I don't know who needs to hear this, but if you're yelling at a person on Fedi for not using #AltText, stop.
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@alice Sorry, I probably misunderstood you. I thought you were putting down a clear rule to never, ever hit the boost button on a post without alt-text, or one is a super horrible bad person nobody ever should be 100 kilometers within. That is going too far for me; instead, I would weigh the factors:
- Is it worth boosting _despite_ lacking alt text?
- Is the image even important to the message?
- Will I respond anyway (in which case I can e.g. put sufficient text to explain the image while at it).So basically I do not think this should be a cold hard rule like the others in your list seem to be. Can we maybe agree that you actually meant all those more in the sense of RFC 2119:
3. SHOULD This word, or the adjective "RECOMMENDED", mean that there
may exist valid reasons in particular circumstances to ignore a
particular item, but the full implications must be understood and
carefully weighed before choosing a different course.In that case, of course, my entire objection is moot.
@divVerent I never boost images/videos without alt-text, and I don't think others should either. In fact, I have non-alt-texted posts hidden behind CWs, so I don't even see them (kinda like blind folx).
But if I do get one brought to my attention (like when folx mention me), I'll ask them or altbot to add alt-text first, before I boost it.
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I don't know who needs to hear this, but if you're yelling at a person on Fedi for not using #AltText, stop. Please.
Should you use alt-text? Yes!
Should you boost posts without alt-text? No!
Should you yell at companies and bots who don't use alt-text? Fuck yeah!
Should you try your best to make Fedi a more accessible, and safe place for everyone—including those who have trouble writing alt-text? Of course.
Should you mention @altbot or #Alt4Me *occasionally* so folx know they're both wonderful tools that can help make Fedi a more inclusive place? It would be impolite not to.
But—and let me make this clear—don't be a dick to folx who forget alt-text, or who have trouble writing it for whatever reason; it's not very punk of you.
@alice@lgbtqia.space Software like Sharkey does a particularly good job of handling this on the poster's end by just notifying them that they missed adding alt text, so when they post images they know they are posting without alt text.
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I don't know who needs to hear this, but if you're yelling at a person on Fedi for not using #AltText, stop. Please.
Should you use alt-text? Yes!
Should you boost posts without alt-text? No!
Should you yell at companies and bots who don't use alt-text? Fuck yeah!
Should you try your best to make Fedi a more accessible, and safe place for everyone—including those who have trouble writing alt-text? Of course.
Should you mention @altbot or #Alt4Me *occasionally* so folx know they're both wonderful tools that can help make Fedi a more inclusive place? It would be impolite not to.
But—and let me make this clear—don't be a dick to folx who forget alt-text, or who have trouble writing it for whatever reason; it's not very punk of you.
@alice @altbot I yell at people using slop generated alt text when it doesn't actually do the job of being alt text. I once saw alt text for an image that had a bunch of cross gravestones like the Master of Puppets album art and the alt text was literally just a bunch of repeating plus signs. I'm not sure how that helps anyone.
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@divVerent I never boost images/videos without alt-text, and I don't think others should either. In fact, I have non-alt-texted posts hidden behind CWs, so I don't even see them (kinda like blind folx).
But if I do get one brought to my attention (like when folx mention me), I'll ask them or altbot to add alt-text first, before I boost it.
@alice Then this is something we disagree on.
But also it's rather seldom anyway that I ever see an alt-text-free image and decide to boost it. Admittedly it's more frequently that I boost before having checked if it has any.
How do I put non-alt-texted posts behind CW on Mastodon and Misskey?
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@alice @altbot I never used #AltText in my post.
. Why we need #AltText for a simple image like I'm wearing white t-shirt 
red cap 🧢 with black hair & sitting on chair. #AltText should be written for very complicated stuff. I also noticed that almost every person on Mastodon mention detailed text about profile picture
@GOKUSHRM because a good 10% of Fedi can't see the images at all for various reasons, and when you don't write even simple alt-text, you exclude them from participating in the community.
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@miclgael @alice @alexadeswift
oh yeah well may your every meet with Malenia, Blade Of Miquella result in an easy win
@benroyce deep cut.
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@alice For many years I had issues writing descriptions after a TBI, worsened brain fog from long COVID, that has only really recently started to abate. I felt like I was being punished for not being able to write alt text, even though I was doing my best. I had to basically rely on a few friends to help me on Fedi, because Alt4Me was sometimes unreliable.
I felt like I was being blamed for something that genuinely was not my fault. I felt like people often didn't even believe me, either. I got a ton of ableist shit tossed my way.
