New AboveTopSecret.com Image Hotlinking Policy (updated again)

Originally posted by SimonGray
Out of Internet-politeness and common courtesy, this is a reason the new Image Hotlinking Policy has been created.

Just to be clear, I think that is only fair, but what about allowing clean-up on older posts? I'm afraid we have now butchered MANY threads whose power rested upon images....Think about many of the 911 threads... and the science ones... and some of the best material found in ATSNN...

all it takes is a mouse click. the images are still there, just in links, instead.

Simon thanks for the response.

If i pick you up correctly this is nothing to do with the bandwidth here on ATS being bogged down in any manner whatsover, this is related to Out of Internet-politeness and common courtesy to other sites.

If thats true i have never heard so much garbage in all my life, links are what makes the web.

Please rethink your decision, i think it will make the whole ats experience less attractive, it is also very harsh on posters who have taken a great deal of time and care to present their own material to us, only to be censored by ats.

My signature thingys are in Photobucket- are you saying i cant use those?

They are all hosted there.

Hit me- I'm stupid. You cant teach an old dog new tricks.

I'll need someone to hold my hand on this one.

No comprendo.

dgtempe, if you have the right to display the image in your signature change the [img ] taags to [ats ] tags.

Just on an interesting side note, bandwidth usage is the reason ATS became a victim of it's own success and went down on a few occasions in the past.

I have been contacted on numerous occasions by upset webmasters and representatives from websites about the very subject of hotlinked images on ATS causing problems for them.

I fully support this, and despite the fact it may disrupt older threads, this is a good thing.

I'm sure many mods will no doubt take it upon themselves to edit older threads where images were vital supporting evidence to written content. I will also endeavour to do so if necessary.

KL,

The right? I suppose so. So i could post my little smiley again or anything else as long as its hosted on the up and up and just change the beginning and end to [ats]???

Si?

Originally posted by The Links
Simon thanks for the response.

If i pick you up correctly this is nothing to do with the bandwidth here on ATS being bogged down in any manner whatsover, this is related to Out of Internet-politeness and common courtesy to other sites.

If thats true i have never heard so much garbage in all my life, links are what makes the web.

Excuse me!?!

Both myself and SkepticOverlord have been online since before the World Web Wide; external hotlinking can cause problems is most certainly not rubbish.

May I politely ask you to perhaps take some time to read about this type of issue. I'm positive Google would help you immensely...

DENY IGNORANCE

No question, the reason is sound....

Originally posted by SimonGray
I'm sure many mods will no doubt take it upon themselves to edit older threads where images were vital supporting evidence to written content. I will also endeavour to do so if necessary.

Can't authors of posts do the same? I recall this being done once in a particular forum on ATS when we had the dreaded ? = "'s problem after the server changes.

[edit on 22-4-2006 by loam]

dgtemp, copy the url below and paste it in your signature box. (remove spaces)

[ ats]http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y95/dgtem/scared0016.gif[ /ats]

Okay, everybody! Take a deep breath.

Repeat after me...

The pictures are still there. Just click on the link. Simple as that!

2 cents.

Mechanic 32, out.

Originally posted by dgtempe
KL,

The right? I suppose so. So i could post my little smiley again or anything else as long as its hosted on the up and up and just change the beginning and end to [ats]???

Si?

dgtempe,

Here is a snippet from Photobucket's Terms & Conditions:

From photobucket.com...

Purpose and Description of Services.

Photobucket.com provides users with the ability to host a variety of content, including but not limited to images and video for purposes electronic publishing and sharing for such uses as eBay and other auctions, classified advertising, online journals, blogs, message boards, personal websites, social networking, and online photo albums

They allow hotlinking on message boards, so you can use the [ATS] tag as you are allowed to use the stored image in this way.

This does not mean there can be no more images in ATS posts, it is simply a way of preventing hotlinking images to external websites.

If there is an image on another site that you want to show in your post, simply save it to your hard drive then upload it to Imageshack, Photobucket, or other image hosting services. Then you use the direct link code provided by the image host service, except change the tags to [ats][/ats] instead of [img][/img].

[edit on 2006-4-22 by wecomeinpeace]

I'll be sending out a U2U announcing this new issue, and we'll have a 7 day grace period where the restriction on post editting will be lifted so that members can review their older posts and modify the tags.

For images in your signatures, just use the new [ats] tag.

Thanks, SO.

This makes the transition to the new policy much easier....

Ok, thank you very much. I got it.

And thank you KL for all your help, as always.

I just wanted to say, as a serial hotlinker, that I was unaware of this problem, but on reflection, should not have been. It is, on one hand, a shame, and on the other no big deal. So, no problem.

OK, one more thought....

Could we default all images in past posts who are already hosted by the most common image hosting sites to the [ ATS ] tag?

Originally posted by SkepticOverlord
I'll be sending out a U2U announcing this new issue, and we'll have a 7 day grace period where the restriction on post editting will be lifted so that members can review their older posts and modify the tags.

He's got it covered here.

It would be a lot of work, either way.

If each member can take care of their own, it won't be as bad.

It looks to me, that "right click & save as" is the best bet, then just upload images from the member center.

Any questions fel free to u2u a mod.