I stumbled across this mini signal mirror at the TOPS site. Not a bad option for on-body carry where you might not otherwise have a dedicated signal mirror. As long as the chrome polishing is done well, it looks like it may be workable. I'd put a clear plastic protector on it, like the kind you put on PDA screens.

(image link removed 'cuz it was causing some problems; sorry!)

Looks like an unfriendly company.

Well, I guess that's the last time I use TOPS knives for anything.

The idea that a hotlink is theft is ludicrous. It's an image for pete's sake. You don't market the image, you market the item in the image. If you are selling artwork on the internet, then you'd have other security provisions making it difficult for anyone to download, let alone hotlink to.

Actually, the problem is you are subjecting their servers to excess usage which costs money via bandwidth charges. They pay $X.XX for per YYY hits. Every time the picture you hot linked is viewed in this thread their server gets hit. They have to pay for that hit even though they don't have a customer browsing their store-server. It's not about the image, it's about the costs of bandwidth.

-Blast

Blast nailed it. Chances are they've had a problem with this in the past if they went to the trouble to set up the system that detects hotlinking. If you don't want to give them your business over this, that's fine. But I bet if someone used your server to show a picture for their ebay auction to 10,000 viewers, you might feel a bit more sympathy...

Just the link to the item on their site is best; you still get to see it if you want, and they get hits/ad revenue for their site.

Damned my confusion. I figured the hotlink was doing just like what airballard suggests is best. When I click the link, am I not going to their website viewing an item they are selling?

Something here don't make no sense. Why would anyone not want me to go to their website and view what they are selling just because I am hotlinking to it? That seems counterproductive to me.

I would say Blast's response to my email might make better sense. If they are getting the hit and all I see is just an image (not the whole site as is apparently the case in this instance), then that wouldn't be fair. I didn't figure on them taking a bandwidth hit on just looking at an image, but that seems a legitimate concern, and not at all what happened on this link. For the hotlink posted on this thread, it seems to me they are getting free advertising on the ETS forum, and they are going to complain about that???

Gee, it's a free ad on someone else's site. Their business model is short-sided. If it costs them a hit on their server, isn't that why they're online - to sell product?? TOPS is bottoms to me.

By blocking the hotlink and posting a link to their full site instead they get even better advertising.

Edit:
The actual link is not blocked, it works just fine.
It was the image that was blocked.
They want you to visit their site.
(not a bad site either)
So all they are doing is posting a statement with their website address on it.
It does seem a bit counter productive not to put a working link onto the image link unto it instead of just an image telling you to visit them.

Now I will go back and look at their mini-mirrors to see what the actual post is about.

Edit 2:
Nice site with some interesting stuff.
Not the kind of stuff I am likely to buy, but still interesting stuff.

About the mirrors.
I wonder if they are large enough to be effective.
I have a couple of the star flash and a couple of the small glass ones hiding in different packs and I wonder if even they are really big enough.

So I would not likely add a piece of jewelry as a mirror, but if you wear that kind of stuff or need more stuff on your keychain I say go for it.
I bet they would make nice zipper pulls

I'm actually quite impressed by their technical know how. Having done business with Tops in the past I'd do it again just for the sense that if they handle their security this tight they probably handle my credit card info just as well.

Well, they aren't that bright. It isn't a security link, it is what you get when you click the photo of said mirror on this page.

So in their rush to be pissy, they have now cut their own nose to spite their own face!

Not interested in their crap anyway.