I have a problem with other forums linking to my pictures...

Wizzard005Wizzard005 Registered Users Posts: 16 Big grins
edited February 4, 2008 in SmugMug Support
Hey guys,

Here's the deal. I have alot of step by step guides on my site. Well I have (own one forum) where i post my pictures and stuff, anyways, another competer forum has linked to all of my pictures in smugmug. The only way to block them is to disable right click and make it not privite, anyways, by doing this it stops working on my own forum.

Is there a way to block a website from linking on my content? I asked them to stop and they said i can go and stick it!

If this was my host i know i can block websites, but does smug have a way to block access or something to make this stop?

I have a pro account if it matters btw...

thanks guys!

Comments

  • claudermilkclaudermilk Registered Users Posts: 2,756 Major grins
    edited January 30, 2008
    What a nice attitude. Considering that, I'd replace the images in question with one of those "This image is stolen" ones. Then move the files you want to link from your own forum to a private gallery. I have a specific gallery that is set as private that I use for linking shots on my posts in fora--nobody but me can get to the images on SM. All other galleries are set to prevent hotlinking.
    Chris
    http://www.chrislaudermilkphoto.com/
  • jfriendjfriend Registered Users Posts: 8,097 Major grins
    edited January 30, 2008
    Wizzard005 wrote:
    Hey guys,

    Here's the deal. I have alot of step by step guides on my site. Well I have (own one forum) where i post my pictures and stuff, anyways, another competer forum has linked to all of my pictures in smugmug. The only way to block them is to disable right click and make it not privite, anyways, by doing this it stops working on my own forum.

    Is there a way to block a website from linking on my content? I asked them to stop and they said i can go and stick it!

    If this was my host i know i can block websites, but does smug have a way to block access or something to make this stop?

    I have a pro account if it matters btw...

    thanks guys!

    There aren't any Smugmug security settings I'm aware of that would help you in this case. You want direct linking from your own site to work so you can't use a private gallery, a password protected gallery or turning external linking off. The private gallery wouldn't stop them and the other two would break your site.

    Chris' idea is the best thing I know of. Make a copy of your images into a new gallery, change your forum to point to the new copy. Change the old copy to serve up an image (with Replace Image) that says "unauthorized content" or whatever you think is appropriate to show up in your competitor's forum.

    If they switch over to your new copy, then do it again. At some point, they'll just get tired of trying to keep up with you and not like that you can change what displays in their web site.

    When you decide what will show in their forum, you should play it straight. They are clearly doing something wrong, you are not and you should keep it that way.
    --John
    Homepage • Popular
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  • dogwooddogwood Registered Users Posts: 2,572 Major grins
    edited January 31, 2008
    Another option-- use a pbase or other hosting site for the pics you want to hotlink. Though it's not fool-proof or even unlinkable, you can set these up fairly anonymously and I find a lot less people visit my pbase site (which really isn't keyworded or SEOed at all... in fact the url is fairly ambiguous) than my SM site. It's pretty cheap too (both in cost and function :D)

    I ONLY use the pbase site for linked photos for blogs or forums. The stuff on my SM site stays pretty much unlinkable.
    Portland, Oregon Photographer Pete Springer
    website blog instagram facebook g+

  • bhambham Registered Users Posts: 1,303 Major grins
    edited February 4, 2008
    jfriend wrote:
    Chris' idea is the best thing I know of. Make a copy of your images into a new gallery, change your forum to point to the new copy. Change the old copy to serve up an image (with Replace Image) that says "unauthorized content" or whatever you think is appropriate to show up in your competitor's forum.

    I would add a nice message to the replace "photo", something like "xyz forum supports child pornography" or something else that would really, really piss them off as much as its pissed you off that they are linking to your photos without permission. You could really have some fun with them and just change one photo here and there. You could use it to advertise your site and your blog, ie "My blog was so informative that the owners of this site decided to use my photos without permission and continue to do so." If it was me, I would have some major fun at their expense.
    "A photo is like a hamburger. You can get one from McDonalds for $1, one from Chili's for $5, or one from Ruth's Chris for $15. You usually get what you pay for, but don't expect a Ruth's Chris burger at a McDonalds price, if you want that, go cook it yourself." - me
  • bhambham Registered Users Posts: 1,303 Major grins
    edited February 4, 2008
    Another idea would be to put in place of the photos on your forum a link to the photos on your site and then disable external linking. You could do this temporarily until the other forum searches out someone else for photos.

    I also would add a custom watermark to all the photos with your website and the forum website. I would do this before what I said in the above post.
    "A photo is like a hamburger. You can get one from McDonalds for $1, one from Chili's for $5, or one from Ruth's Chris for $15. You usually get what you pay for, but don't expect a Ruth's Chris burger at a McDonalds price, if you want that, go cook it yourself." - me
  • Samdiver74Samdiver74 Registered Users Posts: 32 Big grins
    edited February 4, 2008
    So how do you find out if someone is using your pics in another forum or anywhere else on the web?
    Allan
    www.allanmorrisphotography.smugmug.com
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