Is it approperiate to request users to look for own hosting resources?

Question

i am wondering if its ok to request users to use own hosting resources for images, videos etc. i think stack overflow does the same for images too right?

another option i am looking at is integration with such services. some well known ones i am thinking of are

• twitpic, flickr, imageshack for images
• screenr, youtube for videos
• slideshare for slideshows
• snipplr, pastebin for large amts of code/text

1 main reason why i am thinking of using such external hosts are so that i can save up on hosting large amts of data. also so that i do not need to manage such resources.

• 1 concern is for services like screenr, twitpic, flickr etc where hosted resources "belongs" to the poster.
• only services that have "anonymous" posting like imageshack, pastebin will be more appropriate for such integration?

Answer 1

You can also look into various content delivery networks that specialize in hosting these types of files. They even look at the incoming IP address and route to the appropriate geographically-closest server behind the scenes.

I know that Microsoft's Azure has this capability, and I know there are a number of other companies out there that offer it.

On the negative side, there's cost involved (and it may not be insignificant).

On the plus side, they manage storage and delivery of the content, plus, you generally only pay for what you use and what you serve, so costs are completely commensurate with the usage.