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Kaliah

Okay, people. When you're writing out a word, be that a swear word, or a word that could be triggering for some, or even just a word you find generally uncomfortable to write. Please do not use alternative characters to attempt to censor it. It makes it much more complicated to read, it disrupts people who potentially want to filter out that word from social media, and in the worst cases it can be confusing to people. I've had a couple times where people replaced letters with numbers, or non-qwerty characters to attempt to censor a word, and their attempt made me utterly confused by my screen reader's output. Please just write the actual word in its uncensored entirety. It is not bad and will help people know what you mean, and in some cases will make it easier for people to filter out the content that triggers them or that they don't want to see. Thanks

4 comments
Kara Goldfinch

@Kaliah Related, I just had to use OCR to work out what crackling meant in a video. luckily it worked but it took a few goes.

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@Kaliah

Thanks for providing that instruction. A lot of us... OK, me... didn't even consider that being an issue.
I would add that when you write out the word and you're concerned that it will be "upsetting to some viewers", you tag your toot with a 'content warning'. I recently saw one that warned 'contains unnecessary, but cathartic, swearing'.
Thanks so much for sharing this information.

Kaliah

@CindyS Oh for sure, I've definitely seen CWs used in that way before. I think CWs are valuable. However I've seen people use non-qwerty characters or numbers to censor words, even in CWs, and it drives me crazy as a screen reader user.

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