and to stress it once again: think twice, no trice before hotlinking an image of significant datasize, as you force anyone reading the thread to download it without any choice. If a file is really large, just link to it instead of hotlinking it. Maybe hotlink a clickable thumbnail version or something if you want everyone to get a preview. Of course, if the file size is small, it's less of a problem. Think of emoticons as an extreme example.

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To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.