I've been thinking a lot about the #Fediverse ALT issue.
Some people are annoyed by posts without #Alttext, & others get reminded¹ to add it.
The core question is: How can we improve #accessibility?
Proposal:
☑️ Add a user filter to hide media posts without #AltTag
☑️ Reduced engagement on hidden posts would encourage adding #Alt text
☑️ People who need accessibility wouldn't have to encounter unlabeled media
If this gets traction, I'll open a #Mastodon GitHub issue.
My userContent.css makes a thick red dashed border around "non-alted" images, but mine is just a workaround.
The idea of the filter is far better, IMHO.
@GustavinoBevilacqua Haha that is such a good argument to change something about it!
I will add something along the lines of: "Users are are having to rely on their own workarounds" and link to your reply :)
Oh, I also hide the boosts made by myself!
Since I'm a "serial booster", this keeps my home TL shorter.
@madeindex
Interesting ideas.
The Moshidon mobile client red flags images without alt text if you set it to do that.
@madeindex I'm skeptical that "reduced" engagement would be a compelling argument or difference.
Is "engagement" the thing that most people think of when posting? It's a very capitalistic way of thinking of communicating with fellow humans.
I'm also reminded of Goodhart's Law: a measure that becomes a target ceases to be a good measure.
A different social network tried to encourage folks to write engaging replies and said they instead saw an increase in filler text (spaces, dots, "this").
@zimzat You have a point, however I do think people want engagement, as you post to get a reply or reaction of any kind right?
I did not get that part about the spaces dots and this though! Can you please explain? :)
https://www.engadget.com/twitter-ends-quote-tweet-experiment-retweets-003202686.html
> The use of Quote Tweets increased, but 45 percent of them included single-word affirmations and 70 percent had less than 25 characters,
I, personally, don't want massive engagement. I dislike the idea of parasocial relationships. But that's just me and I grew up avoiding attention and preferring quieter, personable, connections. Others may want more than I do, but past a certain point too popular inherently becomes antithetical to the Fediverse ethos.
@madeindex Do you use a screen reader? If not, have you consulted with those who do?
The reason I ask is because, most ideas like this that I see come from people who don't use screen readers and haven't consulted with people who do.
One thing about alt text is, when there is an image that doesn't need alt text, it is better that the image doesn't have alt text, so that the screen reader doesn't have to read it out. E.g. "Check out this photo of my new puppy! He's a brown poodle and he's 14 weeks old." Alt text: Photo. 14-week-old brown poodle puppy.
(I haven't used a screen reader, this is just something I read in a guide about how to write alt text.)
@cassolotl Yeah trying to get some feedback before I post a ticket! 🙂
Although I guess if someone doesn't like it, they can simply not opt-in to the feature right?
Somebody said they would like it in their home but not their favorites list: https://dragonscave.space/@menelion/116381208000692644
@madeindex An alternative or addendum to the proposal:
☑️ Make the alternative text a required field when uploading an image in as many software as possible with a placeholder text in the input field that provides an example for visual users and an error message that mentions that the user needs to describe their image.
@madeindex And I mean sure, in any solution, someone could write “.” as their alternative text to get around either filters or required fields, but at least a required field makes it a more conscious decision to act poorly when uploading an image.
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