Hotlinking of thumbnails banned
Posted on 6th June 2006, 11:33 by IBBoard
Although I'd previously allowed people to 'hotlink' thumbnails (that is linking to an image from another page not on this site) so that people can use it as an illustration to link to the actual download, I have now had to prohibit hotlinks on all images. This is due in part to a user called Phantron on the Oxegen forums who has used a thumbnail as an avatar and caused it to be displayed over 1,500 times in the first five days of June alone! Triskel of the GW Italy forums has also been hotlinking images and clocked up 10,000 blocked views in May, while Dawn of War Pro were hotlinking my Relic logo (which has since been moved from its unprotected location).
Using images of other people's work as an avatar/signature images/site images without asking permission or crediting it is bad enough, but to do it on my bandwidth is just plain theft.
