With the current outage of ImgTC, we've decided to revamp the way we handle media embeds on the message boards.
First of all, because there seems to no longer be a major image host that allows direct linking to static images, we've made all media embeds after the first on a topic page "click to play" by default, as many of our users are on devices that aren't capable of handling too many autoplaying at once. You can, as always, change this setting to always auto-expand every embed, or also to never show any of them automatically.
Secondly, we've expanded the sites that can have auto-embedded media. Along with YouTube, Gfycat, and Giphy, we've added in Imgur, Streamable, Twitch, and Twitter. When (or if) ImgTC comes back online, we'll re-add their embeds as well.
If you come across any URL variants for these services that don't correctly embed, or come across any other bugs with this new feature, please let us know using the following form: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/feedback?type=20
Finally, we know you want to just be able to have plain old images in your posts without all of this tedious embedding, so we're actively working on an in-house solution for this. We'll hopefully have some good news for you on this front in the next week or so, although it may take a little longer.
Aaand settings changed to always show for me. Thanks for letting me know.
Although its kinda weird that they basically said this change might only be for a week or so... ---
Que sera, sera. Whatever happens, happens. ...and he was never heard from again.