This tutorial is to help those who:

- Don't know what hotlinking is.

- Don't understand why hotlinking is wrong, when asked not to.

- Don't know the consequences of being caught hotlinking.

- Don't know where they can find free image hosting.

- Want to know how to find out if their images are being hotlinked.

- Want to know what to do if they are being hotlinked.

- Want to know what to do if they've been hotlinking, and didn't realize it.

Many icon makers have problems with their icons being hotlinked, and unfortunately, I'm no exception. This can be a frustrating problem, since many icon makers, including myself, specifically request that their icons NOT be hotlinked, and for good reason.

    
What is hotlinking?
Hotlinking (also called: "direct linking", "remote linking", or "copy & paste") copying the URL address of an image/icon on someone else's journal or website, and pasting that URL address of that image/icon with image tags, into your journal entry or website so the image will show up. 

Uploading LJ user pics, or text links are not hotlinking. Hotlinking applies only to inserting an image (that is hosted by someone else) directly into your journal entry. Most sites post policies against hotlinking, because it costs the hotlinked site owner money.

How does hotlinking steal bandwidth? 
Images are hosted/stored on servers. Everytime a webpage is looked at, it has to "load".  The images on the webpage are "pulled" from the host/server. That is the action that uses "bandwidth".  Bandwidth is often paid by usage, and sometimes has limits on use. Theft of bandwidth can run up the bill for the site owner, or cause limits to be exceeded. Exceeded limits will cause the images to turn into red X's or "bandwidth exceeded banner" neither of which are attractive for site owners. 

A quick way to check and see if you have a hotlinked icon/image: Right click on the sample image below, and click "properties" on the popup menu, look at the "address (URL)". See how it shows that image file is located at my paid Photobucket album? If you check an image or icon you've posted into your journal entry, and the "address" is from a site or album that belongs to someone else, you are hotlinking and stealing from them. 

Don't think that because the image is being hosted on a "free" site (like Photobucket, Tinypic, Image Shack, etc.) that it's OK to hotlink, because it's not. It is still stealing. Free sites allow a certain amount of bandwidth per account, and hotlinking makes that account reach it's limit sooner. Once the free limit is reached, all images are blocked, becoming red X's or "bandwidth exceeded" banners. So take the time to get your own free account to host your images!


Visual examples:
The image below is hosted on my paid Photobucket account. If it were hosted at someone else's server or image hosting album, it would be "hotlinked", and it would be theft of that person's bandwidth.
 

Posting text links is not "hotlinking". Text links are only directing people to look at an image or website at the site it is orignally hosted at, such as this example:  Go look at this image.


How do I use images/icons I like without hotlinking?
You right click on the image/icon you want, and select "save picture as" on the drop down menu, and save it to your own computer. This will save the image/icon to your computer/hard-drive, then you can open a account at a easy to use and free image host, like  Photobucket. Once you have set up your own account, you can then upload the saved icons to it, for posting in your journal or site. If you are doing this you are not hotlinking, however, make certain to properly credit the icons you use, if asked to. Click here for tips & instructions for crediting icons.

Why is hotlinking wrong?
One reason is that many people use image hosting, and bandwidth that is paid for. Hotlinking to their images, when they don't give permission, is stealing. Imagine a person's journal/website is a house that is paying for electricity (bandwidth). A hotlinker is basically attaching an extension cord, to steal the electricity (bandwidth) they aren't paying for. Meanwhile the electrical (bandwidth) meter is clocking more and more use, often costing the site owner more money.  I, like most site owners, don't mind paying to have the electricity (bandwidth) that I am using, but it gets really annoying to pay for electricity (bandwidth) that is being eaten up at a site/journal that doesn't even belong to me, and doesn't benefit me in any way.
Another reason is that many free image hosting sites have bandwidth limits. The unfortunate result of exceeding that limit is broken images. Broken images are never pretty. They are either those ugly little red X's, or dreaded "bandwidth exceeded" banners. Imagine how frustrating it is for an icon maker to post icons for sharing, only to have the bandwidth exceeded due to hotlinking. Red X's aren't much fun to see, and certainly no fun for people hoping to snag icons.
The good news is, that hotlinking to other's people's images is completely unnecessary, since there are many free image hosting sites available that are very easy to use. I've listed a few of these sites at the bottom of this post.

What are some of the consequences of being caught hotlinking?
- Hotlinkers are universally considered thieves in internet & journal communites, and incidents of hotlinking are often aggressively pursued.

- Hotlinkers are often reported to service providers, journal/blog/website hosts. These hosts may revoke their privileges, or ban them.

- Hotlinkers may have their names/journals/websites posted in forums and communites to expose them.

- Hotlinkers may get unpleasant comments or emails regarding their stolen images.

- Hotlinkers may find that their hotlinked image or icon is suddenly changed to an embarrassing image or message, or removed entirely. This can happen because the owner of the album or hosting site has total control over their images, and can change or remove them at will.

It is much safer and simpler to set up your own image hosting for free, have control over your own images, and be able to post them without guilt or reaping one or more of the above consequences.


How do I found out if my images are being hotlinked?
1. A good tip is to save your icon files with your user name in them, OR host them at photobucket or another site that you can put your user name as the account or album. That will insure that every hotlinked image will have your user name somewhere in the URL address.

2. Internet search engines are a quick and easy way to find out if your images are being hotlinked. If you've managed to have your user name as part of the URL of your icons, you simply have to do searches for your user name. LJSeek is a great way to check LiveJournal for hotlinkers. Xanga Search is good for checking Xanga. Often these searches will lead you directly to a site or journal where your icons are being hotlinked.

