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RSSWhy Hotlinking Can Be Dangerous
A lot of you know what hotlinking is, but for those that don’t: hotlinking is the act of using images on your own site that are stored on someone else’s server. Generally the practice is frowned upon without linking back to the original site, because it wastes people’s bandwidth without sending them any traffic.
While I generally prefer a link back if someone is using images hosted here, I’m not adamant enough that I’d shut off hotlinking altogether. I generally don’t care if people leech off my bandwidth here and there, but when I find someone who is extensively hotlinking, instead of blocking them, I sometimes prank them with the old switcharoo.
Say for example, you are some N00b who enjoyed my Dimmu Burger icon so much that you not only hotlinked it, but you’re using it as your profile icon in a forum. That means every time you post something in the forum, it uses my bandwidth to show your profile. One of your normal forum posts might look like this:
Maybe it strikes me as funny that your profile lists your location as “Behind You…”, so I change the image on my site slightly just to see if you’re paying attention. Maybe your profile icon on all of your posts now looks something like this:
That way, even though you’re you’re sucking my bandwidth harder than your mother when the fleet is in town, I at least get a chuckle out of it.
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February 19th, 2008 at 9:52 am
That is just great!
I’m really surprised that he didn’t just download the image and upload it to some sort of internet file server or straight to the forum that he’s on. Most forums I’ve seen offer the ability to upload pictures.
But then again, had he done that, you wouldn’t have been able to give me a nice laugh in the morning.
February 19th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
I’ve done the switcheroo, but find it crazy tedious to keep up with every hotlinker and rename every legitimate file.
Cock eater, is funny though…
February 20th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
N0ia: I would’ve thought that it would be on someone else’s server too. There are plenty of copies out there, which I don’t bother with. Glad that N00b could give you a laugh.
Sarah: It is tedious, so I generally don’t bother. This one just stuck out like a sore thumb in my server logs. I laugh at “cock eater” almost as much as anything involving the word “douche”. I’m glad to be in good company.
February 22nd, 2008 at 7:19 am
This made me laugh out loud. Can you imagine the look on that person’s face the first time he saw that you “improved” his icon? Hilarious.
And you’re right about “douche.” Great word.
April 10th, 2011 at 10:50 pm
[...] Dyers.org: Why Hotlinking can be Dangerous. “A lot of you know what hotlinking is, but for those that don’t: hotlinking is the act of using images on your own site that are stored on someone else’s server. Generally the practice is frowned upon without linking back to the original site, because it wastes people’s bandwidth without sending them any traffic.” [...]