Matt Heaton Spams Me Again
March 29th, 2006
A bit over a month ago, I got all steamed over how the CEO of Bluehost spammed his entire userbase to announce the launch of his personal blog. On his blog, Matt Heaton claims that Bluehost now has over 100,000 customers - that’s a lot of users to send some unsolicited email. In hindsight, I was even more pissed off about how he handled the situation after the fact. Not enough to spam me, but then to not let me comment about it on his blog, and only approve glowing comments - pretty damn lame.
Just two days ago, I received another email from Bluehost, informing me of upgrades to their support and service. As a user, I appreciate such notices. At the bottom of the email, was a prompt for readers to visit Matt’s personal blog. Heading over to his blog to see what Bluehost may be up to, I am prompted to read Mr. Heaton’s account of the time he spent in a mission as a youth, and what he thinks of Dale Carnegie. All in a post entitled “How to deal with people…” - oh the irony.
I tried posting a somewhat tame comment, once again expressing my displeasure at Matt’s tactics. Knowing full well that the comment would not be approved, I grabbed a snapshot of it in moderation, here. Right on cue, Matt deleted the comment, and once again only approved comments that were flattering.
What is the deal? I hinted to Mr. Heaton in my comment that I wasn’t simply going to go away. If he had left my comment remain in his blog, that probably would have been the end of it. Instead, Matt chose to delete the comment and invite me to air my grievances here. History will prove to Mr. Heaton the error of his ways.
A simple search for spammer ceo or matt heaton blog or how about bluehost ceo amply show that dealing with aggrevated customers in a flippant matter will not fly in today’s day and age. The days of acting in such a manner without impunity are over.
So it seems the contest shall continue. I expect that Matt will continue to act in like fashion going forward, and I will continue to call him out on it. Game on.
March 29th, 2006 at 10:49 pm
You are welcome to post what you want, but I am certainly not obligated to post whatever you write/want on my blog. You are the ONLY person that has complained out of 60,000 email. You were the only one that complained the second time as well. You are entitled to your opinion, and I can certainly remove you from all future bluehost emails. If you want that just let me know. If you want me to not link to my blog when I send
out bluehost announcements then tough. You can get no email, or suffer the 20 characters of the email that mention my blog. It is up to you.
Cheers,
Matt Heaton / Bluehost.com
March 29th, 2006 at 11:57 pm
>>You are welcome to post what you want, but I am certainly not obligated to post whatever you write/want on my blog.
I am not asking you to let me post whatever I want on your blog, but if you are opening up your posts for discussion, you should follow proper protocol and allow for dissenting opinions. Otherwise, you don’t have a blog, you have a fan club.
>>You are the ONLY person that has complained out of 60,000 email.
I think you are not only a spammer, but a liar as well.
>>I can certainly remove you from all future bluehost emails.
Are you suggesting that a paying customer should opt out of customer related emails in order to avoid your pitiful solitications to get people to read your personal blog? Should I move my handful of accounts to a competitor to avoid your personal spam?? Wouldn’t it be wiser for you to find more creative ways to get people to read your blog?
Are you saying that it is standard protocol for Bluehost customers to be told suck it up, or go elsewhere??
March 30th, 2006 at 12:47 am
Hi Greg,
You are obviously dealing with a marketing genius and I think his last message to you speaks for it self. You are the 1st out of 60,000 people to complain. You might want to internalize this more.. hehehe
March 30th, 2006 at 1:10 am
Wow. I have to say I love it when companies make it easier on me to filter out the ones NOT to do business with.
March 30th, 2006 at 2:59 pm
Advertising a personal blog in customer related emails is unprofessional and lame. Matt’s original email, announcing the launch of his blog, was completely irrelevant and had nothing to do with bluehost services.
As a BlueHost customer, I was never given the option to opt-out from emails concerning the CEO’s personal matters. Matt should be careful. Sending irrelevant and unwanted email under the BlueHost corporate name will eventually piss a lot of people off.
