Bandwidth refers to the amount of data transferred from a web site to a user's computer. When you view a web page, you are using that site's bandwidth to display the files. Since web hosts charge based on the amount of data transferred, bandwidth is an issue. If a site is over its monthly bandwidth, it's billed for the extra data or taken offline.
A simple analogy for bandwidth theft: Imagine a random stranger plugging into your electrical outlets, using your electricity without your consent, and you paying for it.
We are very clear about hotlinking to others files. DO NOT DO IT!
Somtimes you may find another website that provides a code so that you can link the image or file to another website or Forum, if you do you can use their code anywhere you want.
The best alternative to uploading the image to MI.Net is to use a good third party host like our very own MilitaryPhotoHost.com or of course Imgur and such like.
Thanks for reading.
we now permanently cache the photos wherever they are linked from. What this means is that we serve the image from our servers with no effect on the bandwidth of the host site. This is also true for your third party host like Imgur, so even if you delete an image from Imgur that you have posted here it will still show in the thread.