Is the &quot;Mastodon Police&quot; actually okay with my image descriptions?

Jupiter Rowland

jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

Duothematic channel. Primary topic is virtual worlds/OpenSim, secondary topic is the Fediverse beyond Mastodon. Follow me from Mastodon or anywhere else in the Fediverse.

Ort:: The Hypergrid

Geschlecht:: Männlich

Homepage:: https://hub.netzgemeinde.eu/profile/jupiter_rowland

Is the "Mastodon Police" actually okay with my image descriptions?

Thu, 28 Mar 2024 22:36:22 +0100

Jupiter Rowland

jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

How the "enforcement of alt-text law on Mastodon" miraculously leaves me alone; CW: long (almost 1,200 characters), Fediverse meta, alt-text meta, image description meta

Artikel ansehen

Fediverse

show all 8 comments

Thu, 28 Mar 2024 23:28:49 +0100

koimata

koimata@koimoji.online

Who are "they"? I never use alt-text nor do I really care to. I feel it's one of those Mastodon cultures I never been a part of.

Thu, 28 Mar 2024 23:47:30 +0100

Jupiter Rowland

jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

@koimata On Mastodon, it's actually good manners to describe each image that you post with an underlying alt-text. It's a matter of accessibility and inclusivity.

While a few instances have made this an enforceable rule, it is not written law. But not exactly few Mastodon users do try to enforce it.

The most basic way is by refusing to boost posts with images without alt-text, depriving them of range.

The next step is to reply to such posts with an alt-text proposal plus the hashtag #Alt4You, #Alt4U, #AltText4You or #AltText4U. Normally, these hashtags are used in posts with alt-text that are replies to posts in which someone asks around for someone to describe their image because they can't do that themselves, accompanied with the hashtag #Alt4Me or #AltText4Me. In this case, however, the alt-text proposal is unsolicited.

Another level up are public declarations to mute or block anyone who ever posts an image without alt-text and anyone who ever boosts posts with images without alt-text.

And then comes the out-right harassment of users who don't add alt-text which is frequently criticised as one reason why newbies leave Mastodon for Threads or Bluesky within no time after using Mastodon just like they used to use 𝕏.

However, it doesn't only matter if there is alt-text. The alt-text must also sufficiently describe the image, and if there's text in the image, the alt-text must include a full, verbatim transcript of all text. The only exception to the latter is if there's too much text for Mastodon's 1,500-character limit in alt-text.

If all this is hard to believe, check the #AltText hashtag on mastodon.social and spend a while browsing it.

If you've barely got connections on Mastodon, I guess you can safely ignore all this.

But the vast majority of my over 500 connections is on Mastodon. And seeing as the secondary purpose of this channel is "Fediverse explainer", I need quite a bit of range on Mastodon, and I can't afford losing great chunks of it by flipping the bird to Mastodonians just because I'm not one.

#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #MastodonPolice #FediPolice #AltTextMafia #AltText #AltTextMeta #CWAltTextMeta #ImageDescription #ImageDescriptions #ImageDescriptionMeta #CWImageDescriptionMeta

Fri, 29 Mar 2024 11:58:31 +0100

phanisvara (streams)

phani@streams.phanisvara.com

you have to consider that mastodon posts are being blasted all over the fediverse. there's no contained conversations, anybody anywhere is likely to read it. i don't know the percentage of people without functioning eyesight, but it's more than a few. it's hard to argue against being inclusive, i.e., making pictures understandable for those who can't see them (properly).

it's a bit different here, in the Zot/nomad universe. most of what i write happens in conversations with known participants. but i've made it a habit to add alt-text to (the few) pictures i post anyway. this way i don't have to always pay attention if it's public or not, or if it gets quoted somewhere, eventually.

would be nicer if "the mastodon police" acted more friendly, but with alt-text they do have a point, IMO. and even if they don't act friendly, i got a thick skin, doesn't bother me.

Thu, 04 Apr 2024 13:50:48 +0200

Jupiter Rowland

jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

@phanisvara (streams)

you have to consider that mastodon posts are being blasted all over the fediverse.

Once you've got Mastodon connections, so are your public posts and comments on Hubzilla or (streams). Contained conversations or not.

Trust me when I tell you that my own posts and comments are all over mastodon.social's federated timeline, regardless of what and whom I've commented on.

Sun, 07 Apr 2024 11:34:06 +0200 zuletzt bearbeitet: Sun, 07 Apr 2024 11:34:01 +0200

Cătă

petrescatraian@libranet.de

@Jupiter Rowland this is the way. Our posts should actually contain only a title and a photo. Any photo. Then we put the post content into the alt-text.

Sun, 07 Apr 2024 16:26:52 +0200 zuletzt bearbeitet: Sun, 07 Apr 2024 16:26:42 +0200

Jupiter Rowland

jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

@Cătă So that those who can't access alt-text can't read anything?

And yes, there are people who can't access alt-text.

Sun, 07 Apr 2024 16:34:29 +0200 zuletzt bearbeitet: Sun, 07 Apr 2024 16:34:23 +0200

Cătă

petrescatraian@libranet.de

@Jupiter Rowland well, that's better. They won't even see the long text to begin with, haha

Sun, 07 Apr 2024 20:18:19 +0200 zuletzt bearbeitet: Sun, 07 Apr 2024 20:18:09 +0200

Jupiter Rowland

jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

@Cătă I do it the other way around: The full image description goes into the post text body.

It's always way too long for the alt-text, and it always contains information that isn't available anywhere else in the post, neither in the actual post text nor in the image.

In addition, to satisfy those who'd complain about the lack of alt-text even then, I also give a short, purely visual description in the alt-text, along with a note that a full description can be found in the post itself.