In Light Of The NHL Banning And Then Not Banning GIFs, I Give You All The Hockey GIFs
aaaaannndddddd an hour later…
Interesting morning for us HockeyTwitter folk, as we found ourselves, yet again, in an outrage seemingly over nothing. Rare, I know.
First we were all like “holy shit, how can they ban the GIFs, I am mad online!” and then we were all like “ohh hey, why’d we believe the dude who covers the Blue Jackets for the Hockey Writers? lolz” So the jokes on us really. But if I’m being honest, all signs point to the NHL banning GIFs somewhere down the road, despite their attempts to prove otherwise.
Last summer the NHL hired MLBAM, the people who handle the MLB’s advanced media, to oversee their media relations, which is sign number one. MLBAM are the people behind the banning of vine and twitter accounts posting fan made content, and as soon as the partnership was announced, the question of if the NHL would look to do the same arose.
Add that to the fact that earlier in the week, well-known hockey GIF-er @MyRegularFace mysteriously deactivated her twitter account, and it is clear something is going on between the NHL and fans looking to distribute their own highlights. Though it was reported her deactivation was due to the NHL actively trying to hire her, MRF [whose real name is Stephanie] insisted this was the NHL’s attempt to spin the news in order to avoid outrage following her absence on social media, which clearly was a sweeping success.
Earlier today, another well-known GIF-er, and friend of the program, @PeteBlackburn’s account was deactivated with little to no reason as to why …Sus.
All in all, something fishy is going on pertaining to the NHL and their current/future stance on fan-made content, and someone is lying here; it’s just a matter of who. So in honor of GIFs [currently] NOT being banned, here’s a shit ton of hockey GIFs to keep you occupied until tomorrow.
