Link. 🥥 🌴: Seeing self proclaimed leftists be ableist pieces of shit will never not suck. Goddam.

Seeing self proclaimed leftists be ableist pieces of shit will never not suck. Goddam.

I can't get people to post alt text in their screenshots. It's not hard to copy paste the text in to a window! There's a bot that can do it, but I don't know what it is. Bluesky refuses to implement a native function for it, so I miss out. I shouldn't need to ask a bot to tell me what it says!

Frustrated and sad face combination.

we can't even get @bencollins.bsky.social to do it regularly despite hundreds of people telling him on almost every post for over four years and now him owning a media outlet. it's exhausting.

Unfortunate really.

I went off on Michael Hobbes yesterday and got blocked by dozens of people. Even had a couple suggest that people who need alt text can just click the article (as if no alt text would let on that screencaps were from an article—can’t EVERYONE just go to the article?) It’s so fucking tiring.

Yep he's one of the worst about that shit

He should truly know better

I'm not asking to argue, I'm legit trying to learn, but if someone does post a link to an article or whatever, wouldn't a screen reader indicate that there's a link at all? Does it not do that?

Depends on the website and how it hyperlinks and if it does a link card or not. Also doesn’t help to highlight the cropped and/or highlighted section that was screenshot to make a point.

Damn, so then what's the alternative? Spend characters indicating there is a link in said post at all? Wait until someone actually using a screen reader asks for a link? What do we do?

Maybe? Possibly? I’m just someone fighting to help. I don’t have vision problems. I’m physically crippled. But having to go off the app to be accommodated by a journalist with almost 50k followers here, who could just copy and paste that big blob of words in the screenshot? It makes no sense.

Having a higher character limit in the Alt-Text might help. On here, it only fits 1,000 characters. The few times I posted screenshots of text here that shot past that, I just summarized what was written just so there was SOMETHING there...

Michael Hobbes is frustrating because sometimes he has beautiful alt-text and other times he doesn't have any at all.

At this point, it's purposefully malicious to leave it off.

You can ask the community for help by tagging alt4me, and a volunteer will come help. It's not the same as getting the information right away, and it can take some time, but it's better than us being left out. They are good people! (Noaltfeed)

Just do @ and alt4me? I don't want to pester other people for help though. I really dislike having to ask for any help because it amplifies my existing sense or uselessness and being a burden lol. I will keep it in mind if I find something really important, though! Thank you!

I completely understand that! I go from feeling like I deserve to be included to feeling like I'm just not important enough. It's a feed. Just type the words alt4me and the feed will pick it up. When a volunteer has time, they come and help to add alt text. No bothering anyone! (Noaltfeed)

Here ya go. If you want to scroll and see how it works (and get community added alt text!) bsky.app/profile/did:...

ALT4Me--Alt Requests

Feed by @eustace.link

Oh! Well that's better then. I will try it out. Thank you, your Pancakefullness!

You are very welcome! ☺️

alt4me was created by and for screen reader users on Twitter and then transferred to other platforms. On Bluesky, you can either hashtag or not hashtag and it will end up in a feed for volunteers to write alt text for. Another sanctioned use is people who can't write their own alt text. NoAltFeed

I started volunteering on it today and find it kinda fun, if this helps increase your willingness to use it

This is the bot, but last post was months ago about cost to run. @ alttext.bsky.social They have urged only used by low vision, blind, or other decoding issues because of cost. So in my terms, not for normies or don't have spoons to write alt text.

Alt Text Generator (@alttext.bsky.social)bsky.app Tag me and i will respond with an Alt-Text. Help fund the API cost: paypal.me/linusrath/ (funded until Feb. 26th ≈5€ per day) Parameters: lang:(iso code) misc:explain (Explains the Image) misc:short...

That was the one that used a Chat GPT model to generate text. It worked well for a while, but then yeah, costs and it went the way of. There’s an OCR bot @ alt-text.bsky.social that I still see here and there. YMMV

Also the ChatGPT model to generate alt text does not make good alt text.

As far as I have been able to tell the bots are no longer working.

Well well well I hope they are enjoying their vacation!! 😄

Have not tried this myself but there's an extension for Chrome & Firefox that will add alt text when right clicking an image. While it's intended to be a tool for posters, I don't see why it couldn't serve as an instant alt text generator for those that need it. alttext.ai/docs/integra...

Browser Extension - AltText.ai Documentationalttext.ai The Maui Deluxe surfboard is the best carbon-fiber board you can buy.

Firefox is also working on a built-in alt text generator, but I have no idea how close to implementation this is. Anyway, this is an area where I think AI can be useful and I hope more are working on it. It's something that would make everybody happy!

Firefox's tool is for screen reader users and currently limited to PDFs, I believe. AI-generated alt text for people creating alt text is not a desirable or effective or good solution in most cases.

Here's a trick that makes alt-text effortless for me. Some people may disapprove, but it's why I pretty much always have alt-text on my images.

Personally, I think alt text is one of the only acceptable uses for this stuff at this time. So you’re alright as far as I’m concerned. Now working with it to get it to say ridiculous things? GET A LIFE. 😂🤷‍♂️

iOS and macOS do it AUTOMATICALLY even

I've literally been blocked by leftists for politely asking for them to put alt-text on their images. Leftists aren't allies to disabled people more than anyone else, and I feel like they should be.

If you're allyship is equal to or worse than that of conservatives, you need to have a good, long, hard look in the mirror.

That part.

From my experience here, I've seen more liberals use alt-text for their screenshots.

People used to be better about it here and I hate that that's slipping. I still repost art without alt text because I want to support artists, because *not* doing that won't make them use alt text, but it still hurts.

I disagree with this conclusion. Peer pressure works to normalize social behavior, including getting people to behave more justly. If we normalize not boosting or platforming people not doing just social behavior, they will eventually catch on.

Also, telling people who care about your opinion why you're not sharing their stuff without alt text can make a difference. It will matter less to people who don't know you and value your take. Folks getting defensive and shitty about it is about them.

I'd like to believe that this can work, but I have my doubts. I've been put off trying to ask people to use alt text-- I've been fought into the ground too many times to even want to try again, at least not yet. But if you want to, I genuinely hope you succeed.

❤️‍🩹.

I have years of work and writing and observation on this topic and many people have told me that my writing on alt text has been helpful to them in getting them to do it or do it better. So yeah, I feel successful.

I also often feel unsuccessful, but I am the kind of person who is ratty and pissy and sometimes keeps fighting for justice out of spite even when it is self-sabotaging to my mental health.

This is why community is important - we all need a break sometimes; others can step in while we rest and care for ourselves or focus on other efforts.

thank you kindly 😔❤️ i at least make sure to always put alt text on things i post, but i need to reserve my spoons for my own art and social media presence-- last time i got into an argument over alt text, it was like half an hour of just obstinate viciousness and i had nothing left in me after.

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