After reading some other threads here, I think the rule is that images may not be linked to directly from another site, for example via a thumbnail and an href between tags. Is this true?

If so, there's something wrong with the enforcement of this rule, because I have HTML set up at eBay to do just that, and it works. But only sometimes.

Sometimes it works with no problem at all, sometimes it works for some images but not others, and sometimes it doesn't work at all. Sometimes it works on my desktop but not on the laptop, and/or vice-versa.

Is it supposed to work or not?

If not, what's the recommended solution? I guess it's to display a link to an HTML file on my site, rather than directly to an image. Right?

Your question seems a little confused. Remote linking refers to using the tag.

Bravenet does not permit you to remote link to images in free hosting. You can only remote link to Photo Center images if you have upgraded to Pro AND paid an additional fee.

If you have a service level where remote linking is permitted it may not always appear to work as loading a page now involves connecting to multiple servers with a far greater risk of the connection timing out.

>> Your question seems a little confused. Remote linking refers to using the tag. <<

As I said, "a thumbnail and an href between tags", the thumbnail being in an tag, and the hyperlink in the .

I have a free account, nothing more, but image linking works sometimes, and sometimes not, seemingly at random.

The main problem is that the first time I tried it, it worked, so I coded more stuff using the same structure. Now it seems to be a matter of luck whether it works or not, including the original stuff.

It doesn't really matter what you said or mean, the answer is still the same. If you have a free web site, hot linking is not allowed. You may get it to work a few times, but eventually the server catches up to you and blocks the access.

If all your using the free site for is hosting your images, your using it for the wrong reason. You should probably go to some place like PhotoBucket, or TheFileBucket, which is better set up for remote linking to your images.

>> If all your using the free site for is hosting your images, your using it for the wrong reason <<

I'm not, and I have no problem with the restriction. All I was doing was pointing out that there's some sort of inconsistency -- now you see it, now you don't. Now I gather that the blocking software isn't very clever. OK, now I know. No problem.

Thanks for the clarification.

The blocking software actually works pretty good. It got the point across. Some of the inconsistent behaviour may be due to your cache having a copy of your images. If it already has it, it doesn't have to get it from the internet, and the blocking software is not involved.

>> Some of the inconsistent behaviour may be due to your cache having a copy of your images <<

That occurred to me, but then the same thing happened on another machine which couldn't possibly have any of the stuff in its cache. Hiho.

I seem to remember a time when the blocking software was first introduced that a few people complained that their images had stopped appearing on the remote sites. The response then was that they had been stealing bandwidth and that Bravenet had implemented a technology solution to back up their legal position. It didn't mean that remote linking was allowed before the blocking software was introduced it just meant that there was nothing actually blocking people from doing it.

Of course anyone found remote linking had their account with bravenet immediately deleted for a breach of the terms of service - and this still applies now.