I came yesterday on theserverside, and the latest review was a review about WebSphere titled (IIRC) "WebSphere sucks, really".
Now I come back, and this review has disappeared. The main review page still mentions 5 reviews for WebSphere, but only 4 of them are present in the WebSphere page, and the one I just mentioned doesn't appear anymore.
Is it just a technical problem, or was it removed intentionally?
If it was removed intentionally, then I would like to know the reasons for this choice. I must also say that, whatever the reason is, it's not a good one. Censorship is always a bad idea. BTW, there were very good and interesting points in this review, and I would have liked to see the replies.

JB.

It was removed, I got this email.

<mail>
Hi Peter,

Unfortunately, I had to delete your Websphere review on TheServerSide. Honestly, I didn't remove it because it blasts Websphere, but because it is not a "review", it is just a couple of comments on why Websphere sucks.

I encourage you to repost your thoughts on Websphere, but as a more balanced review.Expand more on your experiences with Websphere, be specific about how it was good or bad. Comment on its features, give it credit where
credit is due, and kick its ass where it deserves it. Compare it to other app. servers, describe how using it messed up your project, make your post a
bit longer.

I don't mind haveing a negative review, as long as it is a review and not just hate mail. :) Please see some of the other reviews for examples on how one should be written.

take care, and thanks for using TheServerSide,

Floyd
</mail>

And I agree that my title and some of the content may have been a little to provocative. Althought my goal was to start a discussion about Websphere and hear other peoples experiences and oppinions for and against it in a constructive way. My goal was not really to start a flaimebait, I believe that the people who read theese kinds of forums are mature enought to resist that impulse.

I do had some facts in my review, even though I agree with Floyd that I should have made it longer. I think it's reasonable hard to find any objective information about Websphere on the web. On any search engine the about 1000 first results takes you to the IBM-marketing sites. And in other forums (ejb-interest) I think, I see when people are asking about Websphere. The replys contains a copy of the IBM-marketing decription about Websphere, and posting it like "facts".

Well anyways, my other purpose with the review was to put a big *WARNING* sign on the Websphere 3.02 AS. Well sure EJB's are a complex technology, and when you choose an application server you should know what you are doing. But in all to many cases that doesn't seem to be the case. Choosing an application server is done by the management not the tech-guys, IBM have known that and (IMO) used that fact to sell a product which later causes big headache for the people responsible for making it work. Managment people think: IBM - big company, safe choice. And it usually is, but (IMO) not with Websphere.

Now I've only used Websphere 3.02. As for the newly released WS 3.5 with fp2, I haven't had the opportunity to evaluate that yet. But I hope I will soon, and I hope to see some real improvements since the previous version. But I can see from the marketing stuff that they haven't made it EJB 1.1 compliant yet. Must be the only non 1.1 compliant server on the market. It may be that it ALMOST 1.1 compliant, but still why make an almost 1.1 compliant server? Why choose such a server?

When I've evaluated 3.5 I will post a longer review of that which hopefully won't be rejected ;).

Regards, Peter

Although I agree with Floyd and yourself that the review could have been longer, more detailed and balanced and so on, I stay on my position: this review should have stayed on theServerSide.

It had very good points (I pretty much agree with what you're saying about Websphere's proprietary features, resource consumption, and adoption by the "clue-less" managers) and I didn't consider it as a "hate mail". At least, it informed us on a real personal experience. If people want long, detailed and balanced reviews, there are already some on this site and on others. Having personal opinions and experiences, even short, are indicative of the quality of a product.

If this kind of opinions is not accepted in the review section of theServerSide, I think they could at least be expressed in a discussion forum. Why not creating one (Floyd, are you reading?) dedicated to server bugs, features, comparisons?

Regards,

JB.

Hi guys,

  My goal in all of this is to ensure that our reviews section is as high quality as possible. Even it means not allowing any new reviews for a month.

  Since the server side started I have removed about 6 reviews, all of which were simply incomplete, they should have been posted as messages in the discussion forums. My criteria for for filtering reviews has little to do with the content of the reviews, and more to do with making sure that our reviews section is a repository for reviews and not just another forum on TheServerSide.

  I welcome negative reviews, it is a way to keep the vendors on their toes, however as the webmaster I need to screen out posts like Peters, inorder to ensure that TheServerSide reviews are truly useful, educational, and authoritative.

   So you see my dilemma Jean-Baptiste, if I leave a non-review in the reviews section, more people will post non-reviews, and eventually we will get "I can't compile my class" type posts in there as well.

   Jean-Baptiste, today we do have a forum where people can post server bugs, features, etc. We use the Troubleshooting forum. I am hesitant to add one forum-per-vendor, thats what the vendors own techsupport channels are for.

   Guys, thanks for posting your concerns here, you are helping to keep the community strong. Peter, again, I encourage you to post a review of Websphere, I think it is important that people know its problems.

Floyd

It's funny that Floyd uses a template when he removes a review.
I received the exact same mail as the above but with the word Silverstream instead of Websphere :)

pretty funny...
Filip

<embarrassed look>, well I don't really have a template, its just that Peter's post came very quickly after yours, and it seemed easier to resuse the post I *wrote for you*, since both of you had posted very similar reviews. :)

Floyd

In my opinion, the best thing about TheServerSide.com is that Floyd maintains strict quality control measures. That is what separates this site from EJB-INTEREST. What I am asking is that you help Floyd to keep it that way. Always be challenging yourself to post the absolute best quality content, and always be raising the bar.

I hope you have a chance to revise and repost the reviews. We are obviously not favoring vendors here, censoring, nor being political. If we were, you would not see all those other horrible Websphere reviews :) And I do want to see those reviews, because there are enough falsehoods out there to mislead any IT shop.

This is your community and it is what you make of it.

-Ed