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2026-05-13 16:03:45

Stefan Bohacek via Alt Text Hall of Fame

stefan@stefanbohacek.online

@lalah Fair point on the alt text, we all benefit from it.

Still, it can be quite a jarring experience when you join a new social media site, and you're greeted with a bunch of strangers all giving you the same advice with a varying degree of being annoyed by you.

Surely, there has to be a better way.

Especially when people can just offer to write the alt text for you?

https://mastodon.social/@alttexthalloffame/112406818563346348

@scottjenson

2026-05-13 16:56:21

Scott Jenson

scottjenson@social.coop

@stefan @lalah
I'm sensitive to both concerns! Of course we want more alt text but we have to appreciate that the overwhelming "you're doing it wrong" feeling people get, especially if they do usually do it but forget once is overwhelming. That "tone policing" experience has proven to be a clear and strong negative to our culture.

This is especially true as a common manta here is that "no one deserves a follow". If someone isn't posting the content you want, its a big wide world, just don't follow them. "Educating them" isn't as helpful as many feel it is.

2026-05-13 23:12:52

Jupiter Rowland

jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

@Scott Jenson @Stefan Bohacek @Rosy This even raises quite a few questions.

When are you "doing it wrong"? What is the point at which you'll stop "doing it wrong"? What are the minimum requirements for, quote @Rosy, "good alt text"?

If you think you have the definite, all-encompassing answer, have you ever talked about it with someone, preferably with an alt-text activist? Because I'm pretty certain that their minimum requirements for "good alt text" and not "doing it wrong" are different from yours. Ask someone else, and their minimum requirements are different yet again.

Still, no matter how they define the minimum for "good alt text" and not "doing it wrong", you'll have to fulfill that to keep your dignity and your reputation, not to mention your reach.

This is why I try to play by all the rules when describing images. This is why I carefully choose between rules that contradict each other. This is why I take such a lot of things into consideration whenever I describe an image.

This, in fact, is why I haven't posted an actually original image in almost two years because the effort is so enormous.

And this is why I'm actually working on a wiki about alt-texts and image descriptions in the Fediverse. It'll have over 50 pages, and it uses more than 50 references all over the Web already now.

Now, what if I told you that you can even be lectured or sanctioned or insulted or blocked outright for not having good enough alt-text behind an image that you've posted several years ago? And that my images aren't auto-purged after a certain time?

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