Suggestion: Ban animated GIFs

[#1]

Could we ban animated GIFs on the forum please? I surely can't be alone in finding them terribly distracting and irritating and don't see any benefit to them.

I am referring specifically to user's avatars however I noticed also there is a 'bright-spark.gif' icon that appears by some usernames which could surely be indicated through a static image (although I have no idea what a 'bright spark' is and therefore whether it is even necessary to call out).

Don't get me wrong; I loved the '90s but some things are best left there...

[#2]

I've also noticed that you allow avatars to be set to hotlinked content served directly from other servers - this is not wise.

Given that you can't put size limitations on such images (no point validating at set time as it could subsequently change) what's to stop users from setting their avatars to 5, 50 or even 500MB image files to swamp other users' connections? Combine this with a 50,000 frame animation and you could probably kill some browser rendering engines.

The 'From the Web' avatar function really ought to copy the image to the Plusnet server and, in doing so, enforce any size restrictions through absolute validation or resizing before storage.

[#3]

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@MJN wrote:

Could we ban animated GIFs on the forum please? I surely can't be alone in finding them terribly distracting and irritating and don't see any benefit to them.

I am referring specifically to user's avatars however I noticed also there is a 'bright-spark.gif' icon that appears by some usernames which could surely be indicated through a static image (although I have no idea what a 'bright spark' is and therefore whether it is even necessary to call out).

Don't get me wrong; I loved the '90s but some things are best left there...

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Yeah... I agree.... they are a real pain in the eyes.

[#4]

I think remote images are copied locally. Even if they're not, someone would need a pretty hefty web hosting package to allow repeat transfers of a 500MB image!

[#5]

They're not copied locally. Take mine as an example - if you check its properties you will see it is served from www.bbmgif.com.

To illustrate the problem further, the URL below (I won't hyperlink to it as I don't want someone to inadvertently lose anything as a result of their browser baulking on it) contains five hotlinked images displayed as 64x64 avatars. The first four are just a bit ditracting, but the fifth is more problematic given it is 16MB and contains over 8000 frames. Some browsers will have to put a fair bit of effort in displaying that one and so imagine what it would be like with a dozen others in a given thread!

http://www.newtonnet.co.uk/temporary/avatartest.htm 

[#6]

On mobile at present so unable to check source. I'll take your word for it though. The link you provided renders fairly swiftly on my tablet but I take your point. I wonder if a size imposed limit can be placed on remote content.

[#7]

I agree they are a pain once the novelty has warn off, which in my case is after 3 seconds.

[#8]

I disagree.

[#9]

@bobpullen he's quite right about that 5th one, that would kill things for a lot of people. Whilst it may be against the forum rules, there's nothing to block it is there? Some fairly urgent action should be taken perhaps.

[#10]

This one is irritating...

[#11]

Suggestion for anyone else annoyed by the GIF issue

Add a Rule to your filters in uBlock Origin or AdBlock Plus like the following which blocks all user images served from Plusnet. Doesn't block externally host ones though.

||community.plus.net/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/

[#12]

Not really sure what the issue is here with the Bright Spark graphic - it is exactly the same as that in the place we have come from.

In the old place, Bright Spark indicated very experienced contributors recognised by the mods and Plusnet staff as making a valued contribution to helping other customers.

[#13]

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@VileReynard wrote:

This one is irritating...

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Nothing with Emma Stone is irritating

[#14]

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@Townman wrote:

In the old place, Bright Spark indicated very experienced contributors recognised by the mods and Plusnet staff as making a valued contribution to helping other customers.

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Thanks Townman. I didn't know that - do others? If not, it probably isn't worth having. If it is worth having, does it really need to be animated?

Incidentally, it was only when I looked at the graphic URL to be able to refer to it in this post did I realise it represented a 'bright spark'. I thought it just was a coloured line.

[#15]

There are lots of things that many people do not know, but that does not make those things universally useless!  Now that you know, it might help you to judge the value of the advice?

PS: This space now has a "THANK YOU" button to save you having to type the words!