Gif only replies are a waste of time

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on a more productive note. being able to have a filter for pictures and gifs that individuals can toggle if they want would be nice.

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GIF-monic Institute — I don't care!

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Strike one against Johnny!

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So that’s why everyone has me muted… :wink:

Firefly I aim to misbehave GIF

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Honestly, I haven’t noticed gif-only replies to an extent that it was bothersome so far. Hmmm. I mean, now we’ll likely have two or three threads that are nothing but gifs … But, that will burn itself out in a few days I’m sure.

However.

It could/may be possible for the Powers that be who may or may not be From the Future to implement a restriction everywhere but “Off topic” that replies must include a full sentence of text with any attached image, gif or otherwise?

Of course, this will only encourage those troublemakers, well like me, to post a short sentence in tiny text before the image… Part of the fun in any fun friendly community like this one is to tweak the Powers that be … (in a friendly way of course) game the system… fight the power… hack the planet even?

Hope I haven’t contributed to any frustration with your use of the forums leading up to this thread.

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I don’t think this place has gone full-on memeroo yet. But, if there’s a consistent offender that you notice, you can set them to be ignored.

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Oh boy, do I agree with this. I’ve ignored one or two people who seem to reply with gifs and no text nearly all the time, but if there was a way to stop gifs from playing or block them, I’d be all for it.

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I rarely use gifs here. But when I do, I only use them to react to things. I also sometimes make my own gifs for the fan art thread.

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I like the gifs, adds a bit of spice

I’ll take a well chosen gif over a wall-o-text post any day

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I think a lot of us are missing the point here, which seems to be that they’re a waste of time.

Whether or not time is a relative construct or a wasteable commodity, temporal displacement is a real problem. Let’s be the helpers, ok?

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Definitely not here to yuck anyones yum, or to talk down about anyones opinions- but in my mind: if MST didn’t have memes (references to other pop culture) it would be a very sparse and infinitely less humorous thing to me. So these forums are just an extension of a lot of people using MST humor just like we do in real life, and I use gifs a lot in my life outside of these forums.

So I think they are valuable in the right context, and are a part of the comedy zeitgeist at this point.

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Fleming discovered penicillin in the time it takes one of us slackers to post some lame gif in here.

In WW2 the Seabees used to build an airstrip in the time it takes to post a gif.

The Big Bang happened in significantly less time than it takes to post one.

So yes, it is a waste of time.

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Nerd Alert GIF

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revenge of the nerds 80s GIF

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Mom! Dad! That cute blonde acknowledged my existence today!

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arya stark GIF

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Here’s this gif I made for example: a Bonehead doing the Spooky Dance.
Spooky Dance (Bonehead)

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I feel like the animated gif has become an extension of the English language. The right animated gif can succinctly express one’s thoughts in a way that the written word doesn’t quite achieve. It strengthens the sense of community as other people who know the gif can establish an immediate connection with the gif-poster. Not only are you communicating that you have connected the reference to the topic at hand, but there’s probably some exact gif that others can post that can express that they understood the reference, and then they can chip in with their own gifs, creating a sort of dialogue without words. It’s a fascinating extension of language and I’m not so caught up in my English degree that I can’t see something fascinating in what’s happening.

There was a time when the simple emoji was viewed with the same sort of scorn. People posting a reply with just a smiley face or a frowny face were deemed to be adding nothing to the conversation, although there was value in that simple expression of approval or disapproval. We added pictographs to our language. What’s more, they were universal pictographs. Barriers of communication were torn down allowing for freer communication to anyone regardless of language or vocabulary. Discourse was no longer for the elite.

Furthermore,

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