I'm unsure where to post this question, so hostesses, if you feel it belongs in another section, thanks for moving it!

Can someone offer an explanation of how bandwidth works? in laymen's language? And how does one steal it? I would never knowingly steal anything but wonder if I inadvertently do?

I once posted a picture of Walmart being on Mars when the rover landed on it and everyone was talking about it...

I got the picture from another website and just copied the photo's URL and posted it here. Well, everytime someone would view it, it was actually being posted on the forum using the bandwidth from the original site, thus, stealing just a bit of it. That is what steal bandwidth is....to my knowledge anyways.

I don't think I get that. I mean, if the picture is posted somewhere, and it has its own URL, it's still there on that site whether there's someone here looking at it or not, right? So where is the stealing happening?
What about photos you post on Imagastation? I understood that they allowed that, but how do you find out if they do or don't?
Crud. Last thing I wanted to deal with today is another ethical dilema.

I am a lame one to discribe this,
butttttttttttttttt,
if we see the picture here, it is still generated, or kept by the other site...
And we don't ever click on to the main page of the other site, and alot of times, that's how a
site makes some $ is by clicks, or passers by or people that frequent the site.. Advertisers will advertise on there, because of the traffic/people going thru... *who may see their ads and buy something or you know how that works...*
But if you just stay here, to view the picture you are just using their site to generate the picture...
If you put a link here, you have to go to that site to view it, and therefore generate clicks for that site....and possible more sales for advertisers.

Oh, boy, if you understand that, I am in trouble...or you are????

Did that make any sense???

Weezie

Thanks for the reply but like Geegee, I'm still confused. I too thought that it was okay to upload my pics to ImagaStation and then paste the URL here. Are you saying that we should also post a link to the site?

I also don't really understand what bandwidth is to begin with!

I'm a little iffy on the image part, but here goes.

It is okay to write in the URL to the site that goes to your picture, that's cool....
because we click on that URL to go to there, which ever one place you pick for you pictures...

We click, we go to that site, view your pictures..

And bandwidth, is something a person like Bill or any site holder person purchase's to allow x, y and z on their site...
Maybe nothing but written script, such as information needed for something...
Some one (a site owner) who needs scripts and pictures to give proper info, requires more "juice" or space to provide their info... Some one (a site owner) who needs a scripts and pictures to give proper info and a video may require even more "juice" or space to produce their info..

Even though it's FREE for you to put your items/pictures there, the advertisers are putting some of their ads there at those sites hoping you as a custumer or someone you've invited or sent to that site to view your pictures will purchase something from their company site....
So, hence they want the viewers to actually go to their site to view it/the pictures, not just look at the pictures from our site...

I'll see if Bill can swing thru and clearify
anything I've confused you by...
I'm kinda rotten explaining stuff, but hope I didn't confuse you even more...

Weezie

OK... I'm not awake, but I'll try to explain it as simply as I can..
Every month I pay for 500 MB of Storage Space and 20 GB of Data Transfer (bandwidth).

I don't want to try a bunch of math, so in the simplest terms, if I only had one (humungous) 500 MB file on here (Each of my photos is about 100 KB an average html web page is 5-50 KB), it could only be downloaded or viewed 40 times each month, and then I would get a bill for extra bandwidth use.

If someone downloads or views MY file on a different site, it still counts against my 40 allowed views which I pay to store and show on the net. I would then only get the benefits of 39 views (and the 39 ads that MY visitors see) I would have to pay extra before my 40th visitor could see something that I already paid for...
<img border="0" alt="[perplexed]" title="" src="graemlins/confused.gif" />
Like I said... still sleeping here, but I hope that made some sense!

If I remember correctly....
1000 bits = 1 byte
1000 bytes = 1KB
1000 KB = 1 MG
1000 MB = 1 GB

Ya know, I'm sitting here realizing that this is all because I posted something about stealing bandwidth in another thread to explain an error that occurred with a webshots album. I'm sorry for making you guys all crazy about showing pictures. Places like Imagestation and Photobucket allow you to post actual pictures and not just links into forums....its ok with them. They must get enough subscribers to their better packages (not the free ones...the ones with more features) to cover the cost of the extra usage on other sites. Webshots was made so that you could have a picture album online, but not so that you could post pictures elsewhere. They let it go for a while, but I think it got to a point that they felt customers were "abusing" the site, so they put a stop to being able to post your webshots pictures onto other sites by using the URL from webshots.

I'm really really sorry that I mentioned the technical part of all of that in the other thread. As far as I know, nobody here is misuing bandwidth....when you post pictures here, you are using a site that allows you to do that. I'm soooo sorry!!

Jenn... You had no reason to apologize at all.
You opened the door for people to learn about something that they may not have known.
Everyone knows something, but nobody knows everything.
By asking questions and sharing knowledge everyone learns and knows a little more, and that's what we are all here for! Right?

Thanks Bill. I feel better now.

O.K., Jenn.....you've done it now!

YOU might feel better now, but all this has made me have to THINK, and now I have questions.

(Don't even worry about answering this, Bill!)


Cindy

Oh dear God!!!

I don't know....man, that twists your mind!!!

I have one more question, too.
But, I'm afraid to post it!



Cindy

I think her "rind" has been too close to something, but I'm not sure what!!!

LATELY???????????

Ask William, Shatner that is!!!


What's your address????

Oh, Weezie's had too much caffeine already!

You got me with those!

That fell in my lap, I saw your, *what do you call those "lines"??* yesterday and have been tryin' to come up with something since then..

Actually no Pepsi today and only a cup of tea at 6:30am this mornin'!!!
But I did just have some candy!!

Weezie

Okay, guys, I get it. Sorry for the hubub. Weezie, surprisingly (for me) I understood your first explanation! (Usually takes my hubby 3 or 4 repetetions.) And then Bill cleared it up more. I guess technically it's 2 different kinds of stealing accomplished by the same thing: 1) stealing of ad revenue by not having the veiwer click on the homepage, and 2) stealing "storage space". As long as I'm not doing it, that's mostly what I care about.
And Jenn, it's good that you posted that, because now we'll know what NOT to do, and why not to do it.

No no no... I want the answers too!!! Ohhhh Biiiillll...

Seriously, my husband also rents space for a game site.. they have space for the game (a dedicated server for their "team"), and then also a space for a website, to discuss the team, recruit, misc, message board. The 2 sites are paid for to the same guy who is "hosting" the space for them. Now, just where does HE get the space to sell it to us? I am just as confused as Cindy when it comes down to that end of it. <img border="0" alt="[perplexed]" title="" src="graemlins/confused.gif" />

Meg

Meg, Meg, Meg...
I don't know about posting something like this...
You are still well respected here.
Don't blow it now!


Cindy