ASO has also been sold and I have found that both the hosting and the support have declined. I host with SiteGround now.
posted by DarlingBri at 5:33 PM on February 19, 2016

I'd flip it around and ask, why are you drawn to Media Temple? There are so many providers out there. The fact that you have to ask this question seems to point to the answer. Unless there's some really compelling reason to use them, just move on...
posted by primethyme at 6:41 PM on February 19, 2016

I was already using Media Temple when it got bought by GoDaddy, and I had every intention of moving off MT when the purchase happened. But the customer service is so good that I wound up staying put. I still feel conflicted about that, though.
posted by jeri at 9:34 PM on February 19, 2016

Best answer: Only you can decide how much corporate PR to believe, but they're got good corporate PR: Wired story on new CEO and VP of Engineering from May 2015.

[W]omen fill 18 percent of GoDaddy’s technical and engineering jobs—slightly more than at places like Google and Facebook. This year, women account for 39 percent of its new technical hires from universities (up from 14 percent the previous year) and 40 percent of its technical interns (up from 14 percent).

A similar CNBC story from April 2015 and one from LinkedIn in August. Glassdoor reviews, although easily gamed, look good. You can find past stories about GoDaddy making it hard to leave/cancel - unclear to me what current practice is.

We're customers for historical reasons, and I've gotta say, their customer service has been friendly/good. However, their email service occasionally decides to mysteriously and intermittantly bounce incoming mail or not send outgoing mail.

My personal take is that they're trying super hard, but they still wouldn't be my first choice of provider for any particular service. I more often choose a speciality provider rather than a big supermarket.
posted by troyer at 10:16 AM on February 20, 2016

Until I have reason to do otherwise I will continue to use and recommend using WebFaction. Their support is outstanding. I switched to VPS hosing at ASO for a few months, but went right back to WebFaction after they recently released their VPS accounts.
posted by humboldt32 at 11:22 AM on February 20, 2016

Response by poster: Thanks again, hivemind! Sounds like the customer service is decent -- and the reason why I'm considering them is that it'll save me significant $$ vs my current host.
posted by mhh5 at 8:22 AM on February 24, 2016