On Posting Pictures - Hotlinking with IMG Tags, Copyright Issues, and Street Shots

[Flaxen]

Hotlinking and copyright issues in a nutshell and how they apply on LHC.

Hotlinking:
When you insert a picture-link with the [IMG] tags into a post, it causes traffic for the site it is hosted at. This uses their bandwith every single time the forum-page containing the image is loaded/viewed by someone. Which can cause costs for the hosting-site and is illegal.
Exceptions are image-hosting sites which offer space and bandwidth to upload images as a service. Like flickr, photobucket or ImageShack just to name a few.

Copyright issues:
To use a picture you have not taken yourself without having permission, violates the copyrights the photographer owns on the picture. Saving it on a computer or uploading it online somewhere else is illegal. As is inserting it on a forum using the [IMG] tags.
There are a few legal exceptions when it is not illegal to use a foreign picture. Like fairshare, public domain, expired copyrights, written permissions, lol-cats etc.

On LHC
The "insert image" button in forum-posts and blogs is meant for pictures you have taken yourself. They can either be hosted in an album here or on a photo-hosting site.
In case you want to show a copyrighted picture you have not taken yourself, please just post a link to it and refrain from uploading it to an album on LHC.

We also, in the sense of fairness, promote a "no nipples, buttcracks, or pubes" rule for all genders.

As a courtesy to others and in acknowledgement of the fact that many members here would object to people taking pictures of them and posting them online without permission, we likewise ask that no one post photos of others without their explicit consent. This is especially true for photos typically known as "street shots" that appear taken without the subjects having been made aware.

Thank you!