Hotlinking & associated revenge

[DPS Computing]

Now I don't know about the rest of you but I absolutely despise hotlinking! My site has suffered with this problem for a long time and I usually just block the access to the image being hotlinked so that it won't display for them any more.

Unfortunately (for them) I'm was a bit grumpy this evening and decided to get creative with one long term pest that has been stealing from my website.

I sent one of these people (areyouakegger on RetroJunk.com) a nice message about 12 months ago which of course he ignored. Then I sent the website who hosted the forum (RetroJunk) a nice message about 6 months ago - that also ignored.

So finally I'd had enough!

I've now got a Hall of Shame on the DPS Computing website to list all these people that thieve bandwidth from my server - Hall Of Shame | DPS Computing. If the Sun can do it, so can I!!

I also redirected him to a little homemade image I was doing in an effort to calm me down . His e-mail signature on his posts is considerably different than it used to be lets say . You can take a look here ---> RJ | Areyouakegger is Gay. BTW, the topic is nothing to do with me - its just the first one that popped up for a search of areyouakegger . Just scroll to the posts of "areyouakegger". I guarantee you will be amused .

So has anyone got any opinions on the topic of hotlinking in general and my restorative justice? . I've not been too harsh have I? I mean both he and the site ignored me and have stolen hundreds if not thousands of mbs of bandwidth that wasn't theres to steal.

Poll added as well, feel free to vote .

[Ben Stones]

The image made me LOL. Creative David . Why did you not do it before?

Hotlinking is a major problem for a lot of webmasters...don't think there's a way to prevent it really, except what you did LOL .

And yes, I think your actions were fine...if he and the site ignored what can you do except try and prevent him stealing your bandwidth.

[Stan]

Hello David,

Sorry to hear about that and yes the action that you've taken was a good out of the box thinking. Image hotlinking has been a concern to most of the webmasters today, there are certain ways you can save this bandwidth theft. I suggest you to go through the following article that describes certain ways to avoid bandwidth theft : How to avoid Bandwidth Theft using Hotlink Protection ?

I hope that'd be helpful to you.

[DPS Computing]

The image made me LOL. Creative David . Why did you not do it before?

Hotlinking is a major problem for a lot of webmasters...don't think there's a way to prevent it really, except what you did LOL .

And yes, I think your actions were fine...if he and the site ignored what can you do except try and prevent him stealing your bandwidth.

Lol, I'm glad it gave you a laugh Ben . Haha, thanks, I do have my moments . I know, I guess I was trying to be a nice guy but I wasn't feeling great yesterday and was a little grumpy and really annoyed with people who think they can just do what they want and forget the consequences to everyone else. I'd been a nice guy and that got me no where, so hopefully this will deter this person from hotlinking and everyone else as well so that they don't end up becoming infamous on the DPS Computing Hall of Shame .

Yeah, I'm thinking my new strategy could be effective. The amount of time creating the image (this was about the 4th one I had done - the first was just saying bandwidth theif and giving my site advertising saying "I may be a bandwidth thief, but at least now I'm an advertising bandwidth thief!) and setting it up to display was quite a while - but I felt quite a great deal of satisfaction in the end .

Hello David,

Sorry to hear about that and yes the action that you've taken was a good out of the box thinking. Image hotlinking has been a concern to most of the webmasters today, there are certain ways you can save this bandwidth theft. I suggest you to go through the following article that describes certain ways to avoid bandwidth theft : How to avoid Bandwidth Theft using Hotlink Protection ?

I hope that'd be helpful to you.

Thanks Stan . Yes, it is a problem, and one which people tend to assume is OK until it comes to the time when someone is stealing their bandwidth!

Thanks for the link to the article - I've read it and it's really good - going to use the code to tweak my protection .

[Ben Stones]

Lol, I'm glad it gave you a laugh Ben . Haha, thanks, I do have my moments . I know, I guess I was trying to be a nice guy but I wasn't feeling great yesterday and was a little grumpy and really annoyed with people who think they can just do what they want and forget the consequences to everyone else. I'd been a nice guy and that got me no where, so hopefully this will deter this person from hotlinking and everyone else as well so that they don't end up becoming infamous on the DPS Computing Hall of Shame .

Yeah, I'm thinking my new strategy could be effective. The amount of time creating the image (this was about the 4th one I had done - the first was just saying bandwidth theif and giving my site advertising saying "I may be a bandwidth thief, but at least now I'm an advertising bandwidth thief!) and setting it up to display was quite a while - but I felt quite a great deal of satisfaction in the end .



Thanks Stan . Yes, it is a problem, and one which people tend to assume is OK until it comes to the time when someone is stealing their bandwidth!

Thanks for the link to the article - I've read it and it's really good - going to use the code to tweak my protection .

I might well check my site to see if other sites are hot linking...not thought to check as of now.

[DPS Computing]

I might well check my site to see if other sites are hot linking...not thought to check as of now.

I always take an interest in the logs regarding this. I might have another quick look now to see if anyone else is stealing my bandwidth .

[charlieluc]

The image made me LOL. Creative David . Why did you not do it before?

Hotlinking is a major problem for a lot of webmasters...don't think there's a way to prevent it really, except what you did LOL .

And yes, I think your actions were fine...if he and the site ignored what can you do except try and prevent him stealing your bandwidth.

HAHA yeah the image was great!