Eb

I'm a bit less picky about who I will chance letting know they've done something incorrectly with their alt text, but it's still a judgment call and I still try not to be mean about it.

So yeah. I generally don't yell at people for not doing alt text. If they're a large account with a lot of influence or a small account with someone I've known for a bit, I might say something. (Tone can vary, but I tend to try harder to be thoughtful with people I expect to care about it.)

I only found the WHATWG HTML standard that includes how to use the alt attribute—literally the most authoritative guidance on how to do alt text—this year. And I've been genuinely knowledgeable about alt text for several years.

But the WHATWG standard pulled things together for me.

One thing I keep in mind: on the internet as a whole, the vast majority of images that should have alt text—never mind appropriate and useful alt text—just don't.

Even people who have known the alt attribute exists and is required for HTML to pass compliance checks don't know how to do alt text.

There are also still people who don't know about alt text. Most of the folks on Bluesky who encourage folks to do alt text only learned it exists within the last five years. And probably less time than that.

So yeah, I assume most people will not know what alt text is or how to do it properly.

I think. I'm not entirely sure and I might be wrong.

I think it's a thing that happens when a certain type of person's understanding of the world is fundamentally shifted by learning that something they thought was harmless isn't.

And they want the rest of the world to learn that, too, as quickly as possible.

My politeness levels vary over on this matter. Mamdani, for example was all over alt text until elected. I'm assuming he has someone who manages his account now and they've stopped alt entirely. People, myself included, have been asking nicely over and over, but now I am blunt as fuck about it.

I try to always assume good faith - people don't know what they don't know - but where proven otherwise I'm simply not here for it.

This is not about conflicting needs and disabled folks who struggle to write alt (although there is a feed to get help). It's for the "I cannot be bothered" crowd.

There's a certain kind of person I used to see on Twitter who was just learning about ableist language and would go into anyone's mentions—no real discernment—and start yelling at them about their ableist language.

And they mean well, but they haven't quite figured it out yet.

There are a lot of people whose only understanding of alt text is what they've seen from social media platforms surfacing it for all users, and a lot of those people are overly confident that they know what there is to know about alt text.

And they miseducate others based on that.

I get tagged in on folks suggesting to (especially) new artists to Bluesky to do alt text quite often and those folks are usually really not shitty about it at all.

Which isn't to say that there aren't the overly enthusiastic ones, too, because there are.

Regardless of how tactfully or gently such a request is put.

There are also the folks who take as instigation to fight any suggestion or helpful feedback on how they could improve their alt text or what they've done incorrectly (according to guidance for using the alt attribute from the actual body in charge of the standards for HTML, including alt text).

There are also the folks who have more recently learned about alt text or internet accessibility or whatever and it was a revelation to them and they want to help other people have that same revelation.

Sometimes overly enthusiastically. Sometimes missing nuances.

... and still refuse to do it.

So I'm still going with this thread and my perspective is a bit different. Also I have read a lot of alt text that suggests "being an asshole on purpose" is some people's motivation for misusing the alt text field and also there are all those journos who have repeatedly been asked to do alt text...

There are folks who think making a gesture toward accessibility even if they're doing it incorrectly or inadequately or actually misunderstanding the tool and its purpose should be good enough and anyone who suggests otherwise is demanding too much.

There are folks who are sick of having to ask for accessibility in various different areas over and over and over and still not getting it or getting ridiculous pushback or getting it half-assed and who have very little patience.

Folks are coming at this from a lot of different perspectives.

There are some people who are just bemused that something that for nearly 30 years was super niche and ignored is now apparently a flashpoint.

I'm not saying that caring about correctly implementing accessibility tools makes a team trustworthy but not caring about it definitely indicates something.

Honestly this is so complicated, especially with the way alt text has become a Thing (But Weirdly) on some social media platforms (but not others) and how that Thingness is oddly divorced from the larger and much longer context of alt text (and general internet accessibility).

They banned switchblades because they were anecdotally associated with "juvenile delinquents" which sounds extremely like the U.S. of both the '50s and also the mid-2020s.

Randomly learning about switchblade bans in the U.S. and wtf and also spring-assisted knives in the U.S. and wtf times fifty that's the difference between the highest-rated utility knife on Wirecutter and this nonsense?

Sucks to be a non-genre-savvy character.

I do actually have a secondary suspect, too, but I'm really not as sure about that one.

Pretty sure I win. Genre-savvy wins.

Oh that's gonna hurt for the Eagles. They really did do well tonight.

I mean okay yes I don't like Harbaugh but I think I just feel like the Eagles have earned it.

Just caught myself cheering for the Eagles and wtf, me?