I would like to respectfully offer an opinion of the Arriba Vista (AV)
image database which differs from that which our beloved OutlawDook
forwarded [FML, 26-27 Mar, #1999-2628].  I generally support Operation Just
Cause, and oppose unethical bulk e-mailing tactics.  However, I believe
that image "stealing" or plagiarizing are overly strong words to describe
the service offered by AV, which references about 360 ferret images among
others from the vast collection of images authors have published on the web.
 
When I searched the database using the keyword "ferret", I was glad to see
some familiar ferret-faces, as well as some delightful new ones!  It was a
nice way of seeing a whole bunch of ferret pics at once.
 
Users of the service are cautioned not to use images referenced in the
database without permission, and are directed to the original URL for the
full-sized images.  The service is not substantially different from other
web search engines which reference text resources using samples quoted from
the referenced text.
 
While web search engines do increase traffic to indexed sites (which is
actually kind of the whole point) the increase in bandwidth consumption for
any particular site will not be very noticeable, with few exceptions.  ISPs
which charge extra for bandwidth consumption typically do so for heavily
trafficked sites, which usually do not include the nice vanity pages we
have set up for our fuzzies.  Many of us are charged only for storage space
(the 5 or 10 megabytes we get with our accounts), and inclusion or
exclusion from the AV database will in no way affect this.  Also, the
thumbnail images are stored directly on the AV server, so searches will not
cause any performance hit unless a user becomes interested in viewing a
particular full-sized image from your site.
 
Finally, for those who are authoring web sites which for some reason should
not be indexed by search robots, it is fairly simple to instruct the bots
to ignore part or all of your site.  Instructions for this can be found at
<URL: http://info.webcrawler.com/mak/projects/robots/exclusion.html >
This will most likely not cause images already in the database to be
removed, however; for that you would need to contact AV technical support.
 
ObFerretsDoTheCutestThings: A friend returned from shopping at Dillards,
where they offer wonderfully crinkly, clear cellophane shopping bags.
They're shaped like those ordinary brown paper shopping bags with handles
that are so much fun for ferrets, but they are transparent, so humans can
see what's REALLY going on inside that noisy sack!  Baldrick immediately
unpacked my friend's bag, and spent the better part of an hour having a
grand time making noise, dragging it around by its handles, and hopping in
and out of it.
 
-Brandon
+ Baldrick (who wonders why his picture isn't in the database yet.)
[Posted in FML issue 2629]