Armed Polite Society

Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: Hawkmoon on September 10, 2017, 01:51:13 PM

Title: And yet another computer/Internet rant
Post by: Hawkmoon on September 10, 2017, 01:51:13 PM
The rant du jour is autoplay.

I'm a certified olde pharte. I learned how to read at an early age, I've been a reader almost all my life, and when I click on a link to a news story -- I want to read the article. If they want to put up a video and give me the option of viewing it -- whenever I may or may not choose to do so -- that's fine. But these days it seems all embedded videos are set for autoplay. More often than not, I'll be halfway through reading an artcle and, all of a suden, a voice starts blasting at me from my computer speakers. There's nothing on the screen to suggest where it's coming from, so I then have to stop reading, and scoll up and down until I can figure out where the video is that's making the racket, and perhaps silence it. Sometimes they can't even be stopped -- in which case I just close that site and look for an article on the topic on some other web site.

Awhile back I found a way in Firefox to disable autoplay, but it had other effects that were troublesome, so I had to go back and reactivate autoplay. Is there any way to put a stake through the heart of autoplay in Firefox without causing unwanted side effects?
Title: Re: And yet another computer/Internet rant
Post by: Doggy Daddy on September 10, 2017, 01:55:42 PM
It's even worse when it happens at work.
Title: Re: And yet another computer/Internet rant
Post by: Hawkmoon on September 10, 2017, 01:58:22 PM
It's even worse when it happens at work.

Roger that!
Title: Re: And yet another computer/Internet rant
Post by: zxcvbob on September 10, 2017, 02:18:12 PM
And how 'bout the really badly-designed pages that have multiple autoplay videos all going at the same time?   :mad:
Title: Re: And yet another computer/Internet rant
Post by: AmbulanceDriver on September 10, 2017, 10:46:28 PM
I've noticed "news" outlets are notoriously bad about that.   In the middle of the article, they'll have an auto-play video start up of their reporters basically reading you the article you're already reading!
Title: Re: And yet another computer/Internet rant
Post by: grampster on September 11, 2017, 12:13:15 AM
When that happens I just reach over and turn down my $16.00 Gigaware speakers hooked up to my laptop that produce better sound quality than my old B&O speakers and amp from the 70's.
Title: Re: And yet another computer/Internet rant
Post by: Firethorn on September 11, 2017, 12:44:43 AM
When that happens I just reach over and turn down my $16.00 Gigaware speakers hooked up to my laptop that produce better sound quality than my old B&O speakers and amp from the 70's.

My problem is when I'm already listening to something else.
Title: Re: And yet another computer/Internet rant
Post by: Hawkmoon on September 11, 2017, 06:05:57 AM
I've noticed "news" outlets are notoriously bad about that.   In the middle of the article, they'll have an auto-play video start up of their reporters basically reading you the article you're already reading!

Actually, the "article" is often basically a transcript of what they broadcast over the airwaves. I still prefer reading it rather than listening to it.
Title: Re: And yet another computer/Internet rant
Post by: Fly320s on September 11, 2017, 06:25:07 AM
I dislike autoplay videos as well.  I especially hate the videos that follow the page as I scroll down.  When I get to one of those websites, I immediately leave that website.