YouTube button in the toolbar

I guess I'm on board with that suggestion. 🎉

Ashley Vaughn79 said:And next thing you know, they’ll just get rid of search engines altogether. I guess that’s where this is headed. 🙂

😬

That's really just something for stalkers, I guess. 😁

They limited you to 50 results again, too. It’s weird that you aren't already getting roasted for that on Reddit or something. ☕

I don't know, maybe I'm just seeing things, but this whole situation feels like a total mess. It’s like trying to read some ancient hieroglyph when you're already exhausted. Honestly, I guess it doesn't even matter at this point. Everything is just constant politics lately, isn't it? Just one thing after another. kaže:
It’s not even about the keyboard, honestly. It's more about what happens when a bunch of idiots start clogging up the bandwidth with their mindless videos. Data usage is going to skyrocket, the forum is just going to lag even harder, and then those same morons will be back, whining and asking why everything is so slow. I guess that's just how it goes.🤦

I mean, it’s not really how you're putting it. The video doesn't even load unless you manually click on it yourself. And honestly, this whole forum is just glitchy because their database is a total mess—it's clearly unoptimized. It isn't even about those extra controls or the tiny thumbnails. The real issue is that people are getting eaten alive by all these random ads that sometimes even pack malware. I guess that's just how it is.
People were already typing out specific instructions in the chat about what needs to be done, but honestly? Nothing happened. Not a single thing. I guess it just went in one ear and out the other. Typical. 🙄

Look, my little pet peeve is super unpopular with the moderators over on the Politics subforum since it’s basically the busiest spot on the site. We don't see eye to eye on a few tiny things—things that honestly don't even matter—but I can never win them over, and they can't win me over either, mostly because they're the smart ones and I'm just a dummy.

But hey, one thing about constant politics that's been true for ages (like, 10+ years?), is that there’s no way to "embed" images or videos. That was a total Reddit decision, and honestly? I am 100% on board with it.

See, when you "embed" stuff, all those images and videos have to be redirected through the site's servers, which absolutely nukes the bandwidth and eats up the CPU and memory. Like, 99% of it is just people messing around with memes and junk. For any actual, meaningful debate, it's totally pointless, yet it sucks up 99.9% more resources.

Your classic meme: https://giphy.com/gifs/donald-trump-...Hbg5wbSfoABvEp

What does being able to drop a meme directly into your post actually add to a discussion on Politics, or anywhere else for that matter?

What really bugs the hell out of me is that at least 90% of the images and links I've posted over the last decade don't even work anymore.

PS: At the end of the day, this whole thing boils down to whether you want your posts to have actual integrity—standing on their own without relying on media—or if you'd rather lean on links that will inevitably break in a year or two.

Then again, you've got those "electric sheep" out there—they pop up, get sheared, vanish whenever they feel like it, and some even dream them up... so who am I to judge? 🤷

Because those electric sheep just disappear into thin air, leaving absolutely no trace behind.

First off, thanks everyone for the support!🙂

Furthermore, I’m a firm believer that every sub-forum has its own internal logic.🤷

Take the Music and TV boards, for instance—it’s pretty standard practice there to post videos and images. It’s practically baked into the DNA of those specific sections.

That said, we do have boundaries. For example, over on the Fun Music boards, using GIFs in artist threads is a no-go—everyone follows that rule—and they're strictly reserved for the chat.

If we add a YouTube button to the toolbar, people will likely share more video content, but we’ll still maintain the established guidelines for where and how that happens.

And honestly? I think everyone’s internet connection can handle it. Personally, I don't notice any real lag between pages with video and those without.🤔 Plus, since most of us have unlimited data these days, bandwidth consumption shouldn't really be an issue.

Also, I’m talking about YouTube here. It isn't some sketchy corner of the web. Even if someone finds a video that’s off-topic or inappropriate, they’ll still face consequences—posts get deleted or edited, just like always.

The current concerns just don't seem to hold much water to me—as if we haven't been able to post videos until now! I'm simply looking for a shortcut to make the process a little smoother.

Here goes my little annoying rant again—the kind of thing where some mods roll their eyes while others just start foaming at the mouth like they’ve been hit with some weird chemical spray. 🤷

The bottom line? It’s all about how much this "embedding" stuff is going to boost traffic and squeeze more profit out of the server. If you ask me, it’s totally overkill when you look at how little it actually adds to the quality of the forum.

Looking through these posts, I’m starting to think we’d all be better off just heading back to newsgroups. You don't have to deal with all this embedding nonsense; you just get clean links and everything runs lightning fast 🙄

It’s just an obvious fact at this point—multimedia has been baked into basically every discussion on every platform for ages. Whether it's messaging apps, social media, or even—heaven forbid—forums! It adds value that you can't even put a number on because it’s become such a standard part of how we talk to each other. It's just expected now.

If we’ve actually reached a point in 2024 where we’re avoiding external links because they cause such a massive load on the forum, then honestly, we might as well just set the whole thing on fire, toss it in the trash, and start over from scratch properly.

