So-called art GIFs deserve better than to die in a cock fight or dog fight.
They need love and white space to look their best, not some hideous "tourney" with flames in the background.
Hence, we're announcing an on-again, off-again feature called "GIF Rescue Service," where deserving creations will be given shelter from gimmicky environments of forced wackiness.
When possible, these GIFs will be nurtured by critical commentary.
Art is not sports, it doesn't have winners and losers, and its value is not decided by electronic, quasi-democratic vote.
The GIF above, by Systaime, "lost" to another GIF and is reproduced here. Ironically, Systaime's GIF also depicts a competition, imaginary rather than real, in which a graphic element on a Facebook page becomes detached from its background and plays a game of old-school Pong with itself. Systaime comments on the humdrum, cluttered boredom of another day on Facebook with his fake game, much as a disaffected cubicle worker might while away the hours playing Solitaire. Would that Systaime had remained in the realm of imaginary, masturbatory mock-competition and not submitted to the humiliation of a "real" GIF tournament, an unregulated, unvetted practice where results can be gamed by having your friends vote and there is no right of recount or appeal. Fortunately for Systaime, GIF Rescue Service arrived to save the GIF from a dubious self-promotional judgment.
Update: The name (and post title) was changed from "Operation GIF Rescue" to "GIF Rescue Service."
