Tuesday, December 3, 2002
If You're a Webmaster, Read This
Posted by Jason Dunn in "OFF-TOPIC" @ 06:10 PM
Since we've been going through server hell lately, I started looking into the details of how the server is being used, where the traffic is coming from, etc. One of the things I noticed is that there are certain Web sites out there who have been linking directly to images off our server - and not linking to our stories either. I want to give them a chance to remove the links before I do anything further (like name them publicly - or worse :twisted:), but on Sunday alone this site accessed two JPEG photos we have on our server 10,000+ times in total. That's just one day, and it went even higher on Monday. :?
There are a few dozen smaller sites that also link to our images, but the accesses are all under 100 hits per day so it's not a large burden on our server, and most link back to us in some way (though not all). Most of the larger sites that do this link to our images or photos, and write their own text.
I admit it - when I first started Pocket PC Thoughts, I did the same thing fairly often with software & hardware. It was easier and faster for me to link to someone else's image, and I figured "Hey, I'm a small site, they won't notice right?". As the site grew in popularity, and I was faced with increasingly high bandwidth and hosting bills, I quickly realized that it was irresponsible for me to link directly to images on smaller sites. By linking to their images, even if we were linking to their stories or articles, we were potentially putting them in a bad position due to bandwidth draws.
Today we copy images over to our server 99% of the time - the exception would be screen shots from Handango Pocket PC applications or the occasional photo from a CNET article. We're not perfect, but we try to avoid linking whenever possible.
If you're a Webmaster, take a hard look at your linking policy - even if you think you're causing no harm, you just might be.
There are a few dozen smaller sites that also link to our images, but the accesses are all under 100 hits per day so it's not a large burden on our server, and most link back to us in some way (though not all). Most of the larger sites that do this link to our images or photos, and write their own text.
I admit it - when I first started Pocket PC Thoughts, I did the same thing fairly often with software & hardware. It was easier and faster for me to link to someone else's image, and I figured "Hey, I'm a small site, they won't notice right?". As the site grew in popularity, and I was faced with increasingly high bandwidth and hosting bills, I quickly realized that it was irresponsible for me to link directly to images on smaller sites. By linking to their images, even if we were linking to their stories or articles, we were potentially putting them in a bad position due to bandwidth draws.
Today we copy images over to our server 99% of the time - the exception would be screen shots from Handango Pocket PC applications or the occasional photo from a CNET article. We're not perfect, but we try to avoid linking whenever possible.
If you're a Webmaster, take a hard look at your linking policy - even if you think you're causing no harm, you just might be.