March 30th, 2006 at 9:41 pm
To say that I am a liar for saying I got one complaint is wrong. I literally got one complaint sent. I had OVER 500 positive posts on the first day, and then yours. You are entitled to your beliefs, but don’t make the incorrect assumption that everyone agrees with you. The blog was started in the first place at customers requests. Not yours obviously, but many others. I days where no email goes out I still get a minimum of 500 readers a day to my blog. I don’t need mail to get visitors. I am not an ego maniac. I have a top 1000 site on the whole internet. I don’t need to go mining for hits. The users asked for it and I gave it to them. It is as simple as that.
Go to bluehostforum.com and post a thread about my “annoying blog”. I am sure you can get some complaints there, but I think you might be surprised by the number of people that want it… Just a thought…
Matt
March 31st, 2006 at 12:42 am
Dear CEO,
I use bluehost services. *please* add announcements regarding what you do personally to official corporate communications that I receive from you.
Thanks,
Customer
*Shyeah, right!*
PS. You get 500 readers a day to your blog because *you spammed everybody* to get them!
PPS. This is classic, and highly entertaining. Keep up the good work!
April 6th, 2006 at 10:29 pm
Well I am a Bluehost customer and I received these emails without asking for them… But I managed to take the 3 seconds to delete the email from my inbox. While you may conisder it spam I beleive many customers asked for this, I know as a professional, I like to know more about who I am doing business with.
It seems to me like there are a few things going on here:
1.) You run a blog and are angry because he promoted his. Yes he sent it to his customers, boo hoo.
2.) You must have NOTHING to do to try and start a war with Matt. Do you feel so unimportant that you are trying to start a war with a man who sent out his blog link to his customers? Get a hobby, or a better hobby.
3.) You’re trying to fight a losing battle, you really don’t have alot on your side. If you are so unhappy by the lack of professionalism, why dont you make a statement and leave Bluehost?
I beleive only 1 of 60,000 complained. Some may not have wanted it, but it certainly wasn’t offensive. I remember seeing on the forums how he GAVE you his personal cel phone number for you to call and chew him out. Stop acting so self righteous.
This may never make it onto your comments, you may delete it, just remember thats what matt did, he choose a comment to not be shown for his PERSONAL blog. Its not a violation of business terms or freedom of speech. Go play with your kids or something its a more worthwhile endeavor.
April 6th, 2006 at 11:15 pm
It would take a bit more than some ill-thought insults to make me delete a comment. And, why would I delete a comment that provides me the opportunity to strengthen my point?
I’ll address your points:
1. He crossed a boundary - he is using my personal information for his own personal gain. I opted-in for information about my hosting services, not so that he could spam me with requests to read his blog.
2. I have a lot of other things to do. I care enough about the online community that I feel that others would benefit from this knowledge. Additionally, I made a stand that if you spam me, I am going to call you out on it. Period.
3. I disagree - I have a LOT on my side. You underestimate the power of search. What type of statement would I make were I to simply switch providers (and why the hell should I have to deal with the hassle???)? How would others know that if you sign up for hosting at Bluehost that you’d get these pleas for readers?
This is my statement. Which do you think rings louder?
And Matt never gave me his phone number - I have no idea what forum you are speaking of. He could have contacted me via email with it, to have a chat, or he could have easily found my number online. I am a very approachable guy, and would have welcomed a conversation. Instead, Matt decided to go the route he did. And here we are…
April 14th, 2006 at 5:40 pm
Jamie,
Nice, I like what you’ve said and couldn’t agree more. A personal blog is just that. Why would Matt want to have comments that are against him? They are most likely non-customers anyway, or customers that left bluehost.
Matt was simply giving his customers the information that the Blog is up and available. If you don’t care about it, then leave it alone.
CAN-SPAM compliant e-mails are legal if they contain information on how to be removed from the mailing list. It’s not that hard to contact somone and say “remove me” or just delete the e-mail.
Why do you feel it’s a threat to your work? Did it really hurt your feelings because you ready some extra text about his personal blog that lets you get to know him and more about bluehost? Hmm, let’s think about that a little.
April 25th, 2006 at 4:20 pm
“CAN-SPAM compliant e-mails are legal if they contain information on how to be removed from the mailing list. It’s not that hard to contact somone and say “remove me” or just delete the e-mail.”
there was nothing in the email to permit me from unsubscribing. additionally, this had nothing at all to do with my account(s) at bluehost - it was a plea to get readers to visit his new blog.
