There have been several knit bloggers writing about blog etiquette lately. The latest hot topic has been hotlinking. This involves putting other bloggers’ photos on your blog, but linking to them from their server so it uses their bandwidth rather than yours. Expropriating someone else’s photos is at best unintentional theft, but linking to them on their server is bandwidth theft. This can cost unsuspecting bloggers lots of dollars, apparently.
Kerstin of At My Knits End describes this much more coherently than I can. Read her post from yesterday to find out more about this. She has links to several other websites that discuss this as well.
Now, I am not an expert knitter by any means. But my computer skills make my knitting look it was done by a master knitter. I have gone through my entire blog site, page by page, and I think I am innocent of most blog crimes (except maybe silly posts and dumb pictures). If any of you think you have been hotlinked by me, rest assured it was only because I am a computer idiot; let me know and I will fix it.
No knitting progress to report today; tomorrow is Friday for me…and it has cooled off here so knitting doesn’t seem like such a bizarre activity!
Hah, Lorette, I went through the same feelings of “Ohmygod, am I guilty of this?” I’m glad to see I’m in good company. And I’m not sayin’ nothin’ about that sweater that begins with A, either. Though I must admit that when I hear that someone else is having difficulty, it gives me a very, very sick and base pleasure. But I’m not sayin’ nothin’ MORE. 😉
I’m not a computer whiz either, but uploading images properly seemed pretty elementary when I was starting out. I had to ask another computer savvy woman just how in the world someone hotlinks because I had no idea. It’s amazing how one little hotlink can eat up the bandwidth. I was shocked after I figured it all out. But you’re not guilty so relax!
I’m hoping that if I’m inadvertently guilty, someone will clue me in (gently) and I’ll fix it immediately. But I don’t think that I am, if I’m understanding it correctly. I’m more confused by how you figure out if someone is hotlinking you and taking bandwidth. As if there aren’t enough things to worry about in this world!