Picture a scene of a police officer attempting to talk a person out of committing suicide
Police officer: Hey, buddy. Do you mind putting down that GIF? Just put it down and back away from the ledge.
The person attempting suicide: I thought they'd be funny.
Police officer: I know, you clicked on the GIF option and picked the funniest thing you could think of but it added nothing to your post. But, it really didn't. I get it.
The person attempting suicide: It's just, that I got addicted.
Police officer: I know. But they were never really funny.
The person attempting suicide: They were hilarious, and now I am very depressed.
Police officer: I get that. But, I really wouldn't go as far as calling them hilarious. Slightly amusing, barely. But, never hilarious.
The person attempting suicide: In denial they were very hilarious.
Police officer: Okay, I definitely wouldn't say very.
The person attempting suicide: Dude, I will end my life if you don't say they're hilarious.
Police officer: I get that. But, I really don't want any record of me saying that. I have a lot of reasons why.
The person jumps
20 Years later: The officer's retirement party.
Police officer: I had a long, successful career. But I guess my one regret would be letting that person jump off and die............ Without telling them why GIFs suck!
Scene over
Congratulations!!!
It's official, dear people in our COMmunity! We have officially used every GIF in every situation ever at least 10 times per person. It's really time to quit while we're ahead. Like, really. As in, PLEASE! I BEG TO GOD OF YOU TO STOP!!
I get it, it's funny you wrote in your post and instead of just pressing Enter twice to start a new paragraph you decided to write that word in the GIF section and pick a GIF and use it as a divider. So, instead of me just reading your post smoothly, there's now a GIF vaguely resembling what you just said because you had to dig deep down in the search word since you've already used all the top ones, didn't ya?
Seeing that happens 5 times a day while reading posts simply makes me: ANGRY
Get it? I am angry, the context of what I am saying shows me as angry, and yet I felt the need to add a GIF of an angry kid just in case you didn't what anger looks like. Oh, and it says angry at the bottom. It is also funny because it is a kid.
Now, be honest, how many times have you seen that GIF? Why did it ever add? Did we as adults not know what anger looks like?
GIFs Are Pointless.
I am sorry you had to learn it this way. But, let's be honest, when was the last time you saw a GIF that added anything to the post? I could tell you that, in my entire history of reading Comedy Open Mic posts, there was a total of 2 posts where the GIFs added something. And I don't mean since the Rumble or since I started The Comedy Open Mic community here. But all the way since Steemit days. Only two posts where GIFs added something since February 2018.
There are two reasons behind that:
- A) The GIF adds nothing since it is saying something you already said
or
- B) The GIF is funny, but it is not yours, so even if it is funny, you don't deserve any credit.
The latter in specific is the visual equivalence of copying-pasting some stand-up comedian's joke.
Distraction
Like I said, if you put out a GIF that already states something you said then there's no point to it. It's just an extra thing I need to get through while reading the post. GIFs are more of a distraction than anything when you really think about it because they're too different.
Like one GIF is of a blonde child, the other one is of some old man running. They always ruin the flew of the post as while the written words have certain pattern and delivery suddenly comes an angry cartoon character followed by some woman from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, you honestly don't see how that ruins things? So, when will it stop?
Here's a GIF with the word "when". Did it improve the post? Did it make what I said funny? If it did, is it because of what I am saying or because the GIF itself is funny?
Maybe if I suddenly shift the character and use Grey's Anatomy Christina Yang it would make it funnier?
What about this one with Childish Gambino running with the word "When" in GIF from a music video of a song that didn't even have the word "when" in the fucking lyrics.
In Conclusion
I get it, you don't trust your readers to know what running, walking, being angry, sad, or anything looks like that you feel the need to put it in visual form after already writing. I mean, how else would I know what a football pitch looks like without a GIF of Cristiano Ronaldo playing football? It's obviously the same thing.
Also, thank you for adding a GIF of a person drinking water after saying "I drank water", I would have NEVER guesses what that is like as I spent my life prior to that moment snorting water through my nose like an elephant.
Now my joke is funnier because I added a visual of an elephant drinking water because none of you know what an elephant drinking water. Even though the joke itself doesn't make because elephantsonly suck the water part of the way up and then use their trunks to squirt the water into their mouths.
So, let me phrase it in a way you understand.
This also applies to people who put copyright-free pictures ever paragraph or two.
One GIF is enough, two is too many.