It's such a pity that people abuse such a wonderful service . Hope to see the downloads up and running soon! Keep up the good work!

Wow this is very confuseing. I just hope it all gets fixed and we can go back to being ordinary people with an intrest in digital scrapbooking.
crosstown

I also come to the site........and I do download the freebies but I don't hotlink them to a group!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! of any kind. I respect the site because of the cost of their bandwith; I hope to see the freebies back up for all...........

Thanks so much for sharing your talent with us who have not had a chance to learn to make kits ourselves yet.

Kathryn

I noticed this thread right away on the home page, I have nothing to worry about since I only download through the download section, I have a paid membership. And I have never shared a kit, much less an element or even given a link from this site to anyone to download anything. The only thing is I did was send a link to My Gallery to my mother so she could she what I have!
This is my Opinion only but I want to say it and not get blown away by it!!
Sometimes, when this site gets so bogged down that we (The normal users and paid members) have a hard time navigating around and uploading to the gallery! I personnally feel and felt for months that this had to be with people stealing or using too much of this sites bandwidth! Which Amy pointed out COSTS MONEY!!
My one post about this site having such quantity and quality of downloads, here:
Ok... So I was bored!!
What I felt like saying,,,,was....SBB is too generous to it's non paying members!!
OK Shoot me now!!
If people can't afford $15.00 for everything that is in the members download section, they also can't afford the computer to create their LO's on!!
I am a single mother w/ 2 kids and it costs me $15.00 for ONE meal at McDonalds now days!!
I can't count the days where I see the guest count higher then the member count is online at that particular moment!
That to me means we have people who either sign on as guest to take hundreds of freebies, granted some of them are here for legit reasons. But as in my post linked above, SBB gives out more freebies then any other site I have seen and I for one believe it should be stopped!
Meaning buy a $15.00 membership!! It's worth it, beyond words!!
Amy don't feel "Bad" if you have to remove all but 5-10 of the freebies for the visitors from your site!!
Amy you do whatever you want, but I agree find a way to stop all this! Is there a way to document the registared paid users IP address? And just don't let unpaid guest get into that area to get the links for the downloads. I know one site years ago, who was in competion with my largest site http://www.upperredlakeassn.com/ was saying remarks about my site on his forum and basically lying about what was going on with the Assn! I confronted him on his fishing MN forum. He had my IP address documented and he blocked me from posting anymore!
Good Luck and I am with you on your decision!!
Sincerely,
A loyal fan of SBB!!

Interesting that as of so far only a few people posting here have over 5 comments left on this site!! Shoot me again!
But this is what I mean, either join in to this community and add to it, or just take a "few" freebies gladly! But not a hundred of them!
Sorry I am really mad and upset by this and it has been bugging me for a long time!!

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Maybe not but a person who posts the link at another site CAN be traced.

Hypothetically speaking:

Jane Doe is a paid up member of the subscriber section.
Jane Doe logs in and proceeds to the subscriber section.
Jane Doe sees a kit she likes and proceeds to the download page.
Jane Doe highlights and copies the URL address for said download.
Jane Doe then logs into a different group she is a member of.
Jane Doe then "pastes" the URL she has copied from here into a post at the group she has just logged into. THAT IS DIRECT LINKING and THEFT - not only of the download but of the bandwidth belonging to this site.
Another member of the other group reports this illegal post to the owner of this site.
The owner of this site can notify the company that provides the group facilities who CAN obtain the IP address of the person who posted the direct link to this site.

So....... while not everyone who has taken advantage of the link can be traced, the culprit who posted the link can be.

I hope that explains it a little clearer for those who are confused, jumped the gun and thought they were being accused of any wrongdoing.

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Kim

I have a very low post number and am a paid member of this site. Low posting numbers is not an indication of whether or not someone has paid.

I think that what has happened is horrible and hope that the person or persons responsible can be found and blocked from the download section.

Thanks for the great work you all do here at SBB![/quote]

I thought the paid membership area is only accessible by paying members, access controlled through their log-in information. So if someone posts a link to a download from the member area, doesn't the person who accesses the site trough direct link need the appropriate log-in data?

I doubt this is possible. My IP address, for instance, changes every time I log on to the internet. Then there is the issue of members loging in from multiple sites such as home, school, work, friend's house etc. It just does not seem to be a valid option.

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Jana
Please visit my gallery.

I MISS YOU, COME BACK SOON!!!

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love, Netsuke