Dear @ned,

Until recently, I did not realize that Steemit Inc. has been hosting image files, other than avatar images and other smaller image files. I had been using links from my account at an external image hosting website, in order to post my larger image files at Steemit.com. 

In order to reduce costs, can Steemit Inc. simply stop hosting all image files, and henceforth require all of its users to use an external image hosting website company, instead—similar to how you yourself are kind of outsourcing your upcoming Q&A video whereby it is being hosted by YouTube.com instead of Steemit.com? 

This idea regarding the hosting of image files is a win-win for everybody, because those image file hosting companies themselves use advertising to earn revenue (and thus Steemit.com encouraging its users to have those external image hosting companies to host image files that can appear at Steemit.com by means of their image-links being posted at Steemit.com does bring more advertising revenue to those external image hosting companies). 

Steemit Inc. wins from this idea, too, in its no longer having to cover the cost of hosting image files—therefore empowering Steemit Inc. to not need to rely on earning revenue from selling advertising space on Steemit.com in order to have the blogs of Steemit.com users to feature image files. 

Also, if it is too expensive for Steemit Inc. to host image files (without Steemit Inc. having a source of revenue, from its not featuring advertising on the blogs of Steemit.com users), then does that mean Steemit Inc. is vulnerable to having a malicious actor bankrupt Steemit Inc. simply by means of their uploading thousands upon thousands of larger image files to Steemit Inc.'s nodes so that those images pointlessly appear on Steemit.com?

If so, then isn't that all the more reason for Steemit Inc. to no longer host image files, and instead to make a user-friendly tutorial that teaches Steemit.com users how to use external image hosting website companies in order to post image files on their blog at Steemit.com instead? 

Personally, I hope that Steemit.com does not feature advertising, because ads on blogs distract from those blogs themselves. However, what problem is there with Steemit Inc. asking its users to post image-links from external image hosting website companies that themselves feature advertising on their websites to pay for the cost of their hosting image files? 

Can Steemit Inc. form a strategic partnership with a few external image hosting companies that themselves sell advertising space to earn revenue, so that Steemit Inc. itself does not need to earn revenue from selling advertising space on Steemit.com, and so that Steemit.com can continue to feature image files but without the cost of hosting them on Steemit Inc.'s nodes?  

Or can Steemit Inc. develop its own separate image hosting website subsidiary company that sells advertising space that can only be viewed behind the scenes by its users when they have logged in there to have uploaded their image files there? That way, blogs themselves at Steemit.com can also continue to be advertising-free.

From Lannie.