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Small change to Code of Conduct


Tangerine
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Another rule has been added to section 5 of the Code of Conduct for the sake of discouraging hotlinking.

6. No hotlinking under any circumstances.

Users in the past have ended up posting inappropriate images because of this and I was surprised to see there was no rule against it. I decided to make this announcement in order to let users know of the change and to explain exactly what it is and what they're doing when they hotlink. An article on altlab explains it best.

http://altlab.com/hotlinking.html

Bandwidth theft or "hotlinking" is direct linking to a web site's files (images, video, etc.). An example would be using an <img> tag to display a JPEG image you found on someone else's web page so it will appear on your own site, eBay auction listing, weblog, forum message post, etc.

Bandwidth refers to the amount of data transferred from a web site to a user's computer. When you view a web page, you are using that site's bandwidth to display the files. Since web hosts charge based on the amount of data transferred, bandwidth is an issue. If a site is over its monthly bandwidth, it's billed for the extra data or taken offline.

A simple analogy for bandwidth theft: Imagine a random stranger plugging into your electrical outlets, using your electricity without your consent, and you paying for it.

There are several websites you can use in order to avoid this issue. Upload whatever image you want to post through a free image hosting website, such as

imageshack.us

imgur.com

tinypic.com

Thanks for reading.

Edited by Tangerine
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Or gyazo.com.

With that you can take immediate screenshots (you highlight the area you want a screenshot of) and it gets uploaded within seconds. Copy/paste the URL and there's your image. Much easier and faster than having to copy/save/upload things to an image hosting site.

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Is direct-linking from a site such as Tumblr or deviantArt covered by this? (Neither are image-hosting sites per se, but they are clearly designed to host content that gets a lot of hits.)

Basically this is me testing the boundaries of how much of a lazy butt I can be when posting art (and also trying to dodge the image size limits that Photobucket and tinypic impose, because when they resize an image I upload it always turns out looking like shit.)

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Good information, Tangerine...

But seriously, directly posting a work of art, like an image, that belongs to someone else, without their consent? If anyone commits such an action, they could be also be punished under copyright law...

...and FYI, copyright law violations are a major crime almost everywhere. You could face an intelligence services investigation, go to jail for 5 years, fined a fortieth of a million dollars, and a mark on your criminal record, all for committing the violation, if you get caught doing so...

^Source of above facts

^ Since this is a fire emblem site, playing the games on the emulator won't get you in trouble from you guys, but if you try it, the gamer is responsible for making sure that doing so isn't against the law of the entire region of residence, but when it comes to other things that infringe on other people without their say-so, that should result in a 2 week ban, and if the cyber police catches the offender, the offender's ban should be upgraded to a permanent ban, just so we don't look biased against the cyber police...

Edited by shadowjam
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As far as I know, nobody here is making any money off of their art. Ergo, even if there was an infringement, there's no damages, which means no investigation, which means no charges. The intellectual copyright laws are incredibly vague anyhow; with this community in particular there's nothing to be gained or lost just because you never gave direct permission for something to get posted. There's really no reason to be banning people just for posting someone else's spritework or art if due credit is given.

Now, if someone posts someone else's art and claims it as their own, that's another issue entirely. Copyright aside (there's no case to be made, as I've demonstrated above), that's robbing the original artist's time and work (not to mention credit), which falls under the category of plagiarism, which is against the rules.

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Is direct-linking from a site such as Tumblr or deviantArt covered by this? (Neither are image-hosting sites per se, but they are clearly designed to host content that gets a lot of hits.)

I would like to know this too.

And what if we're copying images from the main site. Does that count as warnable?

Edited by Komatsu
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I'll get back to you guys on the deviantArt and tumblr questions. Just look out for a post in this thread within the next couple days. Chances are they'll be acceptable, at least from within your own account.

Edited by Tangerine
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  • 2 weeks later...

Still waiting. The only thread on their forum I could find about hotlinking policy was from 2010, so I had the staff contacted and am just waiting to see what's up.

Edited by Tangerine
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So, when I post a picture on photobucket (like for weapon icons), and copy the image tag so it appears directly in my posts here, that is not allowed anymore? How about copying the link from youtube so a video appears directly in my posts, is that not allowed either?

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So, when I post a picture on photobucket (like for weapon icons), and copy the image tag so it appears directly in my posts here, that is not allowed anymore? How about copying the link from youtube so a video appears directly in my posts, is that not allowed either?

Photobucket is an image hosting site so you can post images from there. Youtube should also be allowed, I believe.

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So, when I post a picture on photobucket (like for weapon icons), and copy the image tag so it appears directly in my posts here, that is not allowed anymore?

No, posting images from sites like Photobucket is allowed, although it would be wise to avoid linking from a Photobucket account you don't own.

How about copying the link from youtube so a video appears directly in my posts, is that not allowed either?

No, that's still allowed.

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[18:28:34] Grainne correct me if I'm wrong but my understanding of hotlinking is basically you are taking the bandwidth of an image/video/whatever without giving the hosting site a hit

[18:28:37] that seems simple enough

HERE. If it fits this definition it is hotlinking. If it is an image YOU uploaded to a website that exists solely to upload stuff to (ex: imgur, youtube) "hotlink" away, that's literally the entire reason those websites exist. As for the main site? Just shut up and rehost it regardless of whether you're allowed to or not you lazy fucks holy shit it doesn't take that much effort.

What a hive of scum and villainy

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