Am I the only one? If I’m identifying and one of the observations is moving it puts me on edge and I have to quickly go to the next page. If people want to add GIFs I would prefer them to be the 2nd photo, not the one that shows up in Identify. But perhaps I am the odd one out? And another thing - …

For some of us, unexpected GIFs can induce dizziness, nausea, headaches, even seizures. I can watch and enjoy a GIF if I know it’s coming, but otherwise, instant vertigo. So this is an accessibility issue. Just put the GIF as the second image – that’s all anyone seems to be asking.

You know, no one in the world is more than temporarily able-bodied. I look forward with interest to the day when you, suffering from some difficulty that other people could easily help out with or avoid exacerbating, get a reaction like the one you’re offering here. Which frankly verges on trolling. …

We’re having a discussion where people do disagree and can learn. The comment supports an alternative to seeing GIF’s that isn’t entirely unreasonable, though it does come from an assumption very common for many of us; that the computer things we can do are easy for others to do. It may also come …

If you do upload a gif please, please, please don’t make it the first image on the observation. Having one or more gifs on a page full of observations is so distracting and irritating. All those images with conflicting motion is awful.

I respectfully disagree. The original yard projects umbrella has several of these on the stats page. They tend to get the most faves which implies they are appealing to users. It also implies that they add data that can’t be captured by a static image. There must be valid technical reasons why s…

[image] stockslager: I respectfully disagree. […] They tend to get the most faves which implies they are appealing to users. It also implies that they add data that can’t be captured by a static image. The request was not to refrain from uploading GIFs at all, but to refrain from using this a…

Afraid I’m not following you here. The argument I was responding to was that they are distracting and irritating. [image] soobie: Having one or more gifs on a page full of observations is so distracting and irritating. That is what I’m respectfully disagreeing with. I find them engaging. …

If you read the post carefully, it was not an objection to GIFs per se, but specifically to having them as the first image – “distracting and irritating” referred to the effect of having one or more GIFs (with competing movements vying for one’s visual attention) on a page of observations. Just bec…

I think this would be going too far and would limit discovery. Hiding them as the second image would limit their reach. And there is sooooo much information in them. I wonder if it’s possible to have a profile setting that disallows animation.

[image] stockslager: Hiding them as the second image would limit their reach. Why? If the observation is only of interest because it has a GIF, it seems to me that the GIF is only providing novelty value and not any real information. There is a project for animated observations. If people li…

GIF Observations Drive me Crazy

General

bouteloua June 26, 2026, 8:22pm 36

Moving some posts below, from a different topic, here.

Topic		Replies	Views
Allow users to choose whether gifs (or videos in future) should run automatically Feature Requests web	17	372	June 30, 2026
How to convert a video so it can be posted on iNat? General	19	2166	February 26, 2024
Upload videos Feature Requests web , android-app , under-review , mobile-app	42	8604	June 4, 2026
Observations without media should not allow IDs by other users Feature Requests	24	809	December 13, 2024
Observers Mocking Identifiers? General	52	4060	September 6, 2023

GIF Observations Drive me Crazy

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