I don't know who needs to hear this, but if you're yelling at a person on Fedi for not using #AltText, stop.

[nilz@norden.social]

@alice @altbot@fuzzies.wtf

[alice@lgbtqia.space]

@benroyce @alexadeswift ah Fedi, bringing unintentional assholes together since 2016 🥰

[h3mmy@lgbtqia.space]

@alexadeswift
I occasionally come across posts without any text that I would love to boost, and so I take this approach. Because it's true that I would love to boost it but I won't if there's no alt text.

I'm often not the only one. And sometimes there will be a commenter that maybe even made an attempt to supply the original poster with alt text. It's generally been quite effective (except in maybe two cases I'm aware of)

I'm only mean or degrading to people when they've explicitly asked for it (usually in a kink context).
@benroyce @alice @altbot

[alexadeswift@lgbtqia.space]

@alice

So so true 🤩

@benroyce

[mirabilos@toot.mirbsd.org]

@altbot @alice altbot is AI slop and makes things worse for everyone.

Aye to the rest. alt4me is great.

[miclgael@hachyderm.io]

@alice @benroyce @alexadeswift hm? I heard my name?

[benroyce@mastodon.social]

@alexadeswift @alice @altbot

the trick is knowing when to apply which

i've been guilty of delivering the vinegar when a little honey would be more effective, and vice versa

we learn to know which is better, but it's an art not a science

[benroyce@mastodon.social]

@h3mmy @alexadeswift @alice @altbot

i did not see the alt text scenario derived consensual roleplay coming, but i'm howling that it did

"and what is that? a picture of a snail? you know what the snail is doing, the dirty thing, dirty like you. beg to write it out. be specific! do you want to please me? show me your submission... no not like that i mean hit submit on the comment with the alt text"

[jourei@mas.to]

@alice At least once have I just not posted something because describing the image in any meaningful way would've been quite a task.
Though nowadays I'll post it anyway, perhaps I should call in helpers in those cases in the future.

Getting yelled at for not being able to do something definitely pushes people away.

[alice@lgbtqia.space]

@OddDev I like the feature suggestion, but I'd suggest a few restrictions on alt-text submissions so trolls don't use it as an invisible way to spam users with horrible messages.

1. Image must be missing alt-text to get proposal
2. Only one proposal per account
3. No proposals from accounts/servers you have blocked or limited.

@altbot

[alice@lgbtqia.space]

@nilz

Hey @altbot can you describe this image for me? 🩷

[benroyce@mastodon.social]

@miclgael @alice @alexadeswift

FUCK YOU!

oh wait sorry

hi michael

(/s)

[su_liam@mas.to]

@alice @altbot My alt texts probably suck, but I got them. Do I yell at people who don’t? No.

[ki@chaos.social]

@OddDev @alice
please don't auto-generate alt-text, just write it by hand. auto-generation is flawed and misses context. oftentimes having a sloppy auto-generated alt-text is worse than having none at all

[odddev@floss.social]

@ki @alice

I suggest to click the link first.

[divverent@social.vivaldi.net]

@alice @altbot And yet, I think this is a problem too. You're one step short from "should you be a dick to anyone who ever boosted a post without alt-text? yes!" style guilt by association.

IMHO not having alt-text should be a factor to consider before boosting a post, but it should not be an outright disqualifier. And if one does feel the need to boost it, that would then be a good chance to bring up https://github.com/micr0-dev/AltBot

[fgbjr@indieweb.social]

@alice @altbot How can you be so reasonable. It makes me most terribly uncomfortable.

[alice@lgbtqia.space]

@mirabilos have you seen AltBot? Its alt-text is better than most folx', it's a tiny (7mb), free, open-source model, paid for by the person hosting it, and it takes less energy than opening your fridge for a few seconds.

I'm all for bashing corporate AI bullshit, but this ain't it.

[ki@chaos.social]

@OddDev @alice
I did, but judging by your reply, I've probably misunderstood it? I was thinking about the composition UI and an LLM anti-feature in the context of altbot

[alice@lgbtqia.space]

@ki also, that's what proofreading is for.

@OddDev