Topic: .htaccess

I only recently began to implement .htaccess in this site i'm working on (to disable file index viewing and create custom error pages etc.) I was then intrigued by the ability to block image downloads from sites other than the site hosting the image. For instance...if a competitor wanted to use a picture that was on the origional site, he couldn't use an absolute link to the site's image directory. In fact, I have it set up so that if someone tries to link to the origional image folder, a default Image replaces the inteded one. It's pretty cool...and discourages image/bandwidth thieves.

This seems to work well...most of the time. However, occasionally even if the site is legitimate, ie...my site, the "stolen image" image shows instead...I can't figure out why.

Any suggestions? Here is my .htaccess file code for my image folder below:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://yachtingworldwide.com/.*$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://216.120.234.155/.*$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://www.yachtingworldwide.com/.*$ [NC]
RewriteRule .*\.(gif

That seems to look ok. I'm not sure about that trailing slash on lines like http://www.yachtingworldwide.com/.*$ [NC]


By FAR the best place to find answers for stuff like this (or anything related to search engine optimization) is at WebmasterWorld, especially in the thread titled A Close to perfect .htaccess ban list where some really smart .htaccess people have been assisting many (including me).



[This message has been edited by Pugzly (edited 05-11-2003).]

Compare this to the syntax you have now...

RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(www\.)?texastwisted.*$ [NC]
RewriteRule \.(gif

Wes -

I don't think blocking the gif