Post History

*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.*

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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](https://proposals.codidact.com/posts/288815).

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 others we should be aware of in discussing what approach to take?