The thing is, I lived with a deafblind roommate for years. I know how important this is.
It got to the point I just... quit posting images sometimes... cause I'd have days where it was like, "I can't write a description for this, and my friends who'd write a description aren't around rn."
And tbh I never want to feel like that again.
I hope others read what you wrote and understand. I get not boosting posts without alt text... just... wish people would realise... it's usually not even malice, it's just forgetfulness, or often inability.
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@benroyce I really want to slip in a "that's what she said" joke, but it hardly seems on point.
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@alice Incidentally I have no idea why this has begun to abate, they told me that this shit would probably never get better. *shrugs*
Neuroplasticity is wild.
@Elizafox I'm so sorry, but I'm glad to hear it's healing
️🩹 I really hope it doesn't interfere with your happiness too much. -
@PhoenixSerenity @alice @altbot and the ones who deliberately don't because they think it provides training data to LLMs
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I don't know who needs to hear this, but if you're yelling at a person on Fedi for not using #AltText, stop. Please.
Should you use alt-text? Yes!
Should you boost posts without alt-text? No!
Should you yell at companies and bots who don't use alt-text? Fuck yeah!
Should you try your best to make Fedi a more accessible, and safe place for everyone—including those who have trouble writing alt-text? Of course.
Should you mention @altbot or #Alt4Me *occasionally* so folx know they're both wonderful tools that can help make Fedi a more inclusive place? It would be impolite not to.
But—and let me make this clear—don't be a dick to folx who forget alt-text, or who have trouble writing it for whatever reason; it's not very punk of you.
@alice Thank you for offering visibility on altbot. I'll try to use it when needed.
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@alice @altbot I yell at people using slop generated alt text when it doesn't actually do the job of being alt text. I once saw alt text for an image that had a bunch of cross gravestones like the Master of Puppets album art and the alt text was literally just a bunch of repeating plus signs. I'm not sure how that helps anyone.
@disorderlyf that's worth criticizing. I'm all for AI alt-text if it's good, and even simple alt-text is better than none, but that sounds actively malicious.
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@benroyce I really want to slip in a "that's what she said" joke, but it hardly seems on point.
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@alice Then this is something we disagree on.
But also it's rather seldom anyway that I ever see an alt-text-free image and decide to boost it. Admittedly it's more frequently that I boost before having checked if it has any.
How do I put non-alt-texted posts behind CW on Mastodon and Misskey?
@divVerent I'm using Moshidon, and there's a setting to hide non-alt-texted posts, as well as one to stop you from accidentally posting or boosting images without alt-text.
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I don't know who needs to hear this, but if you're yelling at a person on Fedi for not using #AltText, stop. Please.
Should you use alt-text? Yes!
Should you boost posts without alt-text? No!
Should you yell at companies and bots who don't use alt-text? Fuck yeah!
Should you try your best to make Fedi a more accessible, and safe place for everyone—including those who have trouble writing alt-text? Of course.
Should you mention @altbot or #Alt4Me *occasionally* so folx know they're both wonderful tools that can help make Fedi a more inclusive place? It would be impolite not to.
But—and let me make this clear—don't be a dick to folx who forget alt-text, or who have trouble writing it for whatever reason; it's not very punk of you.
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@divVerent I'm using Moshidon, and there's a setting to hide non-alt-texted posts, as well as one to stop you from accidentally posting or boosting images without alt-text.
@alice Yeah - seems none of my instances seem to have such a feature, and I definitely am not gonna run my own.
On Desktop I may be able to do something using uBlock Origin rules, but on mobile (Subway Tooter) I can't.
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@Elizafox I'm so sorry, but I'm glad to hear it's healing
️🩹 I really hope it doesn't interfere with your happiness too much.@alice Ehhhh... nah. It doesn't.
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@alice Ehhhh... nah. It doesn't.
@alice I mean sometimes it sucks but like, I realise I can't change it, so why get mad?
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@alice @altbot given that the majority of people are on the feddy because they have a problem with authority or people trying to control how they use things, it is literally the exactly wrong demographic to try to yell at people to change their behavior. Instead, appeal to their anti-authoritarian tendencies by pointing out how shitty mainstream social media spaces are to disabled people and you know this cool way people can stick it to Zuckerberg and Elon, and it just takes 10 seconds to do.
@JoscelynTransient @alice @altbot
I have written alt text as my reply to posts lacking alt text.
So far, no negative responses from the original poster, and several positive responses.
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@GOKUSHRM because a good 10% of Fedi can't see the images at all for various reasons, and when you don't write even simple alt-text, you exclude them from participating in the community.
