Who do you think is the first, second and third best web host out there.
There's no such thing as first, second etc. in absolute terms. I've tried some 13-14 hosts, but such a top would be mine and mine alone. Other customers may have very different experiences. So, you need lots of personal, honest opinions, to reach a reasonably accurate conclusion.
Very small companies will probably get very few reviews, and so they will be very hard to judge (even though many may be quite good). On the other hand, very large companies have huge advertising budgets and high paying affiliate programs, which results in many fake recommendations in the hope of making an affiliate commission.
Then you have mid-sized hosts that make a name for themselves in certain communities (hosting forums, certain forum/blog software users etc.) But, such hosts become a bit like rock stars. Even when they're somewhat wrong, you'll have tens of fans stepping up for them.
