Images as backlinks

does hosting images even matter?

[gawd]

Yo!

I own a sugar-sweet website; among other thing it does, it hosts the photos people upload, and they can link to it using [embed code] snippets I provide. Now, my snippets of course include an <a href>, but people just strip that (all the time.) My question is, do I even get credit if people hotlink? will it improve my pr? Also, does ALT matter on these images (assuming some _do_ use the code I provide).

Thanks guys!

[ecmedia]

Probably not because only a hyperlink is counted as a link.

[Quadrille]

If they do link back, the ALT text does matter.

If they don't link back, then they are simply stealing your bandwidth and probably your copyright. No seo value at all.