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OD Member Hot Linking

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  1. Sean
    Founding Member

    It has come to my attention from members and also looking at our server logs that a handful of users are hot linking images/screen shots and design download links from OpenDesigns.org meaning they are offering the designs for download on their site, using our screen shots and referencing the zip files from our server. un-cool. I won't mention at this time who the users are but you need to stop effective immediately (you've also been emailed) as you are adding a ton of load to the server CPU usage and contributing to the site running slow the past week. The worse part, these users didn't even ask if it was ok to do this. Well it's not. This is not fair to any of us. Joe, Christopher and I have donated hundreds and thousands of hours in time and energy into the site. I donated the hosting. Our moderators are doing a great job but... We are not getting donations much anymore, so any and all expenses at this point when it requires out of pocket money (not time) comes from me personally. Again this isn't fair to me or the community. Remember, this is a community site. Time for people to step up and do what they can to help. Just to give you some stats, in the past 24 hours alone, we've had over 100GB of traffic just from hot linking. That's huge. This has been going on for at least a week from looking at the logs. Anyway, thank you to the people who are supporting the site and members in a positive way.
    Posted 3 years ago #

  2. SunRise
    Member

    I am on your side sean ... and I want to thank you for all the work you have put into this project.:neutral:
    Posted 3 years ago #

  3. arwen54
    Member

    Just to reinforce what Sean is talking go to this URL: What is Hotlinking? Bandwidth theft? So if you want to have images from another site on your site including affiliate banners etc, download the images and put them on your own server. If you want to protect yourself from bandwidth thieves..it's fairly easy to configure your .htaccess file or if you have hosting that includes a cPanel..just login to your cPanel and enable HotlInk Protection. Just remember to manually add URL's to exclude where you want your avatars to display.
    Posted 3 years ago #

  4. Christopher
    Moderator

    Just to re-inforce what all this means, in simple terms it means that you are fine to: But it is not allowed:
    • To directly link to the downloads [instead link to the design's preview]
    • To link directly to the designs screenshots [if you want to show a screenshot on your site then host it on your own server]
    Posted 3 years ago #

  5. kirby145
    Member

    Why can't you enable a hotlink blocker? There is one available for cpanelx and possibly others, please look into this program as it will be most useful for you.
    Posted 3 years ago #

  6. Christopher
    Moderator

    Hey Kirby, no program needed. Just a few lines in a .htaccess file is all it takes. We're just giving people some advanced warning that's its not allowed. If for example, we blocked hotlinking of the downloads, then you'd find that a lot of designers would not be happy we did this without warning (me included if I'm honest) as their visitors wouldn't be able to download their designs using the links provided by the designer... making them look bad etc. (make sense?)
    Posted 3 years ago #

  7. Ainslie
    Moderator

    I seem to think somebody asked about hot linking and they were told it was ok! That somebody has a huge following and I'm not surprised at the bandwidth used. It seems best to link to the demo page or even host the files yourself since this is a non-profit community site
    Posted 3 years ago #

  8. arwen54
    Member

    @group, edit: I'm repeating myself..doh! a little tip re Hotlink Protection in your cPanel: add "zip" to the list of file types to protect if you are offering template downloads from your own site. This will prevent people from hotlinking to the files and stealing your bandwidth.
    Posted 3 years ago #

  9. kirby145
    Member

    Hey Kirby, no program needed. Just a few lines in a .htaccess file is all it takes. We're just giving people some advanced warning that's its not allowed. If for example, we blocked hotlinking of the downloads, then you'd find that a lot of designers would not be happy we did this without warning (me included if I'm honest) as their visitors wouldn't be able to download their designs using the links provided by the designer... making them look bad etc. (make sense?)
    no!!! I am talking about Image hot link blocking. This can be done fairly.
    Posted 3 years ago #

  10. Sean
    Founding Member

    @ainslie: as the site grows we're needing to fine tune things like this but if people wish to hot link and other types of things which put a major load on the site resources, it sure would be nice if they donated a little funding to the site which is the reason I also linked to the donation thread in this post. The site and community does a lot for people, it's only right to help the site when you can with even a small donation. Every little bit helps. We've had donations for $2.00 USD and up to $50.00 USD in one shot. The amount doesn't matter, it's the thought behind it. As Christopher suggested, linking to your profile page or even the design preview is ok and would help.
    Posted 3 years ago #

  11. Mike Weiss
    Member

    Posted By: ainslieI seem to think somebody asked about hot linking and they were told it was ok! That somebody has a huge following and I'm not surprised at the bandwidth used. It seems best to link to the demo page or even host the files yourself since this is a non-profit community site
    Andreas definatly has to remove the direct download link, but he is doing everything else properly. I don't think anyone in that other thread really noiced the direct download link, I thought he was linking to the design peview page.
    Posted 3 years ago #

