Update on the embedded video failure issue

Looking through all of the threads I've started here at ParrotForums reveals that every single video I've posted of my birds since I became a member is now not even showing as a clickable link, much less displaying in an embedded player. Here are some examples:

http://www.parrotforums.com/macaws/24351-tapping-lesson.html#post200285

http://www.parrotforums.com/macaws/24197-zaf-clips.html#post198871

http://www.parrotforums.com/macaws/24608-he-really-loves-his-scritchy-scratches-2.html#post202976

As you can see, each of the URLs are merely dead text strings now. Before the recent forum software upgrade, they all used to display as embedded YouTube video players. It appears that the reason they don't anymore is because all of the videos I've posted here of my birds are set as 'unlisted' on YouTube, as opposed to as 'public' or 'private'. The unlisted option simply keeps a video from being publicly searchable on YouTube. Other than that it will be completely accessible as long as the person wishing to view it has its URL.

The reason I don't want my videos publicly searchable on YouTube is to better protect my birds. I think I should be able to do that without losing media sharing functionality on ParrotForums. I think everyone should (if they wish). It's not a lot to expect. Just why the forum administrators changed this feature is beyond me. I posted about this matter in the site's Technical Support forum on November 17; however no staff member has answered my post yet. Obviously I'm not happy about this seemingly unnecessary change to the media sharing functionality here. It would be nice if one of the staff members could at least answer why they've decided to make this change.

IMO, true be known, i don't think the peoples making these decisions are part of the everyday forum. Maybe try PMing 4nines. You do have very valid points.

henpecked said:

IMO, true be known, i don't think the peoples making these decisions are part of the everyday forum. Maybe try PMing 4nines. You do have very valid points.

Click to expand...

You may well be right about who handles such decisions. But, from reading various posts, I have been under the impression that the staff members manning the Tech Support area were able to serve as go-betweens who would relay members' concerns about such issues to appropriate administrators if/when necessary.

So thanks for the advice. But without one of the moderators (or other forum staff member) instructing me to approach 4nines about this matter, I have to say that I wouldn't feel overly comfortable doing so. I thought a staff person might at least reply and convey my options, if any. It seems not though:smile033:

wenz2712 said:

Plax,

I have sent 4Nines a PM in regards to the issue with the Video links and the Missing Smileys.

I will let you know as soon as I have a reply.

Click to expand...

Thank you kindly, wenz2712! I very much appreciate it

plax said:

wenz2712 said:

Plax,

I have sent 4Nines a PM in regards to the issue with the Video links and the Missing Smileys.

I will let you know as soon as I have a reply.

Click to expand...

Thank you kindly, wenz2712! I very much appreciate it

Click to expand...

Your welcome Hopefully, he will be able to rectify the problem.

wenz2712 said:

plax said:

wenz2712 said:

Plax,

I have sent 4Nines a PM in regards to the issue with the Video links and the Missing Smileys.

I will let you know as soon as I have a reply.

Click to expand...

Thank you kindly, wenz2712! I very much appreciate it

Click to expand...

Your welcome Hopefully, he will be able to rectify the problem.

Click to expand...

I've just posted 2 test videos in the "Testing, testing" section, one flagged as 'public' on YouTube and the other as 'unlisted'. Surprisingly, neither of them will produce the embedded player. So this new development suggests that the problem is account-specific to me. If you would, please forward this information to 4Nines.

Thanks again!

Thanks wenz2712!

All of the links in these threads are visible via Tapatalk, in my browser (Safari) they are dead youtu.be links.

Inverse said:

All of the links in these threads are visible via Tapatalk, in my browser (Safari) they are dead youtu.be links.

Click to expand...

Visible links, yes. But do either of them manifest in an embedded YouTube player applet? Before the forum software upgrade (about one week ago) they had always done that. And the YouTube links that other forum members post still manifest within embedded players.

The other thing is that all of my archived video links are now simply dead text strings. It seems like there's a lot wrong.

Tapatalk handles embedded stuff a bit differently, it shows up as an embedded video in the post, same as an embedded player in a browser but fires up a helper app to actually play the videos.
But as I said, even those links that look like dead text strings appear fine in Tapatalk, a little graphic of the first frame of the video with a play triangle overlaid. They are also clickable and playable from Tapatalk, on my browser they appear as unclickable text strings.
Perhaps it's just the way Tapatalk parses links.

Inverse said:

Tapatalk handles embedded stuff a bit differently, it shows up as an embedded video in the post, same as an embedded player in a browser but fires up a helper app to actually play the videos.
But as I said, even those links that look like dead text strings appear fine in Tapatalk, a little graphic of the first frame of the video with a play triangle overlaid. They are also clickable and playable from Tapatalk, on my browser they appear as unclickable text strings.
Perhaps it's just the way Tapatalk parses links.

Click to expand...

Yes, as you've explained it, that behavior seems specific to Tapatalk. But neither Firefox nor IE are displaying the player applets for my video links anymore. And to make it more irritating for me, the player applets seem to display for nearly everyone else's video links with those browsers. That pretty much indicates the problem is specific to my PR account.

I made a post in one of the replies that may be help...


it's kind of stupid how Youtube does it... and how it interacts with the forum....

MonicaMc said:

I made a post in one of the replies that may be help...


it's kind of stupid how Youtube does it... and how it interacts with the forum....

Click to expand...

Thanks! That's certainly a workaround as far as new posts containing video links. Unfortunately, though, it doesn't do much for the archived posts that contain my video links. They're still dead text strings since each is in the short URL format. They used to work fine :smile033: