Large GIF files must be banned

[DrLex0]

This Thing has a GIF file in its gallery that is 40MB in size. If someone likes or collects this, a tiny icon will show up on the Thingiverse main page that is nothing else than this whole 40MB GIF file displayed at smaller size. This will cause a massive spike in server load from all the visitors loading the main page at that moment. It will also choke mobile devices, devour data plans, and most of all, it is just downright stupid. Something similar will happen if this shows up in search results.

Proposal:

• Any GIF file that is uploaded in any part of the size and is larger than 5MB, must be rejected with a clear error message that states the limit.
• While generating downscaled gallery images and thumbnails, do not attempt to preserve GIF animations: just flatten them into a static image. This avoids that the new Thing listings look like a circus with potential risk of triggering epilepsy attacks and devouring mobile bandwidth. Of course this must be retroactively applied to all existing Things: let's keep it fair for everyone.
• Any GIF file uploaded as a profile picture/icon must be flattened into a static JPEG. If you really insist on allowing animated profile icons, there must be a strict size limit like 500kB.
• GIFs uploaded as images in custom sections of Things are more or less OK, although anyone with a minimum of common sense should use a video file instead. The global 5MB upload size limit still counts here. Maybe make it easier to embed a YouTube video in custom sections?

[DrLex0]

And please don't try to ‘fix’ this by just removing the activity feed. The problem will still be present if huge unprocessed GIFs end up in the thumbnails.

[DrLex0]

Another example. User profile pics and any other kind of icons or thumbnails must be downscaled and flattened to a static image. If the input is so large that it would cause any significant load on the servers to be flattened, just reject it.