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Another Angry Woman

Experienced fedi users, let's not fuck this up for the new users and make them feel welcome! If you see an image without alt text, instead of scolding, spending that typing energy on writing an image description so the person can edit it in!

61 comments
estelle4565

@stavvers
Good suggestion. Also together with a polite explanation on why some people need them?
@mawhrin

DELETED

@stavvers 'instead of scolding, be constructive' is evergreen advice, really

Sarah Burstein

@stavvers Yes! And for the love of all that is good and holy, don't starshame people.

Maybe you thought that, on other sites, the only/real purpose of liking or favoriting a post was to increase its visibility.

But showing appreciation/making a human connection matters EVEN IF there's no algorithmic effect.

So encourage people to boost, if you want. But don't tell people not to like/favorite things.

(And, stg, if anyone responds to this by starsplaining, I will block you.)

Another Angry Woman

@design_law the funny thing about this behaviour is I have never met a single person who ever liked posts for visibility reasons, only to show the poster they liked their posts, it's always been so fucking weird to me seeing the weirdo starshaming posts lol

Oops Upside Keir Hardie

@design_law @stavvers I first started using Mastodon a significant amount around the time of one of the influxes, and it was GREAT when finally the "you must use mastodon exactly like this 1/32" threads died down.

Another Angry Woman

@scatterkeir @design_law I'm actually impressed I haven't seen many this time round, and I wonder if it's because I've muted all those bores, or if they've just been too busy discoursing about kolektiva.social to notice the latest wave of new users

Oops Upside Keir Hardie

@stavvers @design_law it's like "you have to use hashtags", if, for instance I personally ever tweeted about Syd Little, it wasn't with the intention of attracting randos searching for Syd Little, so I have no reason to #SydLittle here.

DELETED

@stavvers @scatterkeir @design_law i think it's the former cos i have seen quite a few on the tl and it boils my piss

Just Boby

@almostconverge @stavvers @scatterkeir @design_law Then I must’ve muted those too coz I see more of “BEHAVE PEOPLE OR ELSE!!” Type of warning to those who are here already so we won’t screw up this time.

It’s a bit funny tho :D (I know but still is)

jack will miss this server

@stavvers @scatterkeir @design_law all pedantic newcomer threads should use the #/feditips hashtag and also a cw so they can be filtered out at the instance level

Pete Alex Harris🦡🕸️🌲/∞🪐∫

@stavvers @design_law
I like that there's a meaningful difference between starring something and boosting it, and that it's a choice a human can make freely and purposefully, not just grist for an algorithm they have no control over.

Cat

@stavvers @design_law Exactly that. I'd go so far as to say the fact that how Twitter worked was misaligned with how people used Twitter is hardly Fedi's problem.

Another Angry Woman

@Catriona @design_law the thing is, it wasn't even how twitter was designed to work - first they were a simple bookmarking tool, then it because a way of showing someone you liked their post, and then it got algorithmic but like I said I doubt many people ever used it like that

Christopher Phin

@stavvers @design_law The thing that’s been so disorientatingly weird for me on Masto is that the mechanical experience so completely mimics the experience I had with Twitter, since I accessed it via Tweetbot. I had a chronological feed of the people I followed, and the algo did fuck all*. It’s weird only because so many people are baffled by it, and I’m, like, _your_ Twitter sounds atrocious!

*caveat: with the exception of sometimes surfacing me to non-followers, for good or ill

Sarah Burstein

@chrisphin @stavvers Yeah, I was a TweetDeck user, so my experience has been similar

martynpie

@chrisphin @stavvers @design_law I had not considered this, but it’s 10/10 true for me too.

davrod

@stavvers @design_law I'm new but this is the first I've heard of it. Progress, maybe?? 🤷‍♂️

So Julia

@stavvers @design_law Yeah, I’ve never used the Twitter app (nor understood why anyone would!) so I’ve never experienced the algorithm.

Tricia

@design_law @stavvers I star many more posts than I boost because I may like it for a number of reasons, or just agree with the poster on something, but don’t feel compelled to share it with the entire community.
I appreciate the art/artist, but don’t want it tattooed on my arm forever basically.

Mathaetaes

@design_law @stavvers okay… I’ve seen starshaming, but would you please explain starsplaining?

