Finding and watching reels — Diffreel handbook

The index

/reels is every published reel, newest first, as a grid of vertical tiles. No account, no sign-in, nothing to press before it plays.

The reels index: a grid of vertical reel tiles with a search box and category filters above. — The index. The box searches titles, concepts and tags; the chips under it narrow by category.

Way in	What it lists
/reels	Everything, newest first.
/category/…	One subject area.
/tag/…	One idea, which can cross categories.
/authors/…	Everything one person made, with their profile.
/rss.xml	The feed, for a reader that takes one.

Searching and filtering keeps to the URL, so a filtered listing is a link you can send somebody.

A watch page

Opening a reel from the index plays it right there, over the listing. Opening its own page — /reels/… — gives you the reel plus the article written under it.

A reel's own page: the reel playing at the top, with the article and its details underneath. — The reel leads and the article follows. Both are the same explanation at two speeds.

The reel plays on its own, loops, and respects a reduced-motion setting.
The article is the long version — the thing you send to somebody who wants the detail the reel had to leave out.
The details underneath: who made it, when, its category and tags, and a way back into each.

Sharing one

Button	What it does
Copy link	Puts the reel’s address on your clipboard.
Share	Hands the link to your device’s own share sheet, where there is one; copies it otherwise.
Open page	From the pop-up player: the reel’s own page, with the article.

A shared link unfurls with the reel's own still and title, so it arrives in a chat looking like the thing it is.

Reporting a reel

At the bottom of a watch page, Report this reel opens a box asking what is wrong with it — a misleading claim, offensive content, a trademark. Reporting needs an account; an anonymous report button is a way of flooding a queue that is somebody's working day.

Reporting a reel

What changes: A flag is raised for a moderator, with your reason attached.
Who sees it: Only moderators. Nothing about the report appears on the site, and the reel keeps playing meanwhile.
When to do it: Something is genuinely wrong with the reel — not because you disagree with it.
How to undo it: You cannot withdraw a report from the site. Reporting the same reel twice does not raise a second flag.

Banners and holding pages

Two things you may occasionally see that are not faults:

A strip across the top — an announcement from whoever runs the site. Close it and it stays closed.
A holding page on the playground, your reels or your account, saying the site is being worked on. The published reels keep working throughout — maintenance never takes the reading half of the site down. Come back in a few minutes.