I second Jo's question. What are you ranting about Aussie???
Believe it or not, there is not just ONE correct way to build a website, and many people don't share your opinions about sliders, videos, etc, but that's really all beside the point.
If a person/client wants a video on their homepage, and they want it to play when someone visits their site, then we as website designers/builders/etc should be able to produce what the client wants. Screw "best practices" or what is best for advertising. If I want my website to play a video on page load, it's MY site, and I should be able to make that happen. Nobody is being forced to visit anyone's site, but if a person CHOOSES to visit my site, then they should accept the content that I've chosen to deliver. They're always free to leave the site. Browser companies are overstepping their bounds in decided what is "best" for everyone. The internet was designed to be a free space, not regulated by the whims of Google, or Mozilla, or Apple.