I'm guilty of violating rule 8.
However, I disagree with 01101001's reporting of
possible violations, particularly if they may very well not be a violation at all. For example:
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Originally Posted by 01101001
I don't even know if this is an example of an invalid hotlinking. ... When I see such possible violations of the rules, I report them -- because such images can harm the forum and administrators.
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A car
can hurt other drivers or pedestrians. That doesn't mean that it
will. Before I'll report something, there must be credible evidence of harm being committed.
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And then a mod has to investigate.
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Why don't you investigate, first?
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And a mod almost always has to turn the inline image into a plain text link.
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If your accuracy rate is that high, then perhaps you're good at picking out the violators. I would hope that you rule out all legitimate use, first, before reporting it to a mod.
I see several rule violations each evening. I think my reporting frequency, however, is somewhere between 5 and 15 times per year. There just aren't that many issues that I can't handle with a gentle reminder PM or a couple of comments in the thread.
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If the poster owns the image, or got permission to use the image, and the hosting site is OK with its bandwidth being used for this purpose, then the image is fine I guess.
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Agreed.
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In that case though, the poster should leave some statement that such use of the image is OK. It's not clear here.
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You lost me here... If the poster is following forum rules, why should he leave anything? Just to satisfy your curiosity that it's "ok?" To avoid your reporting him??? Why would you put the burden of proof on them? I would argue the burden of proof be on the individual doing the reporting! Not the poster who is in compliance with the rules.
It's clear from the rules that hotlinking itself isn't the issue (as per the NASA or other public source comment), but the liklihood of causing additional bandwidth stress to someone else's resources, particularly if those resources are thin.
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Just to make it easier for you to remember to think: I promise whenever I see a questionable image, I'll report it. I always hover the cursor over every inline, non-attachment, image and examine the URL. If it's not from a public-type site, I do hit the alert button.
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I'm glad you're doing at least some cursory checking. I would hope, however, that your checking would be more thorough. There are tens of thousands of public sites which don't mind hotlinking in the least. Do you keep a whitelist of those? Do you reference it before reporting? Do you expect a mod to do that work, instead?
They're good, no doubt about it - but let's give them a break! If it's a flagrant violation of the rule, by all means, report it. But if it's merely suspect, I would encourage you to spend your time doing something more useful, such as contributing to the content of the board.
The rest of your guidance for users is good.