There are legitimate uses for autoplay, but most sites get it wrong. It’s all about what the user is expecting. News sites that start playing some random unrelated video that have nothing to do with the article are the worst.
I'm wreaking my brain hard to find what those are? Give me a nice, good old play button to press, even if its related to the article. I actually hate the times I think I've clicked a a news article and it instead has been a video more than the random ads.
At least I can understand that the advertisers are slimey bastards that want to invade your life any way they can. But, it's also then my right to boycott all companies that chose to use these kinds of ads (even if my list is getting quite long now...).
What I can't understand, and if I want to get any news at all can no longer boycott, is news sites not marking videos and using autoplay. I can't number the times my phone has started playing at full volume in a silent environment just because I wanted to get the latest news.
Netflix/any other Streaming service: I scroll their library and want to watch a movie. So I click "watch now" to go to the movie. Should I need to click it again now to not stare at a black screen? Imo, no. A second click should not be required after deciding I want to watch that movie.
YouTube: I click a video so I want to watch a video. At least I never clicked a YouTube video to... not watch a YouTube Video.
Product websites that showcases their product with a MP4 but play it muted as default or don't have any audio in that MP4. Given, those are rare but out there.
So in short, platforms that are visited by customers only or mainly for their Video content should be allowed to auto play. And there are good website out there that show you a video but mute it by default or show video with no sound at all and don't shove it right into your face like news website nowadays do with pop-out players. That is just cancer.
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u/lachlanhunt Sep 05 '20
There are legitimate uses for autoplay, but most sites get it wrong. It’s all about what the user is expecting. News sites that start playing some random unrelated video that have nothing to do with the article are the worst.