MSN Home  |  My MSN  |  Hotmail
Sign in to Windows Live ID Web Search:   
go to MSNGroups 
Free Forum Hosting
 
Important Announcement Important Announcement
The MSN Groups service will close in February 2009. You can move your group to Multiply, MSN’s partner for online groups. Learn More
Un-Closeted Skeletons[email protected] 
  
What's New
  
  Welcome to U-CS  
  Introduction  
  Welcome New Members  
  NEW MEMBERS  
  The RULES  
  ABOUT MEMBERS  
  About Members  
  Bandwidth and Hotlinking  
  LOOKUPS  
  LOOK UPS  
  Poetry  
  Message Boards  
  GENERAL  
  General  
  Poetry  
  Computer Help  
  Computer Help  
  Computer Tips  
  Poetry  
  Genealogy Misc  
  Abbreviations on Census Returns  
  Archaic Medical  
  Census Dates  
  Genealogy Products  
  Genealogy Sites  
  IRISH & SCOTTISH Naming Pattern  
  Newspapers  
  Occupations  
  Old Handwriting  
  Post Office Directories  
  Relationship Chart  
  Poetry  
  LINKS - AUSTRALIAN  
  Australia  
  ACT  
  NSW  
  NT  
  QLD  
  SA  
  TAS  
  VIC  
  WA  
  LINKS - OVERSEAS  
  Canada  
  Denmark  
  Finland  
  France  
  Germany  
  Greece  
  India  
  Ireland  
  Italy  
  Netherlands  
  New Zealand  
  Norway  
  United Kingdom  
  Poland  
  South Africa  
  Scotland  
  United Kingdom  
  USA  
  Worldwide  
  Poetry  
  AUSTRALIAN Cemeteries  
  ACT Cemeteries  
  NSW Cemeteries  
  NT Cemeteries  
  QLD Cemeteries  
  SA Cemeteries  
  TAS Cemeteries  
  VIC Cemeteries  
  WA Cemeteries  
  MILITARY Records  
  Military  
  LINKS - GENEALOGY  
  Gene Sites  
  Poetry  
  SHIPPING  
  Shipping  
  Member Resources  
  Members SURNAMES & TREES  
  SURNAMES  
  Links to members family tree  
  Poetry  
  SUCCESS STORIES  
  Success Stories  
  SOCIAL PAGES  
  Social pages  
  Poetry  
  SAVING IN TOUGH TIMES  
  In Tough Times  
  Poetry  
  MEMBER'S ALBUMS  
  PAGE DESIGNERS  
  POETRY  
  Wounded UCS  
  Poetry  
  Tribute to ENFORCER99'S MUM  
  Tribute to BLEGGY'S MUM  
  In Loving Memory  
  With Love  
  A M Hayden  
  Caryll Ann BENNETT  
  Tribute to Enforcer's Mum  
  R V DAVIS  
  Pauline Jane "Paulie" BAUER  
  C E Drake  
  Remembering 50 Years  
  Norma  
  Poetry  
  Skelly's Hand of Friendship Links  
  Our Site Banners  
  ANZAC DAY  
  Anzac messages  
  MAILBOXES  
  SKULL TEASERS  
  Skull Teasers  
  UCS Anniversary  
  
  
  Tools  
 

 

Hotlinking and Bandwidth Theft Explained

Bandwidth refers to the amount of data transferred from a web site to a user's computer. When you view a web page, you are using that site's bandwidth to display the files. Since web hosts charge based on the amount of data transferred, bandwidth is an issue. If a site is over its monthly bandwidth, it's billed for the extra data or taken offline.
 
Laymans terms:
Copying and pasting ANY graphic from ANY site other than your own is hotlinking/bandwidth theft unless you have permission from the creator to do so.
 
When you copy n paste someone's images you are using up their bandwidth...this means you are possibly causing them money if they pay for their hosting accounts. If their bandwidth is exceeded, not only will they have to pay more for their images to show up in the future---but you will start seeing red x's or "image not found" messages where ever you have copied n pasted the tags.
 
What can happen to you if you hotlink?? Most websites do NOT allow hotlinking (again they are paying for that space) and there's no telling what kind of email you will get or any thing else that they might try to do to you. But in the case of tags and such...If I knew someone was intentionally hotlinking my images, I would delete the image they hotlinked--put a new image with the exact same file name with a nasty message..that way everywhere they copied n pasted my tags--they would see that message and NOT the tag they planned on. Is that nasty? yea, but if you were expecting a "Welcome" tag and instead got a "Kiss My Butt" tag, you would think twice about doing it again, right?
 
Hotlinking and bandwidth theft is NEVER the right thing to do...NEVER. If you see an image on a site that you want, first of all make sure the site is giving you permission to snag the images--and secondly save it to your computer and upload it via your MSN photo album, Photobucket, or whichever hoster you use. If you are not going to take the time to read web site rules, then you really should not be snagging in the first place.
 
How can you tell if an image has been hotlinked??
You can right click on any image and hit Properties..that gives you the HTTP addy of where the image is hosted. For example it would look like
I can tell thats hotlinked because it clearly states BAMAVAMP1155 in the http addy, thus it is hotlinking and using up my bandwidth.
 
In the case of MSN photos  that are shared, its a little trickier to tell if its been copied n pasted, but same thing applies, right click, properties and if the image ends in the same letters/numbers as the original image--then its been hotlinked. Although MSN doesnt keep up with bandwidth and has no rules about hotlinking, if you do copy n paste someone elses tags/images your liable to end up with Red X's when they delete those images from their msn space.
 
Think about it like this...if everyone in MSN groups snagged a tag, then copied n pasted it without saving to their own computer first, how many tags would actually show up as they were intended too?? Only those tags hosted on MSN more than likely.
 
Bandwidth theft is NEVER the right thing to do. Pass it on!

 

Web Page & Graphics by BamaVamp