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Please do NOT link directly to the images on this site (also called 'hot linking').
Doing so is bandwidth theft!
I also ask that people send MY URL to friends, don't send the actual graphics web page.
That would also use my bandwidth to display the web page in their email program.
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DO:
Download/save the graphics to your computer and upload to your server, as you did for your HTML pages.
Right click (PC) or Click + Hold (Mac) over the image you want, and choose "save graphic as ..." to a file folder on your
computer.
WebTV users, use the Transloader!
(Note: different systems will use different words, your menu choice might be: "save graphic as ..." or "save image as ..."
or "save background as ..." or "download image to disk...", you need to know your system)
DON'T:
this means you must NOT put the code IMG SRC="http://www.jalena1989.tripod.com/Glitternames/imagename.gif"
or anything similar in your HTML coding to display images that are located on MY server on YOUR web page, or in your emails,
or on your bulletin boards.
By doing so, you are a bandwidth thief and deserve any consequences you receive.
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If you think I am being unreasonable in this request,
I hope your neighbor hooks up their hose to YOUR faucet to fill their in-ground swimming pool;
or I hope they hook an extension cord to YOUR socket to power their lights;
And YOU get stuck with the bill for all that water or electricity. THAT is what direct linking, hot linking, (which is bandwidth
theft) is equivalent to!
You have NO idea how many great sites have disappeared the past few years because they couldn't afford the bandwidth cost
when people would not respect their request to NOT direct link to graphics, music files, etc.
Consequences:
When I find graphics being pulled by a different server :
(meaning: displayed on another HTML page or in email, or on a bulletin board, etc.)
I will change the URL of the graphic to make a different image appear on your page where you have my graphic so that a different
picture shows up for you.
I can do ANYthing to the images on MY server that I want to. Since the graphic is under my control, I can replace and rename
graphics at any time. I don't think so. This is what you are asking for when you direct link to images on my server (or ANYONE's
server) instead of saving them to your computer and uploading to your OWN webspace. Or WebTV users not using the transloader
to move the images from my web server space to your own.
I WILL complain to your web host, WebTV server, or email server about bandwidth theft, which WILL get your pages/site/service/bulletin
board deleted by the server.
You can get free server space at many places. including www.geocities.com and www.tripod.com so there is NO reason for you
to direct link. www.photobucket.com is also a VERY good site for this.
Bandwidth theft is against the law. ALL webpage hosts , email servers and WebTV servers, free or paid-for ones, have 'terms
of service' and theft is covered there.
No web page server, email server, or WebTV server is going to want to have criminal charges, or a civil suit for $$ compensation
by me (or someone else), to repay the bandwidth that was stolen, plus court cost, plus lawyer costs, plus the added amount
for "time, pain and suffering" it has caused me because I have to rename image names and directories. No, they will delete
your account or discontinue your service first!
F.A.Q. about bandwith....
So what is Bandwidth?
Simply stated, Bandwidth is the 'traffic' flowing in and out of a website. A simple analogy is to think of the traffic on
a website as being like regular vehicular traffic. For example, say you have a two lane road. Traffic flows in on one side
and out on the other. Everything is fine as long as there is not too much traffic, but when the amount of traffic increases,
you start to get jams, bottlenecks and blockages. If that happens you either need to redirect traffic on another road or,
increase your existing road to say four lanes. The same is true of website traffic, if you get too much on a site, you either
need to redirect it, by splitting the pages between two or more servers, or increase your amount of Bandwidth.
What is Bandwidth Theft?
Bandwidth theft is when someone direct links or, 'hotlinks' to an image/file on your server instead of downloading the image/file
from your site and uploading it to their server.
This means that when someone accesses their site/page the image/file is being loaded from your server not theirs. Ie, they
are 'stealing bandwidth' or 'hotlinking' from my server, instead of copying the image/file to a disk etc and uploading it
to their own server, which is the proper way to use images/files that are offered for use by other sites.
Why is it Called 'Stealing Bandwidth' when you Direct Link?
It is called 'Theft' because you are using something that someone else is paying for. Most websites, especially the larger
sites with more image/file offerings have to pay for their hosting services. The fees are often charged according to much
bandwidth they use, and if many people are direct linking to the images/files on their site they use a lot more bandwidth,
and consequently it costs them more money for their site. For free sites, it causes the owner of the site to not be able to
add as many photo's or information as they want, because on free sites you have a limited amount of bandwidth. This often
causes people with free sites to stop updating or just totally delete the site.
Why do People Steal Bandwidth?
In some cases, it is simply due to ignorance. Sometimes people just do not know how to copy and upload files to their own
sites or are unaware of the fact that direct linking to files on another server is wrong. If you don't know how to copy and
upload images properly, you can find information about it on my How Do I page, Here.
In most cases however, the person doing it is well aware that it is wrong, and they do it because they just don't want to
have to pay for their webspace.
What are the Consequences of Stealing Bandwidth?
If you get caught, and eventually you will, one of several things may happen:
1.) The first thing that may happen is the person you stole the image/file from may delete or rename the image/file on their
server and you will end up with a broken link/image on your site.
2.) The second thing that may happen is the person you stole the image/file from may replace the image with a notice/banner
of some kind that tells your visitors that you are a bandwidth thief.
3.) The third and most frightening consequence is you may be prosecuted for the theft. Yes, bandwidth theft is an illegal,
prosecutable offence. And don't think that because your website is anonymous, or does not include any E mail or other links
to you that you won't be found.
How do I Know if someone is Stealing Bandwidth From Me?
If you suspect you may have someone or several someones, direct linking to your graphics, here's a way to find out who they
are and where they are located. Go to the AltaVista Search engine and type: image:www.yoursiteaddress.com in the search box.
It will give you the information you need to find them, however, it only tells you about sites that are listed in the AltaVista
database. For other ways to defend yourself, contact your website administrator and ask if they have the Apache Web Server
"Mod Rewrite" module installed on their servers. This module will prevent other sites from direct linking to your images and
stealing your bandwidth.
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