> Because the vast majority of users love their animated GIFs.

Then they can choose to play it. Just like you can opt to allow pop-ups in your browser. Nobody is asking for a one-size-fit-all solution - all they are asking for is choice and control over their browser.

> Nobody is asking for a one-size-fit-all solution

Right, because that isn't possible. Instead you choose sensible defaults that match what users want. Like it or not, the majority of users want autoplaying GIFs.

> all they are asking for is choice and control over their browser.

Which you have. It's a configuration option to disable autoplaying muted video.

> It's a configuration option to disable autoplaying muted video.

Please, what is the name of this one now? And do you know one for disabling autoplaying GIFs too?

EDIT: Oh, it's media.autoplay.enabled, another discussion has it. Thank you for pointing it anyway.

> the majority of users want autoplaying GIFs.

That's an assumption. If you ask users if they want gifs or no auto playing video ads they will choose the latter. And if they don't, so what let them choose.

> If you ask users if they want gifs or no auto playing video ads they will choose the latter.

And that’s a false equivalence. I am able to block annoying ads with an adblocker and simultaneously enjoy my desired auto playing muted videos just fine.

I’d be fine with either whitelisting sites or having a button on each gif which starts the animation.

That would be way too complicated for the average user who wants their gifs to play. Given what you want is atypical, isn't it reasonable to expect you to configure it manually? Why should everyone else have to manually enable gifs when that is by far the more common preference?

Is it? Where are you guys getting your stats in this?

Personally I feel like gifs are annoying and distracting.

Come on, be realistic. Tumblr didn't become a billion dollar business just by having good SEO. Lots of people enjoy scrolling through pages of gifs and they won't be satisfied with click-to-play on 100 different 5 second long animations.

Ok, but that's not the point though? The assumption is that The Average User wants these soundless video gif-likes to autoplay. But The Average User never wanted popups. If you don't want them to autoplay, there probably is a setting or extension for it.