I have been thinking about this hotlinking problem and my question, as a newbie, is this:
Why do webmasters upload the images to their server instead of uploading it to a free image-host site (such as photobucket)?
If you upload it to your server and don't protect them, people can steal your bandwidth.
But if you have your images hosted in a site similar to photobucket, there is no problem with your bandwidth.
Am I wrong?

Does it give a better image of the site to have your pics uploaded in your own server?

Thanks a lot.

What if photobucket go down? That means your site will look horrible because the images will be gone. If the images are hosted on your server, if your site goes down, no one will notice the images not being there because your whole site is down.

ok, that was what I wanted to know.
Thanks.

Also, things like photobucket do have a bandwidth per image. You can block hotlinking in Cpanel, or with some code on your site.

I think It will consume more B/w.

See who so ever will open your site.. First images will route toward your server for Referals and then go to user,,

This will consume double the b/w each time anyone clicks on.