So here is a new rule I am going to implement, which is that if you reply to one of my comments (particularly one touching on social issues/politics) with a meme/image with text, and you don't also offer alt text describing the contents of the image, I'll hide your comment. Alt text matters, y'all.
Comments
I know I'm asking for a lot here, but some of the text is useless.
https://alttext.ai/
I should go sleep now, it's late.
Also, if you are quoting or resharing something you did not create, attribute the creator.
Sometimes I'm shaking or in too much pain but I still want to communicate, so the alt text doesn't get done.
I'm in pain now, but this is so important I have to respond. 😓😓😓
So yeah use alt text.
At their best, I think people doing this intend to be entertaining/funny. Obviously it doesn't work for everyone, and it can be used for bad as well.
In much the same way that all popular science magazines eventually turn into copies of BBC Focus, on a long enough timeline all social media eventually degrades into 4Chan.
Not sure if they’re foreign actors, or working out of the HRC/sorosmoney manufactured consent farm. Many of them have Ai profile pics and most of their tweets are AI memes of one kind or another
To use it, you just hit the button on the photo you’re about to share that says “alt” and write the description as you see fit!
Very helpful for people like me, who kept forgetting! :)
It's here:
Settings -> Accessibility -> Require alt text before posting
Let me know if this works.
Do I need more detail?
Goes to show you, even an old dog…
Please always include all text in the image, verbatim. Also, briefly describe the visual elements.
People who do that are misusing an accessibility tool that other folk rely on & it's not cool.
OK that's it. Thanks for asking & good luck out there! 🤓
The alt text box allows far more characters than regular posts!
Very handy.
Regardless, many of us are fine with writing alt text for our blind and vision impaired friends
:shrug: bsky ain't exactly cutting edge, and those tools require a lot of resources
My point is that we actually have amazing tools to solve this problem. It’s probably the one place where AI is actually an unalloyed good.
Really, accessibility matters.
I'm old.
We'll look at improving moving forward.
Also, in case anyone doesn’t know how to add alt text, here’s my reference post about it:
It's short and sweet, so you're not wasting anyone's time.
May 1st we Protest like it’s 1775 but peacefully ! Because if we don’t then we will end up like 1930 Germany !
We have no king!
Due process is a thing!
If our Congress won’t take action we will!
Talk is cheap take action!
Boycott
@50501movement.bsky.social
Name the meme and just describe it as if you were explaining the meme to a friend who had never seen it.
If you can’t describe it? Probably shouldn’t be using it.
Guess I’ll just have to file “alt text” away with things like “blue teeth” and “AI”…. all stuff I just don’t understand
And you're welcome. Have a fantastic day. xx
John Lee Clark wrote a gr8 article wrt it, that I'm linking below.
https://audio.mcsweeneys.net/transcripts/against_access.html
As an artist w/slowly degrading vision, I feel it's good to encourage ppl to use alt text, but more important to teach them how to use it.
https://bsky.app/profile/yeahpapayaya.bsky.social/post/3lhca24hcx22s
yeah that's the ADHD (aaaand also ironically not seeing the grey/white alt icon whoops), I'm working on it 🙃🙃🙃 I'm glad bsky has an option to require alt text and I'm gonna use it going forward.
I have my account set to require alt text. Also easy to do!
To the rest of the class: you can have BlueSky require alt text before you can hit “post/reply”. It’s a super easy thing to do, and it makes life more enjoyable for those with different needs than you may have.
Consider your neighbors, neighbors. :)
Coming from an author of books, not really surprising 🤷♂️😀
📌
To be fair, most famous types don't. They just post, expect to be listened to, and ignore the rest of us on most anything we say.
I just didn't think someone would care enough to actually curate their comment section.
Thats just a lot more care than I expected.
Engagement can be rewarding but only if everyone understands the relationship is parasocial, and boundaries are maintained and respected.
"I’ll just leave this here."
Not only did it keep me from being lazy, that extra few moments to think before I post has really saved my ass a few times
More tips at #altTextTips
https://bsky.app/profile/pixelfish.bsky.social/post/3ljxnpispa223
https://www.bskyinfo.com/guides/getting-started/adding-alt-text/
the text is connected to the post, not the image
generally poorly, yes
Over and over again :D
Voice to text doesn’t always work well here.
So judge me as lazy I guess.
There are rules and standards set by the w3c for alt text and those that rely on it are expecting those standards to be followed.
Any image, who's only purpose is to be decorative, doesn't need alt text.
I think I once managed to make it happen with a screenshot.
Ok, that worked. Took me a minute to make it happen, but that was mostly user error on my part.
These fucking devices are getting so “helpful” (doing shit you don’t want them to do, didn’t ask them to do, & don’t know how to undo once
they’re done!) … it’s easier to say fuckit.
My disease also means sometimes typing is painful. Sometimes I shake too much to type.
So sometimes I use a meme and don't use alt text.
So you would cut people like me out of the loop.
Huge generalizations always leave some people out.
https://youtu.be/q5D2jhxUOKc?si=fIgRnhq6YYxWH4oq
It also personally bothers me when accounts just respond to something not political with political content.
Fastest way to get me to hide it, mute and block you.
Also, hello, fellow hedgehog avi haver. Yours is cooler, though. Makes me giggle.
It’s my artwork so that compliment is even nicer 🥲
No worries
I'm disabled myself so I have some sympathy. At the same time, I keep having to rewrite alt text every time I post the same image. If Bluesky would save it in memes I use often, that'd help.
Many of us use voice to text or type 1 letter at a time.
Thanks for the heads up John...
Happy writing to ya'!
I’m not trying to be a smart ass, I genuinely don’t understand how it works.
I'm sure we're not the only ones that feel slighted by this post.
One question… if there is text within the image, does the reader read it
It's very easy to add and you can have fun with the description if you like!
I need to start more threads instead of just responding to others 😀
#AltText helps.
#AltImage is a requirement for me because I am severely face-blind.
I can recognize a very few politicians by haircut-- not faces. Most of them I can't.
ok, now i understand.
[standing ovation.gif]
Also, people, it's so easy to turn on mandatory alt text. I really think it should be the default.
Like... It's so bad (inaccurate) that it's usually worse than having nothing there at all. Literally not posting at all would be better.
The absence of Alt Text on any image and/or meme is an active choice to marginalize visually disabled people. It will not stand. We're better than that.