Update: Thanks to bbb, we may have a solution for this plague.

Quick note from a comment I just left on a the Weber story currently on the front page. TL;DR: Stop posting the 17MB Urban Meyer double-boom GIF (seriously, how is that even 17MB – you can fit multiple Sega Genesis cartridges into that space)...

I've replaced the GIF in the op's comment with a JPG because the square Meyer double-boom GIF you all are so fond of posting is 17 FREAKING MEGABYTES. That's nuts.

To give you some context, the GIFs we post in articles are routinely 5 MB or smaller. Closer to 2 or 3 MB if we can pull it off. Twitter's upload limit for GIFs is like 2.5 MB. 17 MB IS GIGANTIC and while it doesn't impact server resources, it has a drastic effect on page render times for visitors loading the page/GIF for the first time. Add in other GIFs from other commenters and you quickly have a bloated page with comments that is a pain in the ass to load.

I'm not trying to call you out, DogHouse02, because everyone loves GIFs, but please try to keep your GIFs as light as possible. How do you ensure your GIFs are light? Download to desktop, right-click, then hit up "Get Info" or "Properties." If you don't know how to do that, then you probably shouldn't post GIFs.

I hate to be a jerk about this, but that square Meyer double-boom GIF is a plague on the internet. If you insist on using that GIF, use the one we created, which is 75% smaller while packing better resolution and aspect ratio.

I like GIFs just as much as the next guy, but I'm not going to lie... I've been giving them a lot of thought lately and may consider alternative solutions if we can't figure out a way to self-police this problem of gigantic GIFs. Examples of solutions to this problem include:

– Showing a link to the GIF instead of the GIF itself
– Hiding comments on page load and forcing members/visitors to click a link to show them
– Publicly mocking the next person that posts that 17–FREAKING-MEGABYTE-GIF (can you tell I hate it?)

Thanks for reading!