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The Fediverse ALT-Text issue (europe.pub)
submitted 6 months ago by to c/fediverse@lemmy.world
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/45437770

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 (maybe on others too?).

¹ https://mastodon.social/@madeindex/113996311493021102

Screenshot of Mastodon "Preferences" > "Filters" > "Add new filter". The "Add new filters" page is open, under "Filter controls" a new red checkbox labeled “NO ALT” is added.
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[–] 3 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (4 children)

A simple one, i believe that softwares must enforce them rather letting users doing it.

Here is some ideas :

  • refuse "image post" without alt text.
  • when you upload picture, you must provide their alt text, if there is no alt text, the picture will be deleted.
  • hide user post based on alt text and remove post score if the alt text is bad.
  • deactivate crosspost on posts who don't have alt text

It maybe harsh but i believe that's the only way to reach accessibility.

Edit :

  • alt text autogen + a reminder bot will help users
  • The app fedilab (mastodon) has some good rules on post with alt text.
  • collaborative alt text.
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  • [–] 6 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    refuse “image post” without alt text.

    Mostly* works, but increases significantly the barrier of entry to engage in "conversational" / "collquial" fediversing, and subjects the largest groups of people to the limitations of their tooling.

    when you upload picture, you must provide their alt text, if there is no alt text, the picture will be deleted.

    I assume this is for when you attach a picture to an otherwise text / link post? In that case, I think this is a very good path, yes, since in this ase the user who is adding the picture is already engaging in the extra work of getting it.

    hide user post based on alt text and remove post score if the alt text is bad.

    No CCP style shit please, we already have enough of that with Piefed.

    Adding posts with no alt text to a predefined category or tag (such as Mastodon's #Alt4Me) sounds like a reasonable alternative.

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

    Adding posts with no alt text to a predefined category or tag (such as Mastodon’s #Alt4Me) sounds like a reasonable alternative.

    Yes you are right. :)

    No CCP style shit please, we already have enough of that with Piefed

    I don't see why we should support content without alt text. There is people with various disability

    I'm offering to void the post visibility :

    • the post won't receive upvote, so it won't reach the top of your timeline
    • user won't be able to crosspost them.

    I'm deaf and i think we should all do an effort to make the web accessible. Everyday, i have to adapt to your world.

    People can give a small fraction of their time to improve accessibility. But you are right it maybe too harsh, we should find a middle ground that invite users making the web a place place rather them punishing them.

    Long explaination on piefed score

    There is pro and cons using lemmy or piefed. Both have a different stance on moderation and offer a different experience.

    Lemmy doesn't check downvote or users with bad reputation. How are you able to act with toxic users ? For example one downvoting a lot and the other one that post terrible thing thus get lot downvote ? Is this good for your community ? I don't think you will enjoy interacting with them.

    Piefed score was requested by most admins and mods. It help us creating good community, our main job is creating a place where people enjoy sharing their experience. There are 2 scores :

    • attitude : it calculate the ratio of downvote/upvote. How do you react when people have lot negativity ? Most of us are around 70%. If you downvote a lot, that's not a good behaviour. There are few users or bots that downvote a lot. their attitude score is around 20% something like that, it is low. It removes the ability to downvote until you upvote and reach a threshold. So it invite user to use other tools (filter) to improve their timeline instead of voting.
    • reputation : that's the upvote you receive. Posting meme don't boost your reputation. Why ? Because of karma farming. Let's say i post terrible things, and i receive lot downvote. Meanwhile, i post fun meme and get lot upvotes...

    So it just give us a general idea on users and improve community ambiance.

    Futhermore, you can't just take the scoring system alone. Those features work together :

    • mods can remove downvote per community. I removed them in my communities.
    • filters : you can filter keywords, communities, instances and users.
    • report. It is more efficient, i prefer it over the automod that work well.
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