Preamble
RackList is an independent platform comparing internet hosting providers. Published reviews come from real users; no compensation is ever paid for submitting one. This policy sets out our commitments around transparency, verification and moderation.
Our guiding principle: honest, fact-based, signed reviews are published; purely disparaging, fact-free or unlawful content is refused.
Legal basis: French Consumer Code, articles D.111-16 to D.111-19 (Decree no. 2017-1436 of 29 September 2017), Act no. 2024-449 of 21 May 2024 (SREN), Decree no. 2024-753 of 7 July 2024, Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (DSA), articles L.121-4 of the Consumer Code, 1240 of the Civil Code and 29 of the 1881 Press Act.
Who can submit a review
Submitting a review is open to anyone who holds a user account and has actually used the hosting provider being reviewed. The conditions are:
- Active user account (free registration, e-mail verification required).
- E-mail address confirmed via a link sent at sign-up. A review submitted before confirmation stays pending until the address is verified.
- Three reviews per 24-hour window per account, to prevent automated review waves.
- A single active review per account per host. Editing the existing review remains possible at any time from the user dashboard.
- Prior purchase from the host is not required to submit a review but may be declared and verified (section 3) to earn the verified experience badge.
Experience verification
Several automated checks run on every submission to limit fraudulent or impersonated reviews:
- Single-use e-mail link verification. Submissions from an unverified account stay in the queue and are never published as-is.
- Submission IP address recorded and kept for 12 months for fraud-prevention and lawful-authority-cooperation purposes (cf. art. 6-II LCEN and Decree no. 2021-1363 of 20 October 2021).
- Browser technical fingerprint (SHA-256 hashed, non-reversible) used to detect multiple submissions from the same device under different accounts.
- Authors may attach an experience proof (invoice, dashboard screenshot, internal id) which is manually reviewed before the verified experience badge is granted.
None of these checks replace the reader's own judgment: the verified label attests to a technical check, not an absolute guarantee that the content itself is accurate.
Review moderation
RackList runs a hybrid moderation model: an automated filter at submit time, then post-publication moderation on report, complemented by algorithmic fraud detection.
Every review is analysed when submitted. Content containing terms held by French case law to be inherently disparaging (e.g. arnaque, escroc, voleur, charlatan, scam, fraud) is blocked and the author is asked to rephrase using concrete, verifiable facts. This protects the platform from liability under article 1240 of the French Civil Code (denigration).
Any user or third party may report a published review via the dedicated button or the DSA notification form. A reported review is reviewed by the moderation team within 72 business hours; for manifestly illegal content (serious defamation, discriminatory insult, child sexual abuse material, hate speech), removal is immediate.
An internal system analyses suspicious patterns: review waves on the same host, IP/fingerprint correlation, sentiment incoherent with the rating, freshly created accounts. Generated alerts are reviewed manually; when confirmed, affected reviews are downgraded and the offending account may be suspended.
Grounds for refusal or removal
The grounds below may lead to a review being refused or removed. This list, in line with article D.111-19 of the French Consumer Code, is non-exhaustive; it reflects the grounds actually applied by our team.
- Intrinsic disparagement: use of terms that mirror criminal qualifications (arnaque, escroc, voleur, scam, fraud, charlatan) without presenting precise, verifiable facts.
- Defamation under article 29 of the 1881 Press Act: imputation of a specific fact damaging to honour without proof or outside the exceptio veritatis framework.
- Personal data of a third party (full name of an employee, private contact details, identifying photograph) without consent.
- Off-topic content (review of a product or service unrelated to web hosting, advertising, unsolicited promotional link).
- Spam, duplicate content or content generated without any actual experience.
- Undisclosed conflict of interest (self-rating by a director, employee or affiliate, review by a direct competitor).
- Manifestly illegal content: racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic insults or apology of a criminal offence.
- No demonstrable actual experience with the host being reviewed.
In line with article D.111-19 of the French Consumer Code and article 17 of the DSA, the author of a refused or removed review is notified of the grounds by e-mail, with information on the internal appeal channels (section 12).
