Meh... nothing about that is in the first page of Google results when I google Linode. I wasn't aware of the older hack incidents, because we weren't Linode customers then and so there was no particular reason to pay attention to Linode news.

Anyway, if anyone is going to make a blanket statement like "Don't use X", there's no harm in providing at least a high level explanation of why you're saying that. One shouldn't assume other people keep up with the exact same news that they do.

Their wikipedia page, the 3rd google result for me, should provide enough info by itself.

I do agree that some level of explanation would definitely be useful, but this comes up so often that I really don't find it surprising that people are too lazy to explain such statements.

There are times I am comfortable talking publicly about things and contributing context or color commentary.

There are times I am comfortable broadcasting clear, direct advice that might hurt some entity's feelings.

There aren't many times when I am comfortable doing both at the same time.

So you're not comfortable saying:

> Linode has had enough security issues that I wouldn't trust them with my servers.

I am comfortable saying "Don't use Linode."