“Why do you feel it’s a threat to your work?”
this one email spam is not interfering with my work. when matt sends me 5 or 6 (one for each account i have at bluehost) it is more than just a nuisance. couple that with the thousand or more other spam messages i receive daily. now multiply that by the tens of thousands of customers that matt sent the email to, and you can begin to see the gravity of the issue.
then matt did not allow for me to retort in the only way that i could - by commenting on the blog that he had prompted me to come and read. what else is a snubbed customer/blogger to do??
May 3rd, 2006 at 12:33 am
I like your style Greg. Keep up the good work soldier!
May 4th, 2006 at 6:27 am
I think you are over reacting a little bit here. I am a long time Bluehost subscriber and I have gotton alot of help from Matt himself. So theres a little link in the email that tell’s about his blog. You would do the same if you had 60,000 emails to send. This look’s like more of an attempt to promote your own blog using negative comments towards Bluehost. You probably wont post this anyway. If your so unhappy pack up your site and move it to a different host. Im sure Media Temple would be glad to have your business. I am also sure Matt wont miss you.
October 13th, 2006 at 6:18 am
I received an e-mail from Bluehost and noticed at the bottom, for the first time (never noticed before), Matt Heaton’s blog. I made the decision to click on it. I made the decision to read it. I developed my own opinions but did not have any extended need to write about it until I came across this.
I WISH I had the time to write a dissertation like some of you who want to make a big deal about nothing. I can find better things to argue about and not only will a good argument generate results, it will also generate more money. This flame up only generated opinions, not results or money. Sometimes, it is best to nod and move forward. Just like men are supposed to do. (Woo hoo! Had to say that jokingly.)
October 13th, 2006 at 6:28 am
Hi Diana:
I got the same email this morning (a few of them actually). And you are correct, I see nothing wrong with the format of his emails, now. Look at the original date of this post - it’s from six months ago.
The email I originally complained about was not like this one. Maybe my bitching about it played a part in the change in policy? Eh?
October 13th, 2006 at 6:52 am
I would assume if the same happened to me, I “may” react with an e-mail response. But most of the time….I hit “delete.” I also would have looked into making money, such as starting an “E-mail Spammers Anger Management Class.”
Although I am being sarcastic in a smiling way, I did jump into the mix AFTER the fact, and only read a few e-mails.
So, far this morning, I consider my morning unproductive.
Now, time for the real work ahead. Have a great day.
October 29th, 2006 at 3:08 pm
I just read this post…because I was searching for info on bluehost, to see if its the right hosting company for me. I’ve seen Mr. heaton’s personal blog as well.
It may seem unprofessional, or like a conflict of interest or “cross promotion” gone bad. However, I can relate. My small business domain is hosted with GoDaddy and I often have received in the past…. personal emails from founder Bob Parsons about his blog bobparsons.com. He is quite a bit older and a far more established tech celebrity than Mr. Heaton (and that is not a slap at Mr. Heaton at all). Parsons is the king of self promotion and his activities, from his blog, to his XM radio show are always cross promoted with other business. I’m not saying it makes it right or wrong….but I mean isn’t Bill Gates telling his Microsoft customers about his charitable foundation the same thing….??
November 9th, 2006 at 10:46 pm
Greg,
really, Shut the fuck up! Just delete that one Bluehost email that arrives in your mailbox that you find pointless once in a while if it irritates you so much.
Here’s something that may help; get your ass off the computer more, meditate…smoke something..whatever..really, becoming angry over something stupid like a single irrelevant email is pointless. You act like you had to deal with all 100,000 emails sent to BlueHost’s customer base in your inbox.
Matt Heaton’s not perfect, but I think he runs a host that’s the lesser of most other evils (aka ISP’s) on the net. Let the man make his decision without your jive turkey gobbling.
