WebSlave

That is correct. I recently disabled picture (attachment) downloads for all unregistered and/or registered members not logged in. I had to make some changes in how spammers were being blocked from registering on this site to more effectively handle that task without loading down the server in the process. The internal IP blocking routine in vBulletin blocks IPs on the list maintained for that purpose for each and every page viewed. Which means every page on the site has to scan the IP ban list before displaying it to a viewer. At one point I had hundreds of IP addresses on that list. This seemed inefficient to me, so what I did was to ask my programmer to implement new code such that I could maintain a separate IP list that would block those IPs ONLY during the registration process. That way the IP list is only checked during registration, and not for every page view. My thinking is that this will speed up throughput for everyone as a result. Now I can still block IPs from viewing any pages on this site, but that is something I will reserve for special cases only.

And honestly, I don't give a damn if spammers and scammers are viewing the site. I just don't want them registering and posting here. That is when they cause the trouble here.

How this ties together with my disabling attachment viewing (which includes the thumbnails for classified ads) is that this was also being a load on the server with spammers viewing pages, causing those images to be downloaded for every page they were viewing. And this was also an issue in that there are lots and lots of search engine spiders pinging this site, and all of those robots will also initiate images being downloaded, regardless of the fact that they really don't need to be viewing images. So again, this impact on the server was likely notable, and I felt it reasonable to try to reduce it as much as possible, for the benefit of all legitimate viewers.

In the past I have done a scan of the viewers of this site, checking IP addresses randomly, and it was quite enlightening to see how many were from other countries known for their spamming activities. So, like it or not, I believe it is in everyone's best interests for me to try to limit their impact as much as possible.

Is this an inconvenience for casual viewers who don't want to register and log in? Sure I suppose it is. But my take on this is that registering and logging in is free. It's really not THAT much of a burden, is it? Besides, those that don't register and log in are probably not interested in actually participating here very much, and I would like to encourage that as much as possible. Someone not registered and/or not logged in is surely not going to be posting anything here. So maybe a little arm twisting might be in order.

All visitors can read the classified ads and other forums on this site. Want to see the attached photos too? Well, register, please. That is all it will take.

So I believe I have more than one good reason why I made the change that I did.