@bouteloua explained why embedding isn’t a good idea earlier in that thread https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/embed-media-by-pasting-a-url-to-the-media-e-g-from-youtube/8272/4:
I think as hard as it is, everything should be hosted on iNat itself. From before local copies of images were created, there are thousands of observations that used to be research grade but no longer are because the link with Facebook, Picasa, or Flickr is no longer working (i.e. user deleted the original image or revoked access).
That’s an opinion I share. Materials that are a part of the observation should be a part of the iNat data to keep it self-contained and internally consistent.
In the mobile app issue linked above, @kueda gave his opinion that supporting uploads of video file formats would be the way to go, but “it’s a heavy (and potential expensive) lift”.
Personally, I have adopted the workflow for my vids of:
- load into OpenShot, strip audio, crop start & end, deshake, and zoom to crop the wobbly bits in the margins that result from deshaking
- upload to my YouTube channel
- add a link in the description when I submit the corresponding observation with one or more still cover photos (usually taken around the same time as the video - but if unavailable, I use one or more screenshots from the vid; usually one will suffice for ID purposes)
- add a “Video Link” field to that observation that also contains the YouTube link
- edit the YouTube video description to link back to the iNat observation
This may seem like a lot to go through vs. doing a gif, but honestly, I find making a good gif fiddly, and results in a lower quality rendering of what I’m trying to depict in the video. I agree with iNat’s reasons for not wanting to support animated gifs, and not wanting to support embeds either. Links to YouTube, for me, are the best compromise until such time as iNat can actually support video formats (though I have no illusions of that happening anytime soon).
In my workflow I mention including a still photo or photos to establish an ID. If it later comes to light that these don’t contain enough to establish the ID, I can always take more screenshots and add them.
Finally, if my YouTube account ever goes away, well, that would suck. With luck, I’d still be around to put the originals on some other platform and fix all of those broken links. If not … I did my best to make sure each observation didn’t depend on any linked video, but was merely enhanced by it.