Why is there a lack of gifs/videos on Lemmy? - eviltoast

I partially know the answer to this question…You cannot host videos directly on Lemmy, but that is understandable, video hosting is pretty expensive, but Lemmy also doesn’t support video embeds(videos don’t play within Lemmy), which means that you will have to open the link in a new tab/window to watch it. Which is pretty annoying/inconvenient, and that is probably the main reason why video/gif posts are just not popular here. Even if someone does post it, users mostly can’t be bothered to open it.

I’ve read somewhere that this is intentional and that is “privacy and security matter”. But that kind of doesn’t make sense to me. Alright, I understand how it can be a privacy concern, since the sites on which the videos are hosted can track you. But we switched from Reddit…Not really known for being privacy friendly… People that are concerned about their privacy will know what to do/not to do.

I’m not knowledgable enough to understand how it can be a security matter. I guess if the video is hosted on a malicious site…But wouldn’t that be easily solved by simply allowing only trusted, well known sites?

Video is simply the most superior type of media there is, and I think that not having easy access to it on Lemmy is hurting it.

Are there any other reasons why we don’t see video posts on Lemmy, and are there any plans to make videos more easily consumable on Lemmy?

    • @sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      3•11 months ago

      I agree for the most part, but prefer video to animated images mostly because of file sizes (only applicable to longer videos). And I prefer audio for many things, like podcasts and audiobooks because I frequently listen at work or while doing chores around the house. I would miss things on screen with video, so forcing audio means the creator will likely describe instead of show things.

      It really depends on the media though. For things on lemmy, I’m mostly looking for text and maybe images, and I ignore pretty much everything else. Then again, I mostly use it for keeping tabs on technical content, and discussion things that don’t really benefit from putting a ton of effort into production value (e.g. I want broad opinions on something, not a well researched exposé).