Oh, the exclamation mark and empty brackets ![] is to turn it into an embedded image. hotlinking is just using an imgur link inside the parenthesis (https://www.imgur.com/image.jpg) instead of the built-in lemmy photo service (https://pictrs.lemmy.world/pictrs/image/somethingsomething.webp?format=webp)

Either way you’re welcome, always happy to be helpful!