TIL about Pluraldawn
https://exa.y2k.diy/garden/pluraldawn/

It's a #Userscript ‑ that will look for a leading / trailing indicator and swap the displayed avatar and username when looking at an account that's posted to by multiple people in a plural system.

I wish there was a more generalized solution for this.

--
‑ a little bit of JavaScript that any of these Browser Extensions can use:
Violentmonkey, Greasemonkey, Tampermonkey

#plurality

Just gave Pluraldawn a test with an account that uses it and it worked perfectly. Unless you're _really_ paying attention it looks like posts from different accounts.

I assume there's about a 0.00001% chance of functionality like this getting built into Mastodon but I wonder about Fedi platforms like Sharkey that are actually willing to try things.

Although, I'm not sure how much that matters if Mastodon won't support it given that most everyone uses it.

Any thoughts on this @hazelnoot ?

actually looked into how Pluraldawn is set up for the users and… holy shit 🀯

That's some geek-ass fuckery. The really shitty thing is that I don't have a meaningfully better idea to offer. It's an ugly-ass hack that requires geekery to configure, to sneak the data into the system, and then only nerds who run Userscripts extensions (πŸ‘‹ hi) will ever see it.

UUUUgggh.

I guess if someone set up a server where folk could register their fediverse account and the emoji / signatures they'd be using for triggers & the name & icon that should be triggered as a result

THEN a browser extension could be written that would ping that server whenever it saw a new username & cache the data in local storage and do the display.

Would be a LOT of hits to the server if it got popular (hah!) and the need for an extension sucks. πŸ™

@masukomi if nothing else, it is possible for specific instances to choose to run it by default. the creator's instance, https://pub.mastodon.sleeping.town, for example, has it built-in so it works with or without the userscript installed - and worst case, anyone who doesn't have it installed will just see the emojis/signatures instead, effectively the same as most systems would probably resort to with no such system available. ~Rin

@lyrasyst Thinking about this more, I think there's a simpler solution.

What if a server just made it really easy to be signed into - and switch between / post from - multiple accounts?

Wouldn't that be better ultimately? It would not only solve the problem of compatibility with other systems, but then people could choose which alters to follow instead of having to follow everyone in the system.

Am I missing something obvious with this thinking?

@masukomi In theory, there's nothing wrong with that approach, and some systems do prefer similar options even in places where tools like this are more easily available. But that approach comes with its own drawbacks; not being able to collectively follow people or be followed, having to manage login data for dozens to hundreds of accounts for larger systems like us, and no matter how streamlined you make the process, at least some level of "navigation overhead" to switching between members, among others.

Ideally, the best solution lies somewhere between the two, with quality built-in support for both multiple accounts and "multiplexed" accounts, so systems can use either or both to suit their needs. But practically speaking, even though there's far more systems out there than most people think, we're too small of a demographic to make that investment seem worth it to companies; the most effective solutions for our needs will likely always come from creative systems making things they themselves want to use.

@lyrasyst #Accessibility is NEVER a priority for companies.

Almost everyone needs bigger fonts as their eyes age, but do sites EVER test their stuff with large fonts? Never.

"Small demographic" is just an excuse to not do the work.

This work - like ALL accessibility work - is going to have to come from the community itself.

At least the fediverse gives us the opportunity to create/modify systems to support our needs.