Flexslider code to remove comments from slider images.

gistfile1.js

jQuery(function($){
  
  var $flexslider = $('.flexslider'),
      $slides = $flexslider.find('li'),
      stripComment = function(string) {
        return string.replace(/<!--/g, '').replace(/-->/g, '');
      },
      initItem = function(item) {
        var $this = $(item);
        if(!$this.hasClass('init')) {
          $this.html(stripComment($this.html())).addClass('init');
        }
      }
  ;

  $flexslider.flexslider({
    animation: "slide",
    slideshow: false,
    controlsContainer: ".flexslider-container",
    start: function(){
      $flexslider.find('.flex-active-slide, .clone').each(function(){
        initItem(this);
      });
    },
    before: function(){
      $slides.each(function(){
        initItem(this);
      });
    }
  });

});

So, does the slider start animating on it's own? Or does the user have to manually click through the slides for the next image to load?