tracing the source of direct links - is it even possible?

[charleswilliam3]

I would like to open up a discussion on the technical possibilities of tracing the source of direct links. I am not at all informed on this but am interested in learning more. Does anyone know the answer to this query?

and please, lets not digress with a debate on the benefits of such a thing or the ethics of direct liinking without permission; I am solely interested here in seeing what might be done to satisfy the roughly one third of pbasers who would like to see a feature like this...

thanks, the people here on pbase are what make this community what it is and i am greatful for their avid participation in all things pbase.

[jchambers]

I would like to push this up, as I too would like to know who is direct linking my photo's.

I don't mind if they are done so on discussion forums, as they are generally non profit, but if they are direct linking for profit I would like to know.

I do know that people who have their own webpage for hosting photo's can easily find who is direct linking. I would like to see pbase offer this, when you click on the direct linking counter. How hard can it be?

[michaelsv]

I think in one of the polls here on pbase, tracing direct links were named number one desired feature. It was rated #1 in almost 50% of answers. I'm as well very interested to be able to trace who is using my pictures and I see under some direct couns around 100 and more. I do not know if it's technically possible, but if it is, I really want to see this feature comming soon.

Michael.
http://www.pbase.com/michaelsv

[seankyh]

lets make it 100%!!! Come on pbase!!! WE WANT THIS FEATURE!!!!!!

[samsite999]

Bump > yes i would to as i would like to see were my bandwith is going!

[srijith]

yes i would to as i would like to see were my bandwith is going!

Now, that is something I never expected to hear with respect to PBase!

[reflectionsbyruth]

Pbasers dont have to worry about bandwidth, its the owners of PBase that pay for the bandwidth, am I correct?

[dang]

I think you're right, Ruth. We only pay for storage. Thank goodness!!

[reflectionsbyruth]

I thought I remembered correctly Dang
I have to pay for bandwidth at my other site http;//www.reflectionsbyruth.com
but I dont go over the allowed within the plan.

I can also see who has links to my website on their website or any place I post my link in forums etc.

So I wonder if that means there is a way for us to see who is linking to our pictures. I know mine has some links that I didnt pass out.

Do you think if someone copies the link to a picture and sends it via email to show someone, that too counts as a link ?

[dang]

Here's the best we can do right now:
http://pbasewiki.srijith.net/faqs/direct_linking

[charleswilliam3]

As of now, there is no way in which you can find out who is direct linking to your images. It is an often requested feature and hopefully it will be implemented soon.

However, please note that even if you have a very large counter value for your direct links, it need not mean that someone has illegally linked to your image. It has been found that the direct link counter is incremented even if you just copy the full URL of your image and paste it on your browser and press enter.

If you are really concerned with illegal links, try searching for your image url or your pbase link in google. For example, once in a while I (Srijith) do a check on my pbase url, using

from http://pbasewiki.srijith.net/faqs/direct_linking - One of the best PBase resources you'll find.

In short - There is no way to trace the source of direct links (at least, not accurately).

[alangrant]

Do you think if someone copies the link to a picture and sends it via email to show someone, that too counts as a link ?

I am pretty sure it would, assuming it is a link directly to the image file (i.e. it has jpg on the end). A link to the image page (i.e. ending with the number, not jpg) wouldn't be counted as a direct link.

[lawbit]

Haha I mentioned this feature to 1 of the Pbase Support Team just recently, didnt know there is a forum here listing the requested features! After so long since this feature is being requested, I still hope Pbase will work on this, just like how YouTube has done for their trace of linking. That case we know where our videos are being linked to, and in this case for our photos! I believe most of us, photographers, want to know who are the community or people whom show interests/appreciate in our works!