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Let's not allow animated avatars.
The first animated avatar someone has used here (https://cooking.codidact.com/posts/288814) points out that we don't have any rules addressing them. Let's not allow this.
This falls into the same category as someone using all blanks in a user name, a profile picture that is all the background color, appears to be a button, or whatever. All these things have in common someone trying to be cutesy and get attention by flaunting unwritten norms at the expense and annoyance of everyone else.
The general metric should be "what if everyone did this?".
Most of us have enough restraint to avoid exploiting small loopholes in the rules just because we can. The rules, both written and embodied in the software, can't ever cover all contingencies. Most people recognize this and understand that it's in everyone's advantage not to exploit such loopholes, even if it might be to an individual's advantage in the short term.
I'd rather not have to write rules about all details. But now that it's happened we have to address it. <sigh>
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Switch off animation until a decision is made
I've posted an answer listing possible options which can be discussed over time, but I recommend that in the meantime animation is suppressed completely.
Switching animation off everywhere for everyone is much quicker and easier than implementing a user setting or a community setting. If we wait for a community decision to be made, and then wait for it to be implemented, we have a period during which no user can choose to prevent animations being displayed to them, and any user can choose to set their avatar to a potentially dangerous flickering image. See Photosensitive epilepsy.
This is in addition to the general irritation of not being able to choose whether animations appear in your reading material.
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I was in the middle of drafting a very similar Meta question when I noticed this one had just been posted. I will instead post my thoughts here as an answer, to prompt further discussion. I see the current situation (everyone sees animated avatars whether they like it or not) as a problem, but there is more than one option for improving this. If you favour one of these options, please post an answer explaining why for voting - votes on this answer won't support any one solution as they are all listed here.
Currently, user avatars can be animated. I don't get the impression this was by design, it just wasn't prevented.
Here's an example of a question that (at the time of posting) has an animated avatar below it.
How do we want to treat animated avatars?
- No animated avatars
- Animated avatars with no restriction
- A per user setting to opt out of seeing animated avatars (default animation)
- A per user setting to opt in to seeing animated avatars (default no animation)
Profile page and avatars below posts
There is also the question of whether the animation should be the same in both the profile picture, and the smaller avatar picture that shows under a post. They are both the same picture, but should they both be animated, or should there be the option to only see the animation in the user profile, and not under a post?
Per community, or per community per user
It might also be worth considering whether there should be a community level setting, so a community that doesn't want animation can disable it without stopping other communities having animation. It might be useful per user too, so a user can set animated avatars on a community they never view at work (perhaps Code Golf), and set no animation on a community they often view at work (perhaps Software Development).
Accessibility
There are a few points to bear in mind when allowing animated user avatars:
- Users should have the option of disabling an animation
- Animations should not feature flashing or flickering without a warning. Since there cannot be a warning before seeing a user avatar, do we need every upload of an animated avatar to be moderator approved before it is displayed? If so, the first frame of the animation could be used until the animation is approved. Alternatively, we could make animations opt-in, and have a warning at the point of opting in.
Are there other points we should be aware of in discussing what approach to take?
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