| Q. | Why can't I view the photos on your site? |
| A. | I have received a few e-mails from people using Norton Internet Security or similar program saying that they cannot see the images on my site
(they're getting boxes with red Xs in them). The vast majority of visitors do not to have this problem.
I did do some research into this matter and have narrowed it down to a simple file that I use in my directories to prevent other sites from hot linking my images.(more on why I have to do this below.)
This file is called an .htaccess file. It simply ensures that in order to view the images, you have to be on my site - www.un-der-wear.com. This doesn't prevent anyone from downloading the image, just from hotlinking the image.
Apparently, those of you who use Norton or some other types of firewall software will have problems seeing the images if it is not configured to allow referrer information to be received by this site.
The way .htaccess works is by reading the referrer information and comparing it to a list of acceptable referrers. If the referrer does not match the list, or is not present, access to the specific directory is blocked.
In this case, my images directory has an .htaccess file in it, and if the referrer cannot be read, even if it is from my own site, the images directory will be denied access.
I can assure you, USG-online.com and Un-der-wear.com do not collect browser information of any kind so it is safe to allow your referrer information to be sent to us. This can be achieved in one of two ways:
- Temporarily disable your internet security program or firewall, although this is not recommended as you may forget to turn it back on.<
- Add usg-online.com and un-der-wear.com to your ‘trusted’ sites list. Specific instructions to do this with Norton Internet Security are here. All other program, you will have to read the instruction manual and figure out how to do this yourself.
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| Q. | Why do you even need to prevent hot linking? |
| A. | Both this site www.un-der-wear.com and www.usg-online.com are free sites. They are a labor of love and I don't make money off of them. I spend my own money every month to keep them running and to keep them updated with photos. The cost of running these sites isn't cheap - here's the breakdown
Hosting the sites is $200/month.
Licensed photosets range from $30 to $80.
Exclusive photosets cost around $600 (for the photographer and the model)
The Bulletin board software is around $250.
Don't get me wrong, I love creating and managing these sites and don't mind minimal costs BUT...
There are some sites who link to my photos (specifically a number of japanese sites) - That is, my photos will appear on their sites. My site does not get so much as a credit or a thank you from them. Their users get all the pictures, and I end up eating the bandwidth incurred by their users viewing the pictures. If the bandwidth gets to high, I have to pay even more than the $200 each month to have the sites hosted. It's basically theft and the only way I can prevent this is by having the .htaccess file on my site.
I want everyone to enjoy the site, so please take a moment to try to configure your firewall or internet security software to work with my site and we'll all be happy.
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