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Hot-Linking is when you copy the location of an image (or other asset) from someone else's website then use that
link to make the image appear elsewhere. For example, you find an icon or a photo on a website that you'd like to use
as your message board avatar. So you copy its location (let's say: http://example.com/pics/coolness.gif) and
paste that link into your profile.
So what's the harm? Every time someone views your profile, or reads a board that you've posted to, their web-browser grabs that image directly from the original website. This in turn uses some of that site's bandwidth. Most webmasters pay for an certain allotted amount of bandwidth; if their site uses more than that amount they have to pay more or their site will get shut down. What's the big deal, it's only one, small image! Here's the deal. That one, small image can drain a huge amount of bandwidth if it's posted to a popular message board. Besides, do you think you're the first person to find and like that image? Imagine if several hundred people hot-link to that one, small image. Now imagine that they've posted it to someplace like LiveJournal where some posts can get tens of thousands of hits a day. Not so insignificant. So please don't hot-link. It's inconsiderate and bad web-etiquette. Thank you, Larry Holdaway Webmaster http://www.bluestarfolly.com/ |