Bandwidth calculation by host servers question

[ReFur]

I have heard several versions of this, and since I would like to have a website someday, I was hoping that I could learn more about this. Sable-mink mentioned on another thread the bandwidth issue. I did not want to take the thread off topic, so I am starting another thread.

 

For a little clarification Sable-mink, as Wallee mentioned, the bandwidth calculation was not the main reason we wanted to delay posting actual photos as links. On Melody the picture links were not allowed, and we were cautioned by those we trust, in doing this. Now we feel we are ready to.

 

We still have concerns about off-site links for compliance. That we will resolve and clarify as we work with these photo links more. As you stated, this is a wonderful start for us.

 

Please remember, ...we are all volunteers and the hours that our admins and some mods put in here is unbelievable. If they want to address issues in their order of priority, I support them completely! As members, you have no idea what a time commitment, in particular AK and White Fox, have made to this site in the last year. I am surprised both of them have not imploded! Also, many of our mods have their projects that requires unbelievable dedication, and they get no recognition or thanks for it. It truly is an act of love and commitment to the site.

 

With this said, we also have members who can provide tremendous experience and insight to issues that affect this site. I was hoping some members who have actually talked to their host servers and know their policies might shed some light.

 

..no, opinions here, please!! ..it will just make the discussion "muddier."

 

...also, since I am "tech savvy challenged" as few acronyms as possible please!

 

...lastly, this thread is meant to learn, not point out who is right or wrong. So, ...testosterone is to be left at the door, please!!

 

 

We really would all benefit to understand this issue better.

 

So, ...here is my question: There seems to be some debate about how bandwidth measurement is calculated by the host servers.

 

There are those that say a host of the photo is the only server that calculates bandwidth when you link to it. ...and, then there are those that say the server calculation of bandwidth is included by both sites, the one originally hosting the picture and then the host of the linking site as well. Kind of like double dipping.

 

Watching how most large businesses operate, this double dip sure sounds like a possibility that would be tempting to use by a hosting server. Can this differ depending on who the host is? ..also, maybe with competition this is something that has changed over time.

 

I also wondered: if we post a picture link to one of our own pictures in the gallery, how does that affect the bandwidth measurement?

 

There also seems to be a tool now being used that stops heavy linking by the host server of the pictures. That affects our ability to use links effectively for more than a day. Any thoughts on this?

 

Thank you all!

 

Linda

[AKcoyote]

A bit of background:

In its prime, Melody did allow the inclusion of images in posts. Melody's host limited the account to about 10 gigabytes of traffic per month, and counted the size of images included in posts as part of the traffic from the server. This seems illogical as the images were not hosted on the Melody server. The problem has to do with the fact that the Melody server logged the size of inline images as if they were being sent from that server. Thus it was very easy for Melody's users to exceed the allowed limit of traffic per month often one to two weeks before the end of the month. That is why the restriction on including images in posts was started. When this website was started, it was decided to keep the restriction until we knew what our average monthly traffic would be.

 

Our current hosting account allows us a bandwidth (or data traffic limit) of 500 gigabytes per month. In March of this year, our data traffic was 36.61 gigabytes. A gigabyte is 1,073,741,824 bytes or a bit over one billion bytes.

[ReFur]

Thanks, AK.

 

Linda