Sarah Burstein

@mathaetaes @stavvers I just made it up in my frustration with people who like to tell me "AKSHULLY, likes/favorites affect What's Hot" or similar missing-the-point kind of nonsense

martynpie

@stavvers I’m new to this, but I do still like a star. I’m happy to let someone know that I like what they posted, but I also don’t always want to fill peoples’ timelines with things. Especially if I feel I’m posting a lot in a short space of time. 🙂

martynpie

@stavvers also I am perfectly comfortable enough with myself and quite beyond being shamed for expressing myself in a particular way 😆

But equally, I do need to boost a little more: my feed is a little slow, but I’ve got 14 years of Twitter habits to modify.

Em

@stavvers nah. I rather ask them to redo it.

_katiesaurus_

@stavvers thank you so much, this newer user didn't realize she could edit them in. 😊

Another Angry Woman

@_katiesaurus_ it's a really great feature, I absolutely love the robust editing on here

Alfonso Urdaneta

@stavvers

Wouldn't this be directly contradicting your screen name?

Fade

@stavvers I just saw someone suggest not being scoldy and get a Reply Guy demand, I kid you not, /citations/ about this 'scolding' phenomenon, and that definitely sums up 1) why a lot of my friends tried Mastodon and ran screaming, 2) why my block list is an ever-growing thing.

Another Angry Woman

@fade one of my favourite features on here is the profile annotation, so I can annotate the profile as "utter bore" and mute indefinitely, and know *why*

Sarah Brown
@stavvers @fade I have a lot of server blocks with reason, “arsehole”. One has, “fucking TERF”
gisela b

@stavvers could you tell more about this, how do I annotate a profile?

Another Angry Woman

@gisela open the profile, there a box at the top to add notes

Fade

@stavvers God yes. Especially since I'm bad with names and faces to start with, so I regularly forget who my own friends are if they change their icon--so a note reminder that someone isn't an old friend going through a grouchy month, but Just Some Reply Guy, is a godsend.

Inner Geek Designs

@stavvers so what is the pros/use for alt tags on images, is it a search feature just like regular web design?

Another Angry Woman

@innergeekdesigns accessibility feature, lots of people use screenreaders so they can enjoy the image too!

HistoPol (#HP)

@stavvers

Note:
Editing #AltText with #Tusky on #Android doesn’t work.
Use #Fedilab or the computer's browser version instead.

Also:

Due to repeated crashes on #Android* when doing #AltText, this is now my standard procedure:
Post w/o AltText and then edit and repost immediately afterwards.

#Fedilab has never been up to date with #Samsung OS updates and even gives this as excuse in its error messages. Crashes frequently, too, but has more features, like #translate.

Another Angry Woman

@jstark @HistoPol also, as a tusky android user, it 100% does work

HistoPol (#HP)

@stavvers @jstark

I mostly use #Tusky, therefore.

#Fedilab has some features, though, that I need, too, e.g
editing #AltText and #Translate.
So, I mostly have both open.

Jules Beaumont

@stavvers i dont actually know how to caption a photo and ive been here a while 🤦‍♀️ sorry.

ouinne

@Julesbc it’s actually easier than it was on twitter! on the web: when you put a picture in your post, click the edit button in the top right. Describe your picture. It doesn’t have to be fancy, just what the picture is so if someone can’t see it they know what it is. In the mastodon ‘official’ app the description can be added by clicking at the bottom of the picture before posting, and in ivory you just click on the picture and the box comes up. Now you can do alt text, high five! 😀

Brindle greyhound sitting on carpet, swinging her paw up at the camera
bengin1003

@stavvers
IMO, that would be educational for those of us who aren’t sure how to do it.

Another Angry Woman

@bengin1003 totally - the easiest way that people learn is to see how it's done, and it's why the scolding is just off-putting and useless, while you could *show* how to do it

Clare Hertling Maxim

@stavvers I typed some alt text in when I posted a pic but didn't seem to have an Ok/submit button to make it "stick" just a back button which took me out of the alt text window

Sci-Fi Girl

@cba500 @stavvers

What app are you using? I use the basic web interface, and there is an "apply" button.

But you should get instructions specific to whatever app you are using... 😎

#5ciFiGirl

Clare Hertling Maxim

@5ciFiGirl I've got the Tusky app now so I'll try it again sometime and see if it works.

Sci-Fi Girl

@cba500

👍

In some of the other replies to this thread, folks mention using Tusky to *post* the alt-text, but Fedilab if they need to *edit it*, LOL.

So if you need any specific pointers, they could probably help. (Since I haven't used the apps. 😉 )

mastodon.social/@HistoPol/1106

RobotWig :mastodon:

@stavvers I’ve been scolded a few times just for genuinely forgetting to do it on the odd one even though I add alt text to every single post. It would be great if people were a little more polite about it, it’s certainly off putting when you’re new and some random comes at you like you’ve committed a heinous crime

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