Publication timing and retention
Compensation and incentives
No compensation, in any form, is paid in exchange for submitting, editing or removing a review.
Listed hosts cannot get an unfavourable review removed by paying, buying ad placement or subscribing to a Premium offer. The tools available to claimed hosts (right of reply, alerts) are free and identical for everyone.
Should our model evolve (loyalty programme, review incentive, etc.), the new policy will be published on this page before it takes effect, in line with article D.111-17 of the French Consumer Code.
Editing and deleting a review
Authors retain full control of their reviews:
- Editing is possible at any time from the personal area (My reviews tab).
- Deletion is possible at any time, without justification. The operation is permanent.
- Any edit to a published review goes back through the automated filter. The status reverts to pending until validated.
- When the account is deleted, reviews are anonymised. The author may, before deletion, also request permanent removal of each review.
Host right of reply
A host whose listing has been claimed and verified holds a framed right of reply on every review published on its listing:
- Right of reply is only open to hosts that have claimed their listing through the official procedure (domain e-mail verification or DNS TXT record).
- One reply per review. The reply can be edited but not deleted by the host; it stays attached to the review for as long as the review remains published.
- The reply is subject to the same moderation rules as reviews (no disparagement, no defamation, no third-party personal data).
- The reply is published immediately under the relevant review, labelled as the host's official reply.
Listing, ranking and sorting
RackList displays hosts and reviews using explicit, public criteria. No ranking is influenced by payment, commercial partnership or hidden compensation.
By default, a host's reviews are sorted by helpfulness: reviews other readers found most helpful (thumbs up / thumbs down votes) appear first, with a secondary sort by publication date descending.
Users can switch to another sort at any time: most recent first (chronological), highest rating first, or lowest rating first. The chronological sort is always offered, in line with article D.111-17 of the French Consumer Code.
The HostScore aggregates five objective axes, each scored out of 20 points, with no hidden weighting: (1) review quality and recency (weighted average with a 365-day half-life), (2) age of the claimed listing, (3) profile completeness and transparency (legal form, verified legal id, description, categories, logo), (4) host's review reply rate and response delay, (5) product catalogue depth (count, diversity, price transparency). Public bonus and malus rules are then applied on top. The full methodology, including the exact coefficients, is published on the Scoring methodology page, accessible without authentication.
Decree no. 2024-753 of 7 July 2024 (SREN Act), articles L.111-7, L.111-7-2 and D.111-17 of the French Consumer Code.
Host listing
RackList lists hosting providers from public information (legal name, website, ASN, declared infrastructure). Listings may be created by our editorial team without a prior request from the host concerned; this is an informational, comparison-focused listing that creates no commercial relationship with the host.
Every host has the right to claim its listing via a verification procedure (domain e-mail or DNS TXT record). Once claimed, the host can complete the information shown, reply to reviews and access internal listing analytics.
Right to object and rectify
A host listed without having claimed its listing may, at any time, request rectification of inaccurate factual information or object to its listing by writing to [email protected]. Any motivated request is handled within 30 days. Search-engine deindexation is applied immediately on removal.
Article L.713-6 b) of the French Intellectual Property Code (necessary referential use); ECJ 22 September 2011, Interflora, C-323/09; ECJ 23 March 2010, Google France, C-236/08.
Reporting a review and redress channels
Several channels are available to report a problematic review or contest a moderation decision:
- Report button shown next to every published review, open to authenticated or anonymous users. Reasons: spam, fake review, inappropriate content, other.
- Dedicated notification form under article 16 of the DSA, accessible from the Report illegal content (DSA) page. This channel is primarily for manifestly illegal content and guarantees an acknowledgement of receipt.
- Internal appeal: any author whose review was refused or removed may, within 6 months, contest the decision by e-mail. The request is reviewed by a moderator different from the original decision-maker (DSA article 20).
- Out-of-court dispute settlement: the bodies certified by ARCOM under DSA article 21 are competent to settle disputes between the user and the platform. The up-to-date list is published on the ARCOM website.
- Judicial route: French courts at the defendant's domicile or, for a consumer, at the claimant's place of residence (art. R.631-3 of the French Consumer Code).