[thelist] Re: allowing google to hotlink? ANYONE

[Paul Cowan]

John C Bullas wrote:
> Anyone any thoughts
>
> I have no worries about people copying just don't want hotlinking

You could always try going the other way.

Let anyone access your image no matter what referrer they have -- until
you find a referrer you don't want. When you do, add it to the rewrite
rule.

Sure, there might be some incidental bandwidth theft, but it will be
minor; if it's significant, you'll pick it up pretty quickly from your
weblogs.

Then, people with no referrer (people using privacy software, etc) won't
have a problem viewing your regular site... nor will the Google image
search robot, etc.

It's more work, but if it doesn't happen that often, it will just be a few
seconds to add a referrer to the rewrite rule once you have it set up.

Paul