Should one get permission before linking to another site? June 26, 2001 3:01 PM Subscribe
should linking to another site be contingent on that user's permission? this question is an old one, mostly debated on slashdot regarding linking to DeCSS sites being ruled illegal. many said that was an impingement of their 1st amendment rights. as a site that relies on linking to other websites, i think it's a relevant issue.
i never read many of the comments on slashdot about the subject because there were so many, and perhaps this has already been debated here by others. but the notion of a site being "slashdotted" came to mind. the costs of bandwidth are, to me, a perfectly legit reason to sue another site over being unknowingly linked to or at least linked without prior approval. so what do you guys think?
i know that mefi is not the sort of site where you can expect a gigabyte's worth of bandwidth to come from one link here, but i think it's a problem that may need to be addressed. has anyone ever been slashdotted here? how much have you had to pay? if you could, would you want to sue to recouperate the costs of being slashdotted?
i never read many of the comments on slashdot about the subject because there were so many, and perhaps this has already been debated here by others. but the notion of a site being "slashdotted" came to mind. the costs of bandwidth are, to me, a perfectly legit reason to sue another site over being unknowingly linked to or at least linked without prior approval. so what do you guys think?
i know that mefi is not the sort of site where you can expect a gigabyte's worth of bandwidth to come from one link here, but i think it's a problem that may need to be addressed. has anyone ever been slashdotted here? how much have you had to pay? if you could, would you want to sue to recouperate the costs of being slashdotted?
Similarly, you better be damn sure your hosting provider won't just charge and charge and overcharge you for your excess used bandwidth, rather than simply shutting off the feed or giving you an early warning. You don't want to end up like Nosepilot. (Although Al was lucky and managed to successfully fight the massive fees.)
posted by waxpancake at 3:48 PM on June 26, 2001
posted by waxpancake at 3:48 PM on June 26, 2001
On the other hand, some people quite reasonably expect that their sites won't get much traffic, and aren't able to pay for extra bandwidth. If you're thinking of linking to a site from somewhere that will give it a lot of traffic, and the site looks like it might not be ready to handle that traffic, it seems like common courtesy to ask before linking.
posted by moss at 6:17 PM on June 26, 2001
posted by moss at 6:17 PM on June 26, 2001
should linking to another site be contingent on that user's permission?
No.
the costs of being slashdotted
...are a risk inherent in putting a public website on a service that charges for overusage. There are technical solutions to the overusage problem, anyway.
posted by daveadams at 6:13 AM on June 27, 2001
No.
the costs of being slashdotted
...are a risk inherent in putting a public website on a service that charges for overusage. There are technical solutions to the overusage problem, anyway.
posted by daveadams at 6:13 AM on June 27, 2001
Funny, this very issue is why I waited until 10pm on a Friday night before inadvertantly starting the "Kaycee is a hoax weekend" here at MeFi. I wanted to make sure Saundra and Kristen were okay with linking to them, worrying about the hordes of MeFiers shutting them down. And I also knew that weekend traffic would be lighter and more evenly distributed over a weekend.
Can you imagine those threads if I'd posted on a Monday morning? *shudder*
It's also why I never wrote about it on my website, and I don't publicize widely. I could never handle being MeFi'd, much less Slashdotted.
Dave: most small, personal sites don't think of themselves as taking that risk. If I don't go around with my URL on my business card, and tell only a few people (and if I'm not a linkslut) my site traffic grows very slowly over time and never (probably) gets that big. Why would I take the time to learn about technical solutions to overusage, much less spend extra money on my hosting provider, if I have a reasonable expectation that I'll never outgrow my host's limitations?
posted by acridrabbit at 5:01 PM on June 27, 2001
Can you imagine those threads if I'd posted on a Monday morning? *shudder*
It's also why I never wrote about it on my website, and I don't publicize widely. I could never handle being MeFi'd, much less Slashdotted.
Dave: most small, personal sites don't think of themselves as taking that risk. If I don't go around with my URL on my business card, and tell only a few people (and if I'm not a linkslut) my site traffic grows very slowly over time and never (probably) gets that big. Why would I take the time to learn about technical solutions to overusage, much less spend extra money on my hosting provider, if I have a reasonable expectation that I'll never outgrow my host's limitations?
posted by acridrabbit at 5:01 PM on June 27, 2001
Why would I take the time to learn about technical solutions to overusage, much less spend extra money on my hosting provider, if I have a reasonable expectation that I'll never outgrow my host's limitations?
Because you signed a contract that bills you for overusage.
To me, that trumps all the other considerations. Anyone who signs up for a host that has metered billing for overuse is nuts. When the standard on the web is to link without asking first, why should that change simply because some people are getting the worst possible web hosting deal they could find?
posted by rcade at 12:34 PM on June 28, 2001
Because you signed a contract that bills you for overusage.
To me, that trumps all the other considerations. Anyone who signs up for a host that has metered billing for overuse is nuts. When the standard on the web is to link without asking first, why should that change simply because some people are getting the worst possible web hosting deal they could find?
posted by rcade at 12:34 PM on June 28, 2001
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posted by Doug at 3:27 PM on June 26, 2001