Avatars

[Hypnos]

Bondi wrote: It has been brought to our attention that some of the forum members have been hotlinking graphics directly from other people's servers and using them as their avatars. This is very bad, and it is illegal. Now, obviously, we cannot monitor everyone's avatar; however, we ask that you please do not directly link the image from someone else's site. This is an illegal practice and could potentially get this forum into a lot of trouble. If you hotlink a graphic from someone else's site and they complain to us about it, we're going to have to take down your avatar from your profile; we simply have no choice in the matter. I post this because I'm sure that some people probably don't know that there is anything wrong with linking directly to images on other people's servers, but there is something wrong. This article will explain why it is bad and what can happen to you if you do it.

Alternatives would be loading your images at a graphics hosting site such as Photo Bucket. You can also upload the image directly to this server when editing your profile.

Finally, if you MUST link directly to a picture on someone else's site (something you probably shouldn't have to do), at least get their permission and make sure that they are okay with it beforehand; that way we can avoid problems. Thank you.

I personally added: If you hotlink it is YOU who will get in trouble. As forum staff we will help authorities with any information we can provide to help them track you down. It won't be our necks on the line!