  12. Ainslie
    Moderator

    With hindsight, it is easy to say this now but, we probably should have had a hot linking rule right from the start. We started so quick I'm not sure we thought everything through. I of the opinion that hot linking shouldn't be allowed, especially by those that can afford the bandwidth themselves. I've linked to the theme demo but (off topic) I think there needs to be a link in the header frame back to the TODC homepage so we don't loose the visitor. @Sean, Yes donations would be good, was that a hint? :wink: I was under the impression that it was hosted on your server and we was kind of clear of problems for the first year at least. If bandwidth costs extra then we are going to need the donations or not get Dugg. Maybe we could do more to encourage the down-loaders to contribute rather than the contributors. Donate links on download pages? There seems to be plenty of web design businesses using our designs for their services. @Mike Weiss, well I didn't want to bring any names into it but he did ask and nobody said no. I've looked at the thread and yes, I think the hot linking issue was missed. So nobody actually said yes either. I am sure he isn't the only one and I think he will be horrified and sort the problem out quickly when he realises what affect it may be having. Edit: judging by the difficulty I am having getting around the site, it seems something needs to be done quickly!
    Posted 3 years ago #

  13. Sean
    Founding Member

    @ainslie: Yes I am hosting the site and it's on a dedicated machine, with 4 GB RAM, dual processors and 10,000 RPM hard drives. It's even load balanced but from time to time even the best and fastest machines can be taxed. In the past week, there has been over 700 GB of traffic to the site, most people don't do that in a years time. Joe and I are looking into some database caching and other improvements for the site to help with the server load. It's not so much about bandwidth, it's server load and the hot linking is a big part of that because of how much the database/processors are getting hit. As for hints on donations, I wasn't hinting, I flat out suggest people who can should donate. I'm personally tired of so many people expecting a free lunch so to speak. Having designers donate designs for download is great, having members active in the forum is great, having people promote the site is great but as it stands right now, the site does not generate any revenue except for any work a designer might get from being promoted on the site.
    Posted 3 years ago #

  14. Ecko
    Member

    Well, that explains why the site wont load at all sometimes...:neutral:
    Posted 3 years ago #

  15. Trin
    Member

    Sean said: "I'm personally tired of so many people expecting a free lunch so to speak." So basically if anyone who frequents this site doesn't donate within the first three months of it's existence, they're a freeloader. Nice...
    Posted 3 years ago #

  16. Ainslie
    Moderator

    @Trin, I don't think Sean is suggesting that. Don't take offence, it's just Sean being direct and straight to the point. There is more than enough free bakies to go round :bakie: @Sean, I'll donate, I'm quite happy to contribute. Do we need to pay for extra bandwidth now?
    Posted 3 years ago #

  17. Sean
    Founding Member

    @Trin: That's not what I mean at all. Yes, the site is only 3 months old but most of the designers and users are "old school" who moved over from oswd and owd, so me saying some people expect a free lunch, it's carry over from the other two sites, one of which (owd) I was the only person doing the design approvals and trying to keep the peace in the forum for the last 6 or so months before OD went up. The bottom line is people who complain that the site is slow or doesn't have this or that feature but don't do anything to contribute (designs, funding, etc) is who I'm talking about. Just in the past 48 hours I've received 50+ emails from people telling me to quit bitching about this sort of thing and to them I say why don't you host the site then see how you feel. I guaranty no free or low cost host could keep up with the traffic and resources OD has been hit with the past few weeks. If you or anyone feels they can donate free hosting that can handle 700 GB of traffic a day, speak up. I will gladly step down from the hosting if that's what is decided for the best of the site and community.
    Posted 3 years ago #

  18. Sean
    Founding Member

    Ainslie, it's not a bandwidth issue at all. We have enough bandwidth. It's server resources, so basically... and this is still being looked into, we need to do some database caching work. WordPress on it's own and Vanilla on it's own do fine but what most don't realize is OD is making both WordPress and Vanilla do things it was never meant to do, so if the site was just a blog or a forum, it would be ok. Joe, Christopher and myself are looking into what we can do to fine tune the coding that makes OD do what it does. Donations would help for contests, outside sources in helping with back end work and a list of other things. Yes I have consulted with outside server maintenance people. Some things do need to be paid for. Oh and for the comment above that I said 50+ people emailed me complaining about me, well they are lurkers... no design submissions, no real commenting or thread topics started, etc... and last, for the people who've been DOSing (Denial of Service attacks) the site, your ISP's have been notified and a few of you who are doing it from your college, well they've been notified too. Stupid script kiddies :bakie:
    Posted 3 years ago #