They’ve nerfed the search function too, cutting it down from 250 results to just 50 as some kind of "emergency measure." Meanwhile, the forum itself crashes constantly with a ridiculous variety of errors, and these "fixes" they roll out are like painting over a tunnel wall instead of actually fixing the structure. It’s not enough to just throw a cone out and leave the road full of potholes; you actually have to repair the damn thing sometimes. That goes for this forum too 🐔

Nicholas Kelly3 said:Reading through these posts, I’m thinking we might as well just head back to Usenet. No embedding there—just clean links, and man, does it run lightning fast. 🙄

The bottom line is that multimedia has been a staple of basically every online conversation for ages—whether it’s messaging apps, social media, or even—you guessed it—forums! It brings value you can't even put a price on because it's so deeply baked into how we talk online now. It's just expected.

I mean, if we’ve actually reached a point in 2024 where we’re avoiding linking external assets because it's such a massive load on the forum, then honestly, we should just burn this whole thing down, toss it in the trash, and start from scratch properly.

They slashed the search results from 250 down to 50 like it's some kind of emergency measure, meanwhile the forum itself is constantly crashing with a ridiculous variety of errors. And those "fixes"? They're like painting over rust on a bridge. You can't just throw some asphalt on a pothole and call it a day; you actually have to fix the road underneath. That's what we need for this forum. 🐔
https://i.insider.com/524da46369bedd...bf65?width=480

Embedding images, and especially videos, feels like such a waste of time and bandwidth to me. But hey, that's just my two cents. Personally, I think a dial-up modem is the peak of modern communication.

Honestly, the fact that we even need a search function is weird to me. You've got indexing, right? Then you search the indexes. A properly set up index shouldn't be absolutely nuking the server by default. If the server is getting slaughtered at 8 AM, noon, 4 PM, and 8 PM, then there's clearly a pattern here.

Maybe one of those IT guys running the servers will finally figure out where the leak is.

PS: But hey, I'm just an IT guy, what do I know? Nobody actually knows what we do half the time anyway.

Jack Cook7 said:"Embedding images—let alone video clips—is just a massive waste of time and bandwidth if you ask me. But hey, that’s just my take; personally, I find a dial-up modem to be the pinnacle of modern communication."

To me, the very existence of search functions is baffling. Look, there's indexing, and then there's searching through those indexes. A server shouldn't be crashing by default. If a server goes down at 8 AM, noon, 4 PM, and 8 PM, then we aren't looking at accidents—we're looking at a pattern.

Perhaps some sysadmin maintaining the servers will finally figure out where the glitch lies.

PS: Then again, I'm just a systems guy—what do I know? Nobody actually knows what we do all day.

Digital literacy can become quite the enigma, especially when issues occur at regular intervals—a repeating pattern 😲

Certain things really ought to be ironed out, so that 😁

Anthony Nguyen81 said:Digital literacy can be such a massive headache, especially when it’s laid out in those weird, repetitive intervals, like some kind of pattern 😲

Some things seriously need fixing, just so 😁

To mumble... I guess us old-timers are still stuck in the dial-up era. I'm talking ymodems and xmodems, man.

Man. I swear I remember back when we used to carve pictograms into birch bark. Some days I really feel my age. 😢

Thank god I don't remember too much of it. 😁

Jack Cook7 said:To mumble—we old-timers are still stuck on dial-up speeds. I can still vividly recall the days of ymodems and xmodems.

To mumble. I remember when we used to carve pictograms into birch bark. Some days, I truly feel my age. 😢

Fortunately, I don't recall too much of it. 😁

Yeah, the German guy keeps things under wraps 😲

Those hieroglyphs were nothing more than cat scratches—there was zero logic to them. 😬

Nicholas Kelly3 said:They limited you to 50 results again, anyway. I guess it's strange that you haven't been banned from that site yet. ☕

I don't really care about everything in order.
I usually just go with the battles. 😬

Jack Cook7 said:...

Anthony Nguyen81 said:...

It's you two again. 😍

So, what's the final takeaway regarding these links?
Before you guys completely wreck this thread. 😁

I guess we don't have much time left now that you've all crossed paths here again. 🙂

Ashley Vaughn79 said:I don't really care about every single thing on the list.
Basically, I just pick and choose the battles. 😬

It’s you two again. 😍

So, what’s the actual bottom line with these links?
Before you guys totally wreck this thread. 😁

I feel like we’re running out of time now that you two have crossed paths here again. 🙂

Here’s the final word on behalf of Jack Cook7 and wikiceh

Jack Cook7 said:When you "embed" images or videos, everything gets proxied through the forum's own servers—or at least that's how some setups work. It absolutely hammers the bandwidth, the CPU, and the memory. Most of this stuff is just memes or nonsense anyway. From the perspective of having an actual, meaningful discussion, it's trivial, yet it eats up 99.9% more resources.

Could you expand on that? I'm not entirely sure I follow your logic here.

