[Sir_Cmpwn]

No no no no no ;_;

I made this website, use it instead: https://mediacru.sh

It also does HTML5 GIFs and has a fallback for phones and such. BUT it's also open source, much higher quality, more featureful, and supports more than just GIFs.

Even though MediaCrush and gfycat started around the same time and MediaCrush is much better, I can't seem to get people to use it more. I guess our users are less evangelical.

[peeters]

There are two things that seem to be necessary for an image host to be successful on Reddit: 1) be extremely fast (why people hate i.minus compared to imgur), and 2) don't provide any content that can have sound.

I don't know what your service speed is like, but you break that second rule which seems really important to Reddit. Redditors don't actually seem to want "more featureful" in a n image host. Gfycat has an unquestionably clear sole purpose: to be a faster "GIF" host (by providing an HTML5 video option).

[ZeroGravitas]

This is the problem. Take your current code, host it on a different url (gifcrush?) and remove audio support.

[Houshalter]

Or just mute by default, but allow users to click to play sound.

[Sir_Cmpwn]

It remembers your preferred volume, though that feature isn't very discoverable. You could set it to zero and all videos would start muted. Ideas on making that more discoverable?

[munificent]

> Ideas on making that more discoverable?

1. Start off muted. 2. If the user views a video that has sound and is muted, put some small verbiage under the video saying it's muted.

[Sir_Cmpwn]

I don't like "start off muted". You can upload proper videos to MediaCrush, why should they be muted?

How about a little balloon thingy on the volume UI that tells you it'll be remembered?

[bobsgame]

You need a flashier, more colorful logo and a bright red BETA tag and a cute name and silly slogan and a login link and a moving number counter on the front page. gfycat looks alive, yours looks static and cold. mediacru.sh is hard to type and not as memorable of a name. Average internet user won't care about "open source" or features they don't know are missing.

Other than that, great work. You can do it.

[Sir_Cmpwn]

Suggestions on a better name? Ours was suggested by a user, we're no good at naming things. Also, we had a beta tag for a while, but then we removed it because our product was feature-complete.

Lying about "bandwidth saved" doesn't sit well with me.

[bobsgame]

Names are really hard and I cannot suggest a better name. Since you provide more than just gif conversion, it is appropriate. The URL is a bit hard to type, though it does have some novelty to it. If you already have momentum you should just stick with it. I can only say that gfycat has a cute name that is more memorable, which is why they will gain momentum on a site like Reddit.

The beta tag is a big red marketing thing that makes it feel like a Google service and makes people feel like they are using something cutting edge. It looks good. People like certifications and symbols and affiliations and logos, it makes things feel official and valuable. You can always be in beta as you are always adding features. You could put a bunch of Github and Open Source and EFF logos then if you want to play up the open source aspect, most average Reddit users won't care but it will look cool.

The "bandwidth saved" thing is a gimmick and nobody will even think about what it means, it is just a big moving number on the homepage, like the storage space thing on GMail. It makes it feel alive and valuable. So don't focus on the fact that it's useless, you'll get frustrated. Try to learn from the marketing significance of it.

I think the theme switcher isn't too important. Just make it more stylish and keep pushing, add account management, and you will surely continue gaining momentum. You have something great!

[teach]

MediaCrush is a great name, IMO. But mediacru.sh is gross.

For the record, I disagree with the BETA tag and the "bandwidth saved" thing. The real issue is that it's easier to upload to gfycat.

[glax]

From a real user who uses gfycat all the time

Your site requires some nits & bits of polishing here and there. Make it more fancy.It looks like any other github project. The page of gfycat is very minimalistic,only fetch url and upload file no fancy drag an drop or documentation or api stuff. Talk to some 4chan & reddit users for some pointers ,they will gladly(I have done my part ;)) Sorry for the harsh word.Nothing but suggestions.

[teach]

I've been rooting for MediaCrush from the beginning, but there are two things I prefer about gfycat:

1) Their scrubber handle is REALLY slick and easy to use.

2) I never have to worry that gfycat will make noise if I blindly open a link in a new tab.

If you could give me a cookie so that mediacrush links will ALWAYS start muted for ME, no matter what the author or URL say, I'd be much happier.

And something neither one of you get right (I think):

If I open five animated GIFs each in their own tab, the images don't start playing until I switch to that tab. So once I make a given tab active, I get to see the animation starting from the beginning. Both gfycat and MediaCrush start playing the animation right away, so when I eventually make that tab active, I have to rewind to see from the start. (Or, in your case, click play if autoplay is off. Which isn't as bad but still less convenient than "play on focus" that I get with animated GIFs.)

Anyway, my $0.02. I care about quality and open source, but the average Redditor/4chan'r cares not about such things.

[Sir_Cmpwn]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll put some thought into playing autoplayed videos only after the tab gets focus.

https://github.com/MediaCrush/MediaCrush/issues/543

[glax]

Ohh and i forgot /fetch like feature just like in gyfcat can be nice addition. http://gfycat.com/fetch/https://mediacru.sh/static/demo.gif

[Sir_Cmpwn]

You can paste a URL from your clipboard into the home page of MediaCrush, providing a similar functionality. This also allows you to make albums of a bunch of URLs.