Virtual Imager Posted April 23, 2004 Share Posted April 23, 2004 There have been several threads lately about hotlink protection and disappearing graphics. TCH-Don was very helpful in identifying the problem (hotlink protection) and noting that disabling it for a day seems to fix it. But, since my site is ALL graphics and having them visible is of paramount importance, I have questions: 1. How often does this problem occur? Have other forum members encountered this on a regular basis? 2. How does one know if the problem is occurring since generally I can see cached copies that look fine and I only find out if someone tells me they went to my site and couldn't see the images. 3. How can I tell how long the site was 'compromised' for... i.e. when it stopped working. 3. Is there any way to monitor a site to make sure the images are available? 4. Is there something else to use besides the hotlink protection offered by cPanel to provide the same kind of protection? 5. Would anyone recommend scheduling a weekly (or whatever) disabling of hotlink protection to guard against it suddenly deciding not to work anymore? 6. Does it just stay messed up untill you disable the protection or does it come back as suddenly as it disappeared? I'm trying to determine if it's worth having and if I should re-enable it... VI Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaJill Posted April 23, 2004 Share Posted April 23, 2004 (edited) Moved for organization. =) I just edit my .htaccess manually to add hotlink protection. This is what mine looks like; the url's listed are *ALLOWED*. Anything not listed gets turned down. >RewriteEngine on RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$ [NC] RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://lisa-jill.com/.*$ [NC] RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://lisa-jill.com$ [NC] RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://www.lisa-jill.com/.*$ [NC] RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://www.lisa-jill.com$ [NC] RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://www.bloglines.com/.*$ [NC] RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://www.bloglines.com$ [NC] RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://bloglines.com/.*$ [NC] RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://bloglines.com$ [NC] RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://technorati.com/.*$ [NC] RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://technorati.com$ [NC] RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://www.technorati.com/.*$ [NC] RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://www.technorati.com$ [NC] RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://chris.lisa-jill.com/.*$ [NC] RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://chris.lisa-jill.com$ [NC] RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://lisajill.livejournal.com/.*$ [NC] RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://lisajill.livejournal.com$ [NC] RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://www.livejournal.com/.*$ [NC] RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://www.livejournal.com$ [NC] RewriteRule .*\.(jpg|jpeg|gif|png|bmp)$ http://www.lisa-jill.com/images/hotlink.jpe [R,NC] I haven't had any problems with images not showing since using this version of .htaccess... so I don't have answers to your other questions. Hope that helps. =) Edited April 23, 2004 by TCH-Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virtual Imager Posted April 23, 2004 Author Share Posted April 23, 2004 Thanks Lisa! I'll try that with next update. Untill then, and for those who use the cPanel version of Hotlink Protection, can anyone address the questions I raised in the original post? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaJill Posted April 23, 2004 Share Posted April 23, 2004 The cpanel thing actually modified .htaccess. Granted it's a prettier version, for sure. I'm not sure why it should be any different. Sorry I can't help more. =/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Don Posted April 23, 2004 Share Posted April 23, 2004 For me, it has only happened twice in more than a year. I get an e-mail from friends that mention it, then I will see it. Who knows why it happens, some people never see it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellringr Posted April 26, 2004 Share Posted April 26, 2004 I tested mine by enabling hotlink protection in cpanel, and now all my graphics come up as the little red x's. What's the point of the protection if it screws up your site? There must be a better answer than having to go in and change code. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaJill Posted April 26, 2004 Share Posted April 26, 2004 bell, did you type in your domains names in the "Enable Hotlink Protection: Urls to Allow Access:" box? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellringr Posted April 26, 2004 Share Posted April 26, 2004 Yep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaJill Posted April 26, 2004 Share Posted April 26, 2004 bell, can you type in exactly what you put there, and what the code is that you're using for your images? I'm not really sure how blogger works but it may be needed to allow in something else as well, although I wouldn't expect it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sts Posted April 26, 2004 Share Posted April 26, 2004 I tested mine by enabling hotlink protection in cpanel, and now all my graphics come up as the little red x's. What's the point of the protection if it screws up your site? There must be a better answer than having to go in and change code. Did you check Allow direct requests box? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellringr Posted April 26, 2004 Share Posted April 26, 2004 Lisa - in the URLs to Allow Access box I have: ht*p://gryfalia.com ht*p://www.gryfalia.com As for my images, I just do an Insert Image from Dreamweaver, so it's just basic code with relative links. sts - no, I did not check that box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sts Posted April 26, 2004 Share Posted April 26, 2004 sts - no, I did not check that box. try it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virtual Imager Posted April 26, 2004 Author Share Posted April 26, 2004 Bellringer... it's true that you have to get the setup right and allow all the right URLs and check all the right boxes... but what I think is more of a problem is that after you do, when you think everything is just hunky-dory, hotlink protection can, as Don says, just mysteriously "stop working" and you have to wait for someone to email you to tell you that they're not seeing your graphics so you can go in and disable it for a day. To me, that is the bigger problem. You might not know yourself that it's not working because you may be seeing cached pages. Mad!!! For what it's worth, I don't think I'm going to re-enable it at this time. If anything, I'll use Lisa's code and not the hotlink protection from cPanel. VI Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellringr Posted April 26, 2004 Share Posted April 26, 2004 I guess I need some clarification. It was my understanding that having hotlink protection enabled keeps others from linking directly to your picture on another site. In other words, hubby couldn't use an image stored on our site as his avatar for a message board. sts - if I do not want someone linking directly to a picture, why would I check this? Perhaps I'm not understanding its purpose correctly. Lisa - Regarding the URLs to allow access box - what am I allowing access to and to whom? Darn fuzzy cpanel explanations or maybe it's just a braindead Monday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaJill Posted April 26, 2004 Share Posted April 26, 2004 bell, I've always had problems with cpanels hotlink protection; and this spans several hosts. That's why I edit .htaccess directly. Supported also helped me with troubleshooting some issues with that script awhile back (way beyond the call of duty =) ). the url's to allow access box is so supposed to make it so that sites referencing images from those url's do NOT get the x's, but get the images. Anyone else would get the x's. Hope that helps. I'm sorry you're having so much difficulty with it. =/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virtual Imager Posted April 26, 2004 Author Share Posted April 26, 2004 the url's to allow access box is so supposed to make it so that sites referencing images from those url's do NOT get the x's, but get the images. Anyone else would get the x's. Thank you! That's the first explanation I've heard that actually makes sense! Rock Sign Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sts Posted April 26, 2004 Share Posted April 26, 2004 bell, Direct request means entering the url of an image in your browser, like you copy http//mysite.com/images/mypicture.jpg and paste it to the address bar. Also some browsers view pages using direct requests, so if you disallow it some people [like me] will be unable to see images on your own site. You said you enabled hotlink protection and saw little red x's so I thought you're one of those people [like me] btw, cpanels hotlink protection worked ok for me, never saw it suddenly "stopping working" If hubby wants to use an image as his avatar you should add url of the message board to the 'Urls to Allow Access' box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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