  19. Ainslie
    Moderator

    @Sean, thank you for the hosting. People. Give Sean a break, he's the good guy here!
    The bottom line is people who complain that the site is slow or doesn't have this or that feature but don't do anything to contribute (designs, funding, etc) is who I'm talking about.
    There are plenty here who take these designs and make money from them, if this is you maybe it's payback time!
    Posted 3 years ago #

  20. Sean
    Founding Member

    Thanks Ainslie. That's exactly what I am talking about. People make money from designs on this site, either by designing free templates then getting paid work or someone using a design and customizing it for a fee. I make my own designs for clients, I also use designs from here once in a while but I also donate to the designers when they have a PayPal button... again this is community stuff here... we all need to help in some way... at least once in a while :bakie: Thanks for your support Ainslie. Bakies for you :bakie:
    Posted 3 years ago #

  21. Draicone
    Member

    @sean: A mirror service, maybe? I can take 50Gb a day, which isn't much, but if ten people do that it greatly reduces the number of concurrent connections to the server. I can probably write a script that synchronises all the mirrors every 10 minutes using cron (not redownloading everything, just the new ones) - I've already got a copy of all the templates up to #526.
    Posted 3 years ago #

  22. Gnome
    Moderator

    Sean: look into mirroring. I have a bunch of machines that could be plugged in and started up to help with the load.
    Posted 3 years ago #

  23. Sean
    Founding Member

    @gnome: it's more then just a load thing. we are being DOS attacked. bandwidth is fine but with this sort of attack, the cpu's on the servers are getting hammered.
    Posted 3 years ago #

  24. Aaron D. Campbell
    Member

    Joe, Christopher and myself are looking into what we can do to fine tune the coding that makes OD do what it does.
    Well, I offered to help with any coding a while back. The only thing I was given to do was the search, which I did the same day. If there is more work, let me know. I have plenty of experience, and I'd be happy to help.
    Posted 3 years ago #

  25. Matt
    Member

    Why would anyone go out of their way to attack the site... On a lighter note, check out this DoS comic: http://www.denialinfo.com/
    Posted 3 years ago #

  26. arwen54
    Member

    DOS attacks normally cripple a site...I'd say we're lucky to have this site even partially working at this point...I'm so frustrated with jerks that do these types of things to spoil it for everyone!
    Posted 3 years ago #

  27. Andreas
    Member

    I was e-mailed about this thread by a couple of members. Just to sort a few things out: - Template links were discussed in this thread: /forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=365 . I asked if it was OK, I started with one single template and added three more after a while. Beside the many downloads, I know that I have sent thousands of visitors to the site as well so I thought it was an obvious win-win situation. But I still asked since I know that direct downloads is a sensitive topic. And nobody expressed any negative view about it, atleast not to me. I also could't find any recent e-mail about this, but since I am one obviously of those "handful" mentioned I have now removed all links to opendesigns and placed the templates on my own server again. - Speaking of donations, a few months ago I promised to pass on all donations I got during the month of December directly to OpenDesigns. The money is locked up by PayPal until they approve yet another verification of my identity (third time now), but it is still more than $630 that I have set aside for supporting this site and the community. I have also recommended people who have wanted to donate money to me during the last two months to donate to OpenDesigns.org instead, and recommended two of my sponsors to help opendesigns.org with sponsoring the hosting. If I could access my PayPal account, I would have been happy to sponsor the hosting myself. But I can't do anything until they unlock the account again. I could write much more, but I won't do that until I know how big part the added traffic of my template downloads played in these problems.
    Posted 3 years ago #

  28. arwen54
    Member

    Andreas, although hotlinking is generally a no-no, your direct-linking to your template downloads was NOT the real problem. The real problem was the DOS attacks. I can't believe how nasty people can be. I am so upset for all of us, but especially for our admins who have spent the last 4-5 days with virtually no sleep trying to fix things for us.
    Posted 3 years ago #

  29. Sean
    Founding Member

    @Andreas: Like arwen54 mentioned, it wasn't your linking of your own downloads causing the problems. We had enough bandwidth, it was all the DOS attacks and a few other things that I can't get into at the moment because it's being investigated. Yep, for those people who are behind that attacks, it's a Federal Crime here in the USA to do what happened and because there was financial losses due to the attacks, charges will be brought against you. There have already been school IT departments notified and 4 ISP's of which their networks were used by the people behind the DOS attacks. Now, back to getting some more needed rest.
    Posted 3 years ago #

  30. Brent Shultz
    Member

    Working link to the donations page: /forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=201
    Posted 3 years ago #

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