Embedding content doesn't actually tax the server. The bulk of embedded content relies on JavaScript and runs clientside, meaning the heavy lifting happens on the user's machine. Loading speed depends exclusively on the end-user's hardware and internet connection. ☕

When vBulletin converts a YouTube link or other media into embed/HTML code, it uses Regex. PHP can churn through those operations millions of times a second without even breaking a sweat on the server side.

Honestly, the biggest drain on the server right now is that archaic, useless member list. GoogleBot and its crew are crawling the server 24/7. 🙏

The real reason the forum is struggling is due to a poorly optimized database and the fact that vBulletin is garbage—it uses MySQL in ways that MySQL was never intended to be used. To crash this forum, I would need exactly a few dozen GET requests. Hardcore! 🙏 🙏

Seriously? 🤣

Whoever wrote this clearly has no idea what they're talking about. GoogleBot doesn't care about latency. 🤣

Benjamin Taylor90 said:Wait, hold up—could you break that down for me? I’m totally lost and honestly have no clue what you're trying to get at.

Don't sweat the embedded content—it’s not gonna murder your server. Most of that stuff is just JavaScript running on the client side anyway. It's all happening right there in the user's browser! clientsideYeah, exactly. It just puts all the heavy lifting on the end user's hardware. At the end of the day, how fast everything loads or runs comes down strictly to how much horsepower they have in their rig and how solid their internet connection is. ☕

So, when vBulletin takes a YouTube link and flips it into an embed or some HTML code, it’s all running on Regex. Honestly, PHP can chew through that stuff millions of times a second without even breaking a sweat—your server won't even notice it's happening.

Honestly, the biggest drag on this server right now is that ancient, bloated member list. It’s totally useless. We've got GoogleBot and the rest of that crew constantly crawling all over the place 24/7. It's a mess. 🙏

The forum is absolutely tanking right now because the database is a total mess. Honestly, vBulletin is straight-up garbage—it uses MySQL in ways that go against everything the engine was actually designed for. It’s wild. I could literally crash this entire site with nothing more than a couple of GET requests. No joke. Pure hardcore chaos. 🙏 🙏

Seriously? Check out this robots.txt file! It’s basically just the ground rules for how search engines should crawl the site. Standard stuff, really. Just tells the bots where they can hang out and where they need to stay away from. Simple as that! 🤣

Whoever wrote this clearly hasn't a clue what they're doing. GoogleBot doesn't even acknowledge the delay. 🤣

Yes, master!

Psst... did those few GET GET GET commands actually crash the forum?


Man, talk about an expert. He even started messing with his own Regex. 👍 (I actually managed to type a smiley face!)

Honestly, sometimes the stuff you stumble upon online kind of creeps me out. People say there are folks out there with absolutely zero sense of humor. I don't buy it personally, but the rumor keeps going around. Just another internet urban legend, I guess. Brrr... 🙂

Jack Cook7 said:...

Give me a break, don't go turning into some offended little princess here. 🐔

Personally, I think embed content is a total nuisance, but like they say, this isn't the Stone Age. I can deal with it, provided that autoplay is set to OFF! ☕

Benjamin Taylor90 said:Oh, come on, don't go all "offended princess" on me now. 🐔

Personally, I think embed content is a total pain, but hey, like they say, it's not the 90s anymore. I can live with it, as long as autoplay is turned OFF! ☕

Sure dude, I GET it. 😉

Listen, buddy, you better go chase a ball or something. You’re gonna need some serious spatial awareness in 3D, and don't even get me started on 4D or 5D.

Jack Cook7 said:Look, man, I totally get where you're coming from. 😉

Listen, buddy, let’s stick to something simple, like kicking a soccer ball around. You might actually manage to navigate a 3D space without tripping over your own feet, let alone trying to wrap your head around the fourth or fifth dimension.

Honey, besides just acting like you don't know anything and throwing a tantrum, you're also out here bragging about how many years you've wasted. 🙂

Benjamin Taylor90 said:Man, besides acting like a know-it-all and being stubborn, there’s also the issue of wasting years of your life. 🙂

Hey, it is what it is. We make it work.

Unlike some folks who think they're absolute geniuses and ended up totally wiped out because of it.

PS: When was the last time you actually swung a golf club, buddy?

Go ahead and keep laughing. Once someone goes and trashes their reputation on this forum, everything else is gonna fall apart too—then you’ll be left with nothing.

Ashley Vaughn79 said:It’s you two again. :cer ek:

So, what’s the final takeaway regarding these links?
Before you guys completely wreck this thread. : D

I have a nagging feeling that our time here is running short now that you two have reunited. : )

It’s better to go out with a bang than to just slowly fade into irrelevance. 🙂

We need that YouTube button, everyone. 😬
(though it looks like that’s never actually going to materialize) 😬)

Jack Cook7 said:Here is my final conclusion on this matter. Jack Cook7 and Rachel Richardson

Well, here we go again—classic. 😁