The first post in this thread used a GIF, which caught my attention.
I was sure they had been declared verboten, per this thread…
Can you post a GIF in a comment? - About This Message Board - Straight Dope Message Board
…but the topic doesn’t appear in the TOS.
Terms of Service - Straight Dope Message Board
This isn’t a complaint - I like GIFs! If they’re allowed, I intend to use them plentifully, once I figure out how…
They’re allowed, but if they’re obnoxious, distracting or off-topic, the link will be broken. This is pretty much at any Mods discretion.
They are far more likely to be removed in the more serious Forums like FQ, GD or P&E.
This is what I recall from the last Modloop discussion that talked about it at all. I believe that was a while ago.
All NSFW rules still apply of course.
My own personal pleading, is please be joking about using them plentifully. Many of them would strike me as obnoxious pretty quickly. Currently they’re used very lightly.
ETA: Looks like the conversation we had was June 25, 2021.
Mods digress all the time!
I am. And thanks for the clarification.
Argh, I can’t even blame spell check. That was all me. I’ll fix it in my post though to avoid confusion.
Oh. You (OP) don’t mean a GIF.
You mean a GIF animation. One that would loop-play continuously while on-screen. A “GIF”, as a term by itself, is a static image no different functionally from a JPG or PNG. Just a historically older and less efficient format.
For anyone interested in this topic from the users’, not Mods’, perspective there are plug-ins for Chrome & Edge that cause GIFs and similar simple animations to animate either not at all, or only once, or continuously which they’d do if not interfered with. A plug-in like that is very helpful to clean up the visual clutter on a lot of sites.
The one I use, that works on both Chrome and Edge is Animation Policy (google.com). I have no affiliation with these folks, but it seems to be solid software devoid of bells, whistles, or tracking.
I maintain my animation policy at “only once”, and I never knew the GIF in the post cited in the OP was animated. By the time I’d scrolled down far enough to see it at all, it had already run its course and was static thereafter.
Very handy. Can recommend.
You are technically correct. (Which, as we all know, is the best kind of “correct”.)
But with the crazy technology these kids have today, the idea of a non-animated GIF is as ancient and outdated as a non-smart phone. You know, they saw one of those in a museum, or maybe Grandpa uses one of those.
That’s probably why you’re (very technically correctly) clarifying.
You’re both winners. However, in another, more accurate way, Barney is the winner.
Aaah.
In my geezerdom I was not aware that the word “GIF” had mutated to mean “Any animated short-run video regardless of underlying technology.” I thought those were “shorts”.
Silly me. I’ll collect my galoshes and cane and see myself out.
Firefox has this capability built in, but not accessible through the standard settings. You need to go to about:config, find the setting “image.animation-mode”, and set it to “once” (to play the animation once) or “none” (to not animate at all).