December 3rd, 2006 at 6:50 pm
Hey whats up man? Anyway I really don’t see any problem with the link to his blog… I would be quite interested…. but… thats me people are all different.. But you must say at least you got some good hits from this
Anyway just more or less shouting you out and for less arguement just leave the hosting if it upsets you
Cya M8
January 14th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Well said Greg, see the thing is, you haven’t wasted any time at all posting this, in fact i enjoyed reading it. More than i enjoyed reading about Matt’s church trip as i only glanced over the title so… Didn’t really read it, for obvious reasons. I’m not a Blue Host customer but i know off Matt Heaton, being a web hosting company CEO myself. I too have a personal blog and we host over 7,000 customers, OK maybe not 100,000 but still i haven’t put my URL in the footer of the support email.
April 14th, 2007 at 11:26 am
I am a customer of bluehost and I appreciate Matt heatons efforts to give us more of his personal side He is not making any money off of his blog site I am not sure as to why you let this bother you so much when all the owner of this corporation is trying to do is reach out and be more personable with his customers when was the last time bill gates gave you a call and asked you to check out his personal life. I think what matt has done with bluehost is very amazing. And you my friend if you let the simple things in life bother you that much I would hate to see what you would do if one of your kids got an f or something would you beat them until they got A’s
June 23rd, 2007 at 3:32 pm
I stumbled upon this post looking for reviews of BlueHost (I’m shopping around). Many are saying how Greg is making a fuss about some Email that he could’ve just deleted. Well it wouldn’t annoy me when my hosting provider starts sending me email about his or her personal blog, BUT I WOULD GET VERY CONCERNED when my honest comment gets removed just because I hold a different opinion than the blogger.
A blog is not like Email. While Emails are personal and meant only for the recipient to read, blogs are for the world to read, including the comments. That’s why I have problems when bloggers delete opposing comments. Not only is it unfair to the person making the comment, it’s also unfair for the rest of the readers who are deprived of the chance to hear a second opinion. If Greg had used profanities or resorted to name calling etc. then yes, I think Matt were entitled to remove the comment (maybe he did?) Otherwise it’s just censorship, if not dictatorship.
Of course Matt CAN do whatever he wants because it’s his blog. But knowing this is how he runs his blog does make me less interested in what he has to say, to be honest, and why would anyone bother reading those comments, knowing all the opposing views are filtered out? What if Matt starts a blog called BlueHost Reivews and delets all the negative reviews keeping only the positive ones?
So far I’ve read a lot of raving reviews of BlueHost. But reading Matt’s response here really disappoints me. I thought I’d found the perfect candidate…
June 26th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
Can anyone on this site actually provide a review of bluehost’s customer service and technical support. Greg?
June 27th, 2007 at 10:27 am
I wouldn’t be the guy to comment on their customer service or tech support - we have somebody in-house that deals with all of our tech stuff, and fortunately it’s not me.
From my experiences though, Bluehost has been a great hosting provider. The sites we have there are up and running with no problems.
As a place to host a blog it’s great. The price is right and they provide reliable service. I’d give them a thumbs up.
Additionally, it should be noted that I no longer receive “email updates” from Matt about his blog.
June 29th, 2007 at 11:28 am
Hey there all;
New HostMonster.com user here and read (with great enthusiasm) Matt Heatons blog just now, which made me curious about THIS blog that came up in a search for Matt Heaton.
Umm, Greg, although I can relate to your post regarding a blog being “sacred” in that all comments are typically left for all to see and that it is kind of a shame that Matt may not feel to leave that sanctity in place for his own readers., there is little real substance here.
ALSO, your reaction to this is just a little, teeny bit childish and certainly not a “Knight in Armor” defending the poor and meek users who wish not to be “spammed” with personal info in a corporate distribution.
Like everyone else, I get TONS of SPAM and much of it from my own corporate entities that I do business with. One bank CONSTANTLY sends out lots of stuff that I just do not care to see and so I hit DELETE and then go and opt-out. Easy remedy, as I am pretty sure you are aware.
Matt may not have given you the opportunity to opt-out, but I am guessing that one or two e-mails with a line at the bottom mentioning a (personal) blog is not all that threatening or obnoxious (get a Life, perhaps?).
On the other hand, I personally would RATHER be informed about something that is going to give me insight into a business owner who I may decide to have a commercial relationship with! (Michael Dell, hear this!?)
