Bloody auto play videos!

[Ginkythefangedhellpigofdoom]

Mnhq, Please look into and fix the videos automatically playing on the site!

I think it's the videos on the side of the screen when you reading a thread.

I'm using puffin on an iPad.

Thankyou.

Now a new video! Weird pregnancy symptoms ask your midwife. With sound.

That's a crap excuse anya! The data wouldn't be being used to such a huge level if we weren't getting videos playing that no one chose to view! We as users shouldn't be bombarded with noise and videos that we haven't chosen to look at.

Browsing a normal site shouldn't in any way be somewhere you can only visit using wifi because otherwise you run out of data doing so! If a site does choose to run that way they will likely find themselves fast losing users.

I'm reaching the end of my tether here too, so you mean the ads will always play but just silently? It's a no from me too.

Please make them stop

On android mobile

They use ALL my data allowance

So can't use mumsnet on android

Is there any point in complaining really if MN want to get paid by the advertisers

Then we just will have to put up with advert videos or not go on MN

When it uses all of our data

Why should MN care about that they will get the money from the adverts?

I much prefer the idea of no adverts (certainly no videos) but that is me wanting to live in cloud cookoo land from a time years ago

I had one for a movie in my pm box yesterday,covered half the reply box

I'm on iPhone app but obviously you can't access messages through it & not sure if its via the mobile site or desktop.

As the user experience of Mumsnet and many other websites improves, unfortunately this does mean they will also use up more data. We always try to ensure that this doesn't end up just gobbling your data, but genuinely improving user experience.

Really? I thought one of the current priorities in web design, UX and SEO was faster, lighter pages?

Mumsnet talk is really just words and smileys

So shouldn't use much data really

Why do we need all our data used up with adverts and videos?

I have my desktop showing the mobile site. It's a lot more stripped down.

Hi there @SubtitlesOn,

Could you please post a screenshot of what you're referring to? We're a bit confused whether you're referring to autoplay ads, or autoplay Mumsnet videos.

Hi guys, thanks for letting us know.

We've been trialling playing our videos on desktop only, in a similar way that some of our adverts play video. The data usage of a 300px wide video is low (especially on broadband), which is why a lot of other websites also use autoplay videos.

Some of you have mentioned that the video is autoplaying with sound switched on, this shouldn't happen! We'll look into that now. Thanks for your patience.

Still autoplaying with sound for me...yet yesterday they were mute. So it's a step backwards!

is the MN plan for the video to autoplay - even without sound, that's incredibly annoying.

oh I think I'm talking about autoplay MN videos - whatever they are, an autoplay video makes the site really hard to use. I actually installed adblocker for the first time because of the volume of ads on MN but of course it doesn't stop these videos.

Videos playing with sound on automatically for me as well.

Iv listed again and again which videos are playing! Iv never said it's ads that are playing although some of them have been autoplaying to (without sound)

Iv given you the titles of the videos that are playing

You can say that they shouldn't be eating data but they are!

I see now though that you aren't actually having a problem with the site you as a sight have made a conscious decision to bombard us with unwanted content. Wether we like it or not.

Classy mnhq, real classy.

The thing is, autoplay on other sites serves a purpose - on sites like Facebook, you go there to see pictures and videos among other content. And even the Facebook app has the option to turn off autoplay. News sites commonly have autoplay as you expect to see news on video format (though I hate this) - I struggle to see the user benefit on mumsnet? Especially every thread. I could understand on the home page or a dedicated video page, but this is a discussion forum, so users tend to load lots of pages in succession. One video might not use a lot of data but users might easily load 100+ pages in a single visit causing the data load to massively ramp up. Not all of your users are on broadband. You might at least consider a low bandwidth option in customise. This doesn't affect me directly any more but back when I was using a dongle regularly for Internet this would have cut off my ability to access mumsnet entirely.

Do the site designers not actually use the site any more? I find a lot of the changes these days to be completely baffling and I have no idea who would have thought they were a good idea

Seriously though - if you're using Talk, on the desktop site, scroll right to the bottom & click on the Movile site link. Then see if you still have the problem.

Good solution - thanks Empress

Seriously, why won't these stop? I've just had to endure "Weird Pregnancy Symptoms" - I'm 47 and DS is 15! I am NOT planning any more!

I'm really baffled as to why these videos are forced on us without us opting in to watch them? Why do you think that when I'm reading a thread about, say, tennis, I want to have a video about pregnancy symptoms playing at the same time? In what world is that a logical conclusion to draw?

genuinely improving user experience.

I am looking forward to hear how playing videos I haven't chosen to watch, about things that are of no relevance to me, alongside threads I HAVE chosen to read, is doing this?

"In what world is that a logical conclusion to draw?"

I'd be interested to hear how the people behind this think it will help the site make money. It beats ad blocker of course, but still, what is the benefit meant to be for MN?

Exactly, in what world do mnhq think that if your reading a thread about miscarriage that to at the same time having a video (with sound) about the symptoms of pregnancy playing without you choosing to watch it is in any way appropriate. Or actually acceptable!

I've selected the mobile site option, let's see if it makes a difference! I came on here to say that I've just had the macaroni cheese video playing on the desktop site, and the sound was there for about five seconds and then faded away. The video kept playing, but without sound.

PC - Firefox.

Not accidentally clicking. Can be paused, but restart after you refresh the thread.

R Kelly thread (in Chat) auto playing DV video, which is completely bad taste considering what he has done, imo!!

It had stopped for a while, and not all the videos auto play. For example the tech video on this thread doesn't auto play.

" It beats ad blocker of course"
It won't even do that if lots of heavy users shift to the mobile site. I've got 'acceptable ads' turned on with ABP, and I whitelist any sites that don't have intrusive ads - adblocking has become much less heavy handed these days. Forcing video on people will most likely lead to them just finding a way around it.