Icon Community doing some major hotlinking.
Was told about this community today -> iconscraper.
For those who aren't familiar, it's a community that uses a picture feed to randomly grab icons from all over lj and post (hotlink) them in their community.
It's really unbelievable to me just how many people are being screwed over by this community.
First of all this community is hotlinking every piece of graphic its feed picks up and posts to the community. When you consider there are over 200 pieces of graphics being posted in the average post over there - that's a lot of bandwidth.
Then there's the fact that the way this feed is set up it's not only icons it's grabbing. It seems to be randomly grabbing anything 100x100 or smaller. That means it's picking up pictures from users' mood themes, buttons being used for links, smilies... it's ridiculous.
Add to that the fact that none of the graphics owners are being credited, the graphics do link back to the post the graphic was found in (sometimes), but that does not always lead you to the creator. I found several icons that were posted in icon challenge communities for icon contests. These icons are stored in anonymous photobucket accounts to keep the creator a secret until the contests are over. So clicking on the link and going to the post is not going to tell you who owns the icon or who to credit. Then of course is the fact that these icons, because they were created for challenges, are not supposed to appear anywhere on lj until the challenges are over, the winners have been picked and announced, and the owners of the icons have posted them for public use. Great huh?
I also clicked on a couple of icons over there I thought I had recognized only to find out the community post no longer existed or I was not authorized to view it. So how do I find out who to credit?
I took the time to contact icon makers I recognized. Take a minute or two and check out the community to see if you recognize anyone. Let your friends or anyone you know makes icons that this community is doing this.
Thanks.
Edit: 10-26-06
The icon feed community has a new home. http://www.journalpics.net/
There have been a some changes made besides new site home. Icons hosted on personal websites are no longer being hotlinked, however sites like photobucket still are.
The site also offers a link to livejournal users who wish to optout.
For those who aren't familiar, it's a community that uses a picture feed to randomly grab icons from all over lj and post (hotlink) them in their community.
It's really unbelievable to me just how many people are being screwed over by this community.
First of all this community is hotlinking every piece of graphic its feed picks up and posts to the community. When you consider there are over 200 pieces of graphics being posted in the average post over there - that's a lot of bandwidth.
Then there's the fact that the way this feed is set up it's not only icons it's grabbing. It seems to be randomly grabbing anything 100x100 or smaller. That means it's picking up pictures from users' mood themes, buttons being used for links, smilies... it's ridiculous.
Add to that the fact that none of the graphics owners are being credited, the graphics do link back to the post the graphic was found in (sometimes), but that does not always lead you to the creator. I found several icons that were posted in icon challenge communities for icon contests. These icons are stored in anonymous photobucket accounts to keep the creator a secret until the contests are over. So clicking on the link and going to the post is not going to tell you who owns the icon or who to credit. Then of course is the fact that these icons, because they were created for challenges, are not supposed to appear anywhere on lj until the challenges are over, the winners have been picked and announced, and the owners of the icons have posted them for public use. Great huh?
I also clicked on a couple of icons over there I thought I had recognized only to find out the community post no longer existed or I was not authorized to view it. So how do I find out who to credit?
I took the time to contact icon makers I recognized. Take a minute or two and check out the community to see if you recognize anyone. Let your friends or anyone you know makes icons that this community is doing this.
Thanks.
Edit: 10-26-06
The icon feed community has a new home. http://www.journalpics.net/
There have been a some changes made besides new site home. Icons hosted on personal websites are no longer being hotlinked, however sites like photobucket still are.
The site also offers a link to livejournal users who wish to optout.