As a small business owner myself I consider ANY resource to be something worth availing myself of or at the very least checking out and will now bookmark Matt Heatons blog for future review. (Again, enthusiastically)
Sadly, your blog will now be relegated to the useless and lame pile of many other flamers who wish to fan their own fires of ., well., whatever., envy? hate? or just boredom and need to hear their own voice., too bad.
As for HostMonster.com / BlueHost.com and their reliability as a host., I have only been on their system for two days now, but have spoken with their tech staff some 20 times to iron out my own migration issues as I move my 85+ sites / domains onto their servers.
From the past two days experience (I can ALWAYS get tech support on the line almost IMMEDIATELY!) and my 5 years experience with my previous host (nameless, for courtesy sake!) I can say that Matt Heaton has a GREAT business model going for his customers!
I also feel privileged to be able to look over the shoulder and peer into the mind of yet another true internet business pioneer and entrepreneur. Greg, if you have any insights that will benefit the world at large, please DO indeed share them with all of us.
Otherwise, unless you are going to reveal the whereabouts of Ossama, uncover the schemes of our current Administration and its lies to the public or illuminate the connection between big business and the co-option of the Human species for their own benefit, I humbly suggest that you contain your witch hunt leanings and desires and get on with Life.
Most appreciative of YOUR respect, Greg for the “sanctity” of the blog and leaving this posted for all to read (ohh, shame on YOU, Matt for not doing the same!) I will now check out the rest of your blog for something positive and relevant.
Always Hopeful.,
Peace~ &
Be Well~!
AKC
October 19th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
Geez… What… Did you two grow up on the same street or something? Never in my life have I seen so much energy wasted on a stinking email! Give it up you two, and mostly you Greg. Haven’t you noticed yet that you can’t please all the people, etc. etc.? It’s HIS company and HIS blog; he can promote it however it pleases him.
As far as it being invasive or poor business practice, I fail to see your point. Does every single place where you purchase something not use that sale to promote more sales with you? Or do you live on some other planet?
Surely, you could focus your energy on ten billion more legitimate transgressions. For heaven’s sake, grow up!
December 14th, 2007 at 10:38 am
Hey, what’s up. I’m right behind you man and back you up all the way.
I must admit I didn’t read so much of the blog, but I was struck by an entry by Mr. Heaton wrote about Microsoft and that he hates them so much.
I happen to like them, and Windows machines work fine for me. I used Macs (and still do from time to time) but I switched to Windows and I like it. What is the point of his anti-Microsoft rant? Great, he’s got an opinion. Who cares?
JB
December 17th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
Blue host is the best, what you talking bre? this post is only a antimarketing…..and dont delete this post….
March 1st, 2008 at 11:22 am
I really try to sympathize with you Greg, but matt did you no harm, he caused you no loss, he only offered you a chance to get to know who is running the company AT THE REQUEST OF THE CUSTOMERS. Most of the people here seem to be against you. What do you plan to accomplish with this, if everyone else agrees with you, SO WHAT. what do you plan to get out of this aside from making life just a LITTLE bit harder for a guy who is offer a FANTASTIC product as indicated by you and other people of this blog?
March 1st, 2008 at 3:58 pm
I kind of want to kill you Greg for your inhumane incompetence.
There should be a bridge nearby.
April 5th, 2008 at 7:42 am
May 28th, 2008 at 10:59 am
Seems to me like a lot most of the comments here defending Matt are written by the same person…
May 30th, 2008 at 12:49 am
The arrogant idiots that run that place FAIL to notify or see the courtesy of notifying users of critical infrastructure upgrades. These upgrades (PHP, MySQL & Kernel) broke my applications and ultimately lead to significant down-time for my customers. Please grow up and act like a real IT company. Their rationale is that pre-announcing downtime would look bad and confuse Bluehost customers…. and broken applications on the other hand look great! Thanks for the great work guys!
June 23rd, 2008 at 12:18 pm
matt heaton now has 1 million websites hosted, according to his blog.
oh, make it 1 million -5 because I just took my accounts elsewhere, their service is PATHETIC! and i was a longtime customer till i got the cold shoulder by his support people and he himself (he said “take your business elsewhere if you’re not happy”).
he’s just another egoistic CEO who loses focus after attaining a number and a few initial good reviews. to hell with him and his company.