3. You can also join anti-hotlinking communities, like hotlinkers, where known hotlinkers are reported with links to their sites. Not only can you then browse the reported sites for your own images, you can find information in the community on how to deal with hotlinkers, and help stop them.

4. You can add a site tracker to your icon posts or site. Then you can see what sites are showing high referrals. That could be an indication that your icons are hotlinked at those places. There are many free site tracker websites out there. Go and Google, you'll see.

What can I do if my icons are being hotlinked?
1. Trying sending a courteous email or comment to the person asking if they will remove your icons from their site, and stop hotlinking in the future. Try not to be confrontational, even if you are upset. Give people the benefit of the doubt. Some people honestly don't realize they are doing anything wrong, and will correct the situation once they are notified. 
If you've asked nicely to have your hotlinked icons removed, and have been ignored - or worse yet - treated rudely in return, don't worry, there are other actions you can take. Unfortunately, there are some people that know hotlinking is wrong, and do it anyway. There are those that have no conscience about stealing from others. These next suggestions are helpful against these types of unrepentant hotlinkers. 

2. Report hotlinkers to their site. Most sites have policies against hotlinking. Xanga has a Hotlinking Violation Report Form that you can fill out on their users.

3. Move your icons to break the links. This will cause all the hotlinked icons on their site to turn into those ugly little red X's or your image host's "no image" banners. Not attractive at all.

4. Get creative with image switching. What hotlinkers often don't realize is that you, the victim, have complete control over what image will show up on their site. You can easily make embarrassing images, banners, or messages, to replace the icon file. I've seen panicked hotlinkers completely close their site when graphic pornographic images showed up in place of their hotlinked icons, thanks to a creatively vengeful icon maker. If you choose to go the pornographic switch-out route, you have the extra bonus of causing the hotlinker to violate most Terms Of Service policies by having visually graphic images on their site. I personally use a very large banner to advertise the evils of hotlinking. Image switching is easy, simply make a "anti theft" image and name it the exact name as the hotlinked icon, then delete the original icon, and upload the new "anti theft" image. Anyone who has that file hotlinked will get the "anti theft" image in it's place. Of course, if you've posted that icon somewhere, you'll have to go back and upload the original icon with a slightly changed filename, and update the file name in your post or you'll have the anti theft image there too.

5. Join a community (like hotlinkers) or a forum where hotlinkers are reported, and give the other members the links to the offending sites. Having a flock of annoyed hotlinked victims descend upon a hotlinker's site can be very effective in convincing them it just isn't worth it.

6. Another idea is to put your user name and/or small watermark on every icon you make for sharing. I'm currently tagging all the icons with my user name as a last resort against icon theft. It's the easiest way for people to see that you've made the icon, and may deter those that won't credit, and tend to hotlink icons. It's the digital version of cattle branding...they slap one of my "branded" icons somewhere without crediting, then the whole world knows they didn't do the work. Plus, it makes it really easy for other people to spot your hotlinked icons and give you a heads up. We've got some really good people in these online communites, that believe in looking out for one another.

I've been hotlinking and didn't realize it. What do I do now?
If you've been contacted by someone complaining that you've hotlinked their images, and/or have been requested to remove them, it's best respond in a courteous, apologetic manner, and remove all hotlinked images asap. The worst thing you can do is to have an attitude, or be flippant. If you're a hotlinker, and you've been confronted about it rudely, try to remember that the person that is being hotlinked is being stolen from and is often upset, rightly so. It would be better if they could still be courteous, but try to understand where they are coming from. Responding to them disrespectfully will most likely escalate the confrontation. Hotlinkers are frowned upon by the internet community in general, and if a conflict arises, I can almost guarantee as a hotlinker, you will be woefully outnumbered. Once again, being courteous and removing the hotlinked images quickly is the best way to avoid further issues. If you're hotlinking, and you've not been "caught" yet, be glad, and remove all hotlinked images immediately. If  you don't, sooner or later, someone will notice the theft.

I've made every effort to explain, in this post, why I don't want my icons hotlinked. If there is something you still don't understand after reading this tutorial, please ask, I'll be glad to help. If you disagree with my reasons, that's fine too, but please don't leave snide comments, or try to play "devils advocate" here. There is no reason to debate long standing polices on standard internet etiquette that should be common knowledge to anyone using images on the web. Discourteous comments will be deleted, so please don't bother.

A few links with more information on hotlinking:

How Wide Is The Band?

Altlab Hotlinking Info

Random Terrain Web Design Hotlinking Info


Where Can I Find Free Image Hosting?

Photobucket
Provides free image hosting for MySpace, eBay, journals, blogs, message boards, and online photo albums. Photobucket is reliable, fast and very simple to use. Give it a try!

Image Knock Out
A FREE image host that hosts your files for FREE! We offer fast image hosting for anything from small images/photos to full flash movies. Our mission is to provide an easy-to-use image hosting service for everyone’s image hosting needs.
Host your images here as a quick, reliable image hosting solution.

Pics Hosted
Picshosted is a FREE services which allows you to easily upload and share your images with everyone, anytime. Create custom albums and slideshows to share with a single click of a button. All image file types are supported
including .zip files. Upload your images and start sharing today!

Pic Pile
PicPile is the premiere FREE image host. You may upload as many pictures as you want. Registration is NOT required to use our service, however registering will allow you to create picture galleries, upload many pictures at once, share pictures with friends and win prizes in our monthly contests.

For a step by step tutorial, click the link below.

(Tutorial - Why Hotlinking Is Wrong)

To help stop hotlinking, ciley created a community, hotlinkers, to report journals & websites that are known to hotlink. Please join our community, spread the word, and help stop hotlinkers.

Click here for information & a tutorial on How To Credit Icons.

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Tags: fyi, hotlinking, icons, tutorials