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I have just discovered that the new i.sstatic.net domain does not allow hotlinking. I assume it was done to prevent using the images outside of the SE network, however I kindly ask you to reconsider this decision. Please enable hotlinking.

I have found a link to an image outside of SE network. Usually, I just hover over it and Imagus shows me the image. It doesn't happen with these links. I clicked it. It only shows error 1011 page. I had to open Stack Overflow, go into edit mode and paste the link so that I can hover over it in the preview.

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    Lots of info in this answer including what to do if you want to appeal for a specific exception (rather than reconsidering the decision on whole).
    – testing-for-ya
    Commented May 23 at 21:08
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    Can't you just paste the link into the address bar of your browser?
    – PM 2Ring
    Commented May 23 at 21:28
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    Happy to read along with this post and see if there are ways we might be able to alleviate some annoyances (though in the end I'd encourage spinning them off into separate posts), but you should know up front that wholesale reversal of this decision is very unlikely. More information is available at the answer @testing-ma-lady linked to.
    – Slate StaffMod
    Commented May 23 at 21:37
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    @Slate worthy of an answer so it can get the proper focus and attention, and no harm in adding the official declined tag - some won't agree but that's a fair decision to make.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented May 24 at 5:03
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    @Shadow "the proper focus and attention" - you're just hankering to take more of my rep away, aren't you? I know it, I can smell it from a mile away!
    – Slate StaffMod
    Commented May 24 at 14:20
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    @Slate and watch the miracle: +4/-0! :-D
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented May 24 at 16:06
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    @Robotnik Not a duplicate. That is a bug report dismissed as by design; this is a feature request asking to change the design.
    – Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog
    Commented May 27 at 0:21
  • @SonictheAnonymousHedgehog It's the same topic and the same resolution: hotlinking has changed, it's not getting reversed, and sites need to apply for inclusion on an allowlist. Both comments and the answer are saying "go look at this other question where it's explained in more detail" - that sounds like a duplicate to me.
    – Robotnik
    Commented May 27 at 0:27
  • @Robotnik true, but one is bug report and one is a feature request, each with a different, official, reply. That's enough to justify both being open and on their own.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented May 27 at 7:39

1 Answer 1

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Unfortunately, this is a decision we are very unlikely to reverse wholesale. We made this decision for a variety of technical and social reasons - and those realities are unlikely to change.

I do at least want to say that I understand the usability annoyance. To be honest, I'm happy to read along with this post and others like it to see if there are ways we might be able to alleviate any associated pain points without compromising the core reasoning behind the decision. I'm not sure I have any ideas personally (and I can't make promises about how they'd be prioritized), but y'all might find a way we could help. I'll keep an eye out over the next few weeks...

This post describes the core reasoning in a bit more depth, as well as the circumstances under which we expect we'd consider making exceptions to the hotlinking rules.

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  • Will reddit be allowed?
    – Dharman
    Commented May 24 at 19:08
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    The second sentence of the second paragraph is amazing. It's a train of thought made of literary devices.
    – bad_coder
    Commented May 25 at 1:18
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    @Dharman Hard for me to see us allowing that one, particularly because (to my knowledge at least) they have their own image uploading service. Is there reasoning I'm missing for it?
    – Slate StaffMod
    Commented May 25 at 1:20
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    @bad_coder I was a moderator on Literature SE, not Writing SE, and I like to think it shows from time to time. (This answer was pretty much one unedited take though.)
    – Slate StaffMod
    Commented May 25 at 1:20
  • I think reddit uses imgur right? And I would think if edits are allowed it would be trivial to fix broken links on the Reddit posts with different image hosts
    – Journeyman Geek
    Commented May 25 at 3:34
  • @JourneymanGeek: No, Imgur sort of spawned out of the Reddit community/userbase (to my knowledge), but Reddit's own image hosting (which came years later) is separate from Imgur.
    – V2Blast
    Commented May 26 at 17:37

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