[Discussion] Flash videos on the forum?

[Darth Wong]

I discovered that there's a mod which allows people to post Flash videos on the forum. And by that, I mean actually in-lining them, not just linking to a youtube video. This could be handy, or amusing, but perhaps it would just be annoying. Any thoughts?

[Lord Poe]

I discovered that there's a mod which allows people to post Flash videos on the forum. And by that, I mean actually in-lining them, not just linking to a youtube video. This could be handy, or amusing, but perhaps it would just be annoying. Any thoughts?

As I said in the VS forum, a size restriction would be a wise thing. And esteemed poster Bounty suggested that it be set NOT to autoload the video.

[Frank Hipper]

This would require people downloading/clicking start for themselves, I hope; a few of us luddites are still burdened with dial-up.
Opening every other thread to find it trying to load a 70mb video would be absolute hell...

[Spyder]

I'm in favor but people are going to need to be responsible with their thread titles, 56k warnings and the like.

That being said, if they can be controlled so that they only download when you click them there shouldn't be any problems.

[Surlethe]

I'm in favor but people are going to need to be responsible with their thread titles, 56k warnings and the like.

They're also going to need to be responsible with their use of videos. Pic spam is annoying enough without having flash vid spam, too. I think the moderating team is good enough to keep a handle on it in the main forums, though Testing might become nigh intolerable.

And if we're talking about mods to phpBB, might I direct people's attention to a possible LaTeX mod? The thread didn't receive much attention when it was first posted.

From a constituent:

Suggestion, restrict it, either to senator/mods etc. only, or by some other criteria that would be easy to implement(maybe only usergroup people). This could easily start hogging up bandwidth, or even if the videos are from off-site, could easily use readers bandwidth. Some of the board members are from bandwidth limited countries.
Even if implemented for everyone, atleast make it default to off.

[Sea Skimmer]

That would be annoying as all hell if people can inline videos of any sort, and it could lead to massive bandwidth drains on whoever is hosting the video.

[Coyote]

So far it hasn't been a problem; but if it becomes problematic...

Exposing my ignorance of computer stuff, if such videos are kept only in art forum, would it still be a drag on the whole rest of the board?

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

People inlining gigantic images is bad enough. Pic spam is also bad enough. I like having them have to link to YouTube or wherever instead of attempting to inline some obnoxiously huge or twitch-inducing Flash video. So I, personally, would file the ability to directly inline Flash videos on the board as an annoyance.

[The Yosemite Bear]

warning for us the serfs and luddites (no cable but my DSL is working fine)

[Hotfoot]

The way I understand this is that you would inline flash videos (such as youtube videos, which are flash videos), with the usual controls, meaning that serious bandwidth concerns don't matter as much unless someone clicks on the video, such as the second post down on this livejournal.

If we can't ban certain sites, then we can always make it a hard rule that specific sites (like pornotube) are not permitted, and anyone violating this rule be summarily punished. If nothing else, we can give it a test drive and see how it works out if people are really gung ho for it.

I really don't see much of a functional use for it though. I mean, okay, otherwise you have to open a new page or window, but really there's not much purpose. It'd be more for fun than anything, and people could get really stupid about it. LaTeX seems like a better mod functionally, and would add something to the debates.

[Surlethe]

Another PM from another constituent:

Speaking to you as a representative of the Senate, I would like to drop my opinion concerning the Flash videos on the forum thread currently active.

Right now, I am quite against the idea of adding an option to the board that would allow embedded flash videos (I am assuming primarily material from YouTube) videos to be played within threads. Not only would it allow the potential for grievous spamming, but it could also affect the stability of the board and/or browsers for some users. Additionally, it seems rather superfluous and I don't see a need to blogify SDN and go further than following a text link to a YouTube video that plays in another window or tab.

Personally, I think the only thing SDN is genuinely lacking option or code-wise is a spoiler tag.

[phongn]

I'd rather flash video not be inlined - too much potential for abuse.

[Edi]

Rather not. Too much spam potential.

[Surlethe]

Another day, another PM:

Please post in the flash thread.

I have concerns about the flash video in-lining as well. Regardless of dial-up, I run the Brotherhood of the Monkey, and I'm a little concerned about the possibility of NSFW videos showing up in there. I know that this is against rules of both board and forum, but I foresee problems in the future.

As already discussed before, spam is definitely a possible problem with this idea. Even on cable internet, when I visit a site that has more than 2-3 YouTube videos posted, it tends to lock everything up briefly. I don't personally wish to see this on the board, but if I have to deal, I will.

On top of that, IIRC, if there are more than one YouTube videos posted on a page, sometimes this screws up whether all of them will be able to play or not, unless viewed as separate entities. So this could create a problem completely outside the spam/dial-up issues, if allowed.

Thank you for your time.

[The Yosemite Bear]

Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I dislike it.

[Surlethe]

Regarding the possibility of inlined Flash videos: I see that there are a number of people who have voiced concern about the potential for spam this option would create.

While I can see where these posters are coming from, it should be pointed out that a potential for spam already exists simply from the already existing option to inline image macros and animated GIFs -- and when such spam does occur, it is invariably jumped on and de-inlined, deleted or moved pretty efficiently. Moreover, image spam can be justification for disciplinary actions, and as a result, it tends to be comparatively rare. I would imagine that the same would hold for inlining Flash videos. Moreover, I really can't see that posters would be more likely to inline NSFW videos than NSFW macros.

However, if this is to be permitted, I second the idea that the default setting should be "off", requiring people to click the movie to start it. This would also eliminate concerns for bandwidth for posters with limited access, and the possibility of multiple movies causing browsers to freeze up.

Another idea that was raised was to limit it to a certain usergroup. If this is possible, it might be an idea to make all members of the board members of such a usergroup by default: then spammers can simply have their membership of said usergroup revoked, eliminating the possibility for repeat offenders without having to become more draconian.

[Dalton]

Absolutely not. Just look at the image macro spam we have now.

[Spyder]

Quite a bit of opposition to the idea. Maybe we should tackle the image macro spam first before looking at this.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

This is a message board, not a picture board, and I'd like it to stay that way, let alone become a movie board.

[Darth Wong]

Actually, if the videos don't auto-play, they would be less intrusive than images currently are. All you'd see is a black square unless you hit the "Play" button. GIF animations, on the other hand, involuntarily play and also take up bandwidth regardless of whether you want to see them or not.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Actually, if the videos don't auto-play, they would be less intrusive than images currently are. All you'd see is a black square unless you hit the "Play" button. GIF animations, on the other hand, involuntarily play and also take up bandwidth regardless of whether you want to see them or not.

Well, do they auto-play or not? That's pretty much the defining question, then.

[Spyder]

Would it be possible to see a sandbox test in action?

[The Yosemite Bear]

Would it be possible to see a sandbox test in action?

only in amp or testing.....

[Surlethe]

And more feedback from the shitons:

Does this flash phpBB modification load the flash animation in a non-running state? If not, there is great potential for abuse and general annoying shit, because flash can (and usually does) come with a soundtrack. So when the page loads, you can get a series of flash animations staring all at once.

Many flash soundtracks playing at once... is SPARTAAAAA!!!

[The Yosemite Bear]

no shit, we don't wnat to become 4chan, or some other sewer, and my autistic spectrum ears can barely handle the YTMND links that get posted in AMP and testing as it is....