Do you write the slurs in a screenshot's alt-text?

Submitted by twovests in just_post (edited )

Since alt-text started to be everywhere (good!), I've seen a few times screenshots of someone saying a slur. Y'know, receipts and whatnot.

Almost always, the slurs are not censored in the screenshot, but are censored in the alt text, e.g. as "sl*r" or even omitted and written as "[the S-slur but it's not censored".

(edit: flipped conditions above, fixed)

This strikes me as Bad Alt Text, right? A post with images with good alt text is a post which would be just as good if it was only alt-text. It's not something that should be lesser.

This is more relevant, e.g. on Mastodons or BlueSky or Cohost (RIP) (just another point for Just Post being the very best place to post) but I am wondering what you all think here. Do you write the slurs in a screenshot's alt-text?

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Comments

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devtesla wrote

I don't think I've ever screenshotted a slur, and if I did I'd probably edit the image before posting anyway

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twovests OP wrote

While I think that's the way to go, I am still concerned with the quality of the alt text and it's utility

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underscores wrote

Reminds me of how youtube's autocaptions just put [_] for everything, as if deaf people can't handle swearing or slurs, but everyone else can.

I think you're better off not having slurs, but if it's there in one format it should be in the other. If you do censor it at least do it where it's clear what specific word isn't being said.

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I_got_killed_one_time wrote

if its a screenshot of a social media post , i think most screenreaders handle those pretty well already. So maybe you can yourself of your slur dilemma, the machine will already say it for you 👍

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twovests OP wrote

Not on Linux- the accessibility scene is pretty abysmal and even then, the screen readers I used didn't have OCR. (Plus there's OCR taking more battery, which isn't immaterial)

I think I don't consider it a dilemma, but I am imagining other people see it as such and I am trying to inquire about how people internalize it / think about alt text.

I do think censoring the slur in the screenshot is the way to go (and so also noting the pixelated and implied slur in the alt text)

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