Good question – probably not. I was greeted with such scorn (or so it felt to me) that I would even bother with Cyberduck that I felt intimidated. I was convinced I was doing something wrong but for the life of me I couldn’t work out what.
I don’t understand how you could feel you were treated by support with scorn if you never even contacted them?
Please understand I don’t work for Blocs. I am just another user like everybody else here offering my help for free.
Not by support – by other users here.
Your question about auto-embedding – how do I know if I am? I appear to have “Auto embed project assets in new projects” on in Preferences.
But the menu item under Assets is unadorned and as far as I know I’ve never activated it. But maybe my project was set up like that because of the preference (which I assume was a default, although I don’t really remember after all this time).
Dave
You’ve nailed it. I just successfully added your links to a new project having first switched off embedding and your dogs pictures were added to it!
Is this something I can switch off in an existing project? Or must I start over?
Dave
When unchecking the problem remains…
EDIT: A restart solved the issue.
If you are not finding solutions here after trying for two years it would seem like contacting support directly is the obvious requirement.
You can definitely switch off embedded assets but you will need to add them again to the image brics inside your project.
I normally keep embedded assets disabled when setting up new projects for various reasons, but when I tried just now it did work for me. Are you able to add single links?
I always do the opposite. It’s amazing how a simple tickbox can be confusing. 
OK, I’ve just tried twice on new empty projects. Bulk Add works if the preference to auto embed assets is switched off before making the new asset but does not work if it is switched on.
Dave
At the end, that makes sense.
It works for me even when I do embed assets, but personally I always switch it off. I think the purpose of the option is mainly to help new users that might otherwise lose assets.
Here is another video showing others how to make sure that assets are not embedded. Perhaps @Norm could look at this.
By chance are you all using M1 machines? I am still on Intel but running Monterey.
I am using M1 now, but this problem has been with me from the first time I used Hosted Assets about 18 months ago on my then Intel MacBook Pro. (2 years was an exaggeration.)
Dave
Same challenge on both for me.
After unchecking no problem here either. I succeeded with your pictures of your (beautiful) dog and also with my links. My website also has an SSL certificate installed. Thanks for the tip regarding ForkLift and your patience.
Here also an Intel running Big Sur
Weird; maybe there’s another parameter involved then. It’s absolutely consistent here. After 18 months of pulling my hair out over this, I can finally make faster progress.
I also want to thank Flashman for his patience and persistence on this.
Dave
What is your internet connection like?
Fast enough: 479 Mbps down; 37.1 up.
For what it’s worth. My connection is a lot slower.
22 Mbps down, 4 Mbps up
I can verify this, I’m seeing exactly the same results.