lmmarsano

For the record, I’m not making a free speech absolutist argument.

That’s a really strange disclaimer over a fundamental right akin to

I’m not a self-determination absolutist

I’m not a due-process-of-law absolutist

I’m not a freedom-of-movement absolutist

I’m not a freedom-of-conscience absolutist

I’m not a warranted-search-and-seizure absolutist

Absolutism here isn’t mentioned to disclaim protection of illegal speech, because that’s already unprotected, and no one here would dispute that. In this context, absolutism disclaims protection of unpopular speech people here would denounce, so it disclaims freedom of speech entirely.

This denies the presumption of a fundamental right as protected, which is entirely backward. Fundamental rights are presumed protected, whereas attempts to restrict or challenge them need strict scrutiny. Notably absent in these discussions is the disclaimer

I’m not a censorship absolutist

It’s a copout.

As for regulation, it’s a private device people are free to denounce, customize, or reject for a competitor. People have the liberty to produce & choose censored junk. An open society doesn’t restrict such choices when it can leverage fundamental rights^[1] to denounce, criticize, and compete.

This is among one of many techniques presented at the WCAG site you linked. You putting text in a top level comment would seem to me to satisfy this, at least in intent.

Not in the slightest: the guideline falls under Principle 1 – Perceivable

Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive.

as Guideline 1.1 – Text Alternatives

Provide text alternatives for any non-text content so that it can be changed into other forms people need, such as large print, braille, speech, symbols or simpler language.

The sight-impaired user is unable to perceive the text content hidden in the image at the post listing level that the sighted user can perceive. Your suggested text alternative is simply not there to display at the post listing level. Your suggested execution of the technique fails its test

1. Remove, hide, or mask the non-text content
2. Display the long description
3. Check that the long description conveys the same information conveyed by the non-text content.

since we can’t display a description absent from the page. Your nonsolution misapplies the technique & is not a credible text alternative.

Imagine opening every post to seek among an unsorted mass of comments a comment we can’t seriously expect to exist providing a text alternative not written by the author & of questionable integrity: the user has no incentive to take that additional effort for a post that already violates web accessibility. They may not even be aware a post needs a text alternative. That is not equivalent to the experience of a user who can read the image.

The best solution is not to use any web accessibility technique: actual text doesn’t need it. Sharing it as an image was gratuitous & unnecessary. The post could have been proper text with the same bolding & line breaks.

to offer and make accomodations to the best extent possible

which your nonsolution here definitely is not: the post remains inaccessible. That is not due to a limitation of possibility: it’s due to a failure of will or execution. As originally stated, posting proper text or setting alt text is possible.

A separate comment only gives the commenter an unfounded sense of accomplishment, when they’re only enabling the posters to continue violating web accessibility without any pressure to correct themselves. Structurally prolonging dysfunction that way is the opposite of helpful.

Because that’s not a solution: the post remains inaccessible. Unless you edit the post, demanding they fix it is the only solution.

I see stating the obvious struck a nerve for the downvoters, so let me dumb it down for the unfortunate ilk unable to grasp the obvious: y’all full of shit. You think someone scrolling through posts the same as you is going to notice a text alternative hidden away in some comment on some other page? You expect them to open every post unlike you for something that likely won’t even be there? That’s not equivalent in the slightest. Shit’s daft as fuck: keep dreaming.

Now examine critically the substance of the other commenter’s actions. While the comment is effective at drawing upvotes, is it actually effective at the main outcome of doing anything meaningful for accessibility as they purport? No, the comment doesn’t appear to anyone scrolling through posts. Tellingly, the community is simply rewarding self-indulgent ploys to gain upvotes that do nothing for accessibility while condemning meaningful answers to actually solve it. That’s quite damning.

It indicates a toxic community that cares more about indulging community narcissism than acting on their purpose directly within their capacity right here to address an issue in their control. A real progressive would care enough about equal access to look up & determine the truth on the matter, so they can pursue and promote real answers instead of empty gestures that don’t meaningfully address inaccessible content. The placebo they pretend works stops them from developing real cures.

In sum, some lemmy communities in particular are toxic & hostile to web accessibility in ways we don’t find in bluesky and other parts of the fediverse such as mastodon where web accessibility is common practice.

Back to the point, here’s an introduction to web accessibility that you seem to sorely need. You can also read the technical guideline while you’re at it. However, your nonsolution is an unhelpful illusion that diverts people from pursuing credible solutions.

checks alt text

(nothing)

The message is good, but it’s an image of pure text unreadable to anyone who can’t see images.
It’s very un-progressive to exclude others, and the lack of proper text makes it unsearchable.
OP needs to update the post to proper text or redundantly set a text alternative.

Explain what the disabled did to you to deserve shitty conduct from you.
Same for whomever upvotes you.

If you want to be an asshole, keep in mind whom you’re taking it out on, because it’s definitely not your critic.
Moreover, no one is immune to disability, and you could find yourself screwed over by that arrogant inconsideration you embrace.
I’ll gloat over the idiocy regardless, champ.

Anyone who purports to be leftist yet downvotes accessibility is the biggest hypocrite on the planet.
They’re all talk, but when it comes to concrete action here and now, that’s all they are: all talk, no action, hollow words, fake.

Bold to contradict the rash flights of popular judgement.
People hate the burden of questioning their own flawed, unreliable intuition when they can downvote instead to ease the burden right away.

Gotta admire that indifference to downvotes.

notice image full of text\
check alt text\
find

Oh, referring to you?

That is wholly inadequate for an image full of text.
Ain’t no way someone unable to read the image is going to get the whole thing.
Search engines won’t find anything by the “text” either.

Don’t cheat accessibility.
Do the text alternative properly.

A spokesperson for Cornell said in a statement on Tuesday that “the second-hand account of the question asked by President Kotlikoff in a January 2025 meeting in the letter is incorrect, based on a documented first-hand account.”

“The question ‘why did it take so long for the assault to be reported’ was directed at bystanders who did not use Cornell’s anonymous tip line, despite ongoing social media activity about the incident in October 2024,” the spokesperson said. “He was not questioning Jane Doe’s reporting.”

is “presidential taskforce” in your mind referring to the US president? lost