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Every other image I see hotlinked from imgur returns a 403 - Forbidden error.

If I copy and paste the link into my browser the image will load. Or if I delete the initial i. in the URL, the image loads.

The image will not load if it's used in a bbcode style tag, or if I right click on it and choose open in a new tab.

Do you know the cause or a fix?

These are a couple of examples that you'll probably be able to see, but I can't unless I do one of those above mentioned actions:

http://i.imgur.com/MLGyL.png

http://i.imgur.com/dwvwq.jpg

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Are you saying that if you click on either of the image links you have posted you get a 403 forbidden error? What browser are you using? – w3d Apr 14 '12 at 22:29
Yes, but after copying and pasting the link they'll load. I'm using Chrome 18.0.1025.162 m – Louis Apr 14 '12 at 23:41

3 Answers

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I experience this problem sometimes as well. For now you will have to keep using your solution. The issue is a imgur issue.

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up vote -1 down vote

Possibly imgur does not allow hotlinking, although I couldn't find any mention about that in their Terms Of Service.
If it does however ban hotlinking, you wouldn't be able to see picture in another website. Some services (e.g. Blogger) also did similar thing in the past.

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1  
I'm almost positive they allow hotlinking. Actually pictures become popular on the site, and users earn reputation, based upon the number of times an image is served. – Louis Aug 31 '12 at 19:55
up vote 1 down vote accepted

I found out that imgur has an outright ban on the site for some reason. No one knows why.

The workaround is to use the site's https connection, then the images will load. We guess imgur didn't ban https://site.com.

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According to imgur's TOS (imgur.com/tos), if someone else hotlinked pictures that violate TOS on this site before, imgur will ban not just the pictures, but also the site itself in the future. – Tschareck May 16 '12 at 7:03

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