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Direct linking from other sites
Hi All,
It was brought to my attention that various external sites and groups are linking directly to hacks and files posted in the beta testers forum, as opposed to the specific threads involved.
While this is not a problem bandwidth wise, it does bring up possible problems regarding the actual information provided to people when they download. Somebody seeing a direct file link on another site could click, download, and then not have a clue what it does or even that the files are beta only and could have negative impacts on thier game.
To that end, I've turned on hotlink protection for
zip and
rar files on MTS2. What does this mean? Well, hotlink protection essentially stops people directly linking to the files themselves from external sites. Normally it would stop there and give you an error, but I've taken it one step further.
Now, when you enter a url that goes straight into e107_files/public/ it's intercepted, the forums and downloads are then searched for the specific file you are looking for, and then you are taking straight to the thread or download involved.
This means that people expecting to get a file download will instead be presented with the actual *proper* thread or download screen where they can get more information about the file they are about to download. This will actually help external sites too since all the information is presented on MTS2.
Please note that file links within the forums and any links on the MTS2 site itself will continue to function normally - the only links affected are those coming direct from external sites.
Hope this explains everything. Feel free to leave a comment if you have a question.
Regards
Delphy