Add a native setting to hide from the feed posts containing images without alt text

[cygaj]

There are labelers that do something like that but I think there should be a native accessibility/moderation setting to hide or remove from feed posts that either contain images without alt text / or none of images in them have alt text — I've seen people describe series of images in a single alt text, I don't know what would be the right solution. I think there should be a way to assign "null" alt texts, which would help in such situations – have one alt text describing whole sequence, and the rest of images get null alt texts

There are many people who in contrast to me think that alt texts should be mandatory, but lots of visual art really has no real value besides of the visual minutia and describing it would be either pointless or an involved exercise in creative writing (which is an unreasonable barrier of entry for posting visual art – no one is required to be a poet in order to be a painter). Instead I believe people should be given ample tools to avoid such purely visual posts if they wish to

[aschei]

I fully support this request. I would like to see a feature that allows users to filter out posts without ALT texts to better support the visually impaired community. I don't want to see or share posts that lack accessibility.

Regarding visual art: Many people with visual impairments enjoy visual art, and having ALT text is crucial for their participation. To ensure high-quality ALT texts, posters could also utilize AI-based tools (e.g., ChatGPT, which has shown good results).

[hybridhavoc]

Just wanted to add support to this. While I understand wanting to leverage labelers for hiding posts, the sheer amount of media without alt text shared on the platform make this too too daunting for labelers to handle I think.

This should also apply to posts with gifs or videos without alt text.

[AielCakes]

I'm vision impaired, and I dream of a place that is accessible. I know that's a dream, but I believe it to be reasonable to have a choice of if I want to be inundated with inaccessible posts or not. Labelers can't handle the sheer volume of posts without alt text, which is unfortunate.

I support this completely! How can we make this happen?

[Unesdala]

As a blind developer, and blind user, I approve of this and would love to see it added.

The labeler that hides it hasn't been working for a long while now and is struggling even more with the influx of new users. Something baked in would be a boon for accessibility for the community that relies on it.

It'd also allow for being able to follow people who are otherwise pleasant to interact with but that share tons of images without alt text.

[NoFunOverlord]

i absolutely support this initiative. I'm stoked at how much of bluesky uses alt text (compared to other sites), but it could be so much better

this feature would make my experience tremendously better, especially since alt text use has really dropped off and I'd rather not see inaccessible media

[DeckTheLion]

I shouldn't have to mute or block friends to make my feed accessible and safe. I just want to avoid seeing posts without alt text. It seems easy.

[Naraoia-damnit]

What DeckTheLion said 👆

[DanielHe4rt]

Up++

[raineofcastamere]

I agree with this! With the continuous waves of newcomers from sites in which alt text wasn't encouraged, the amount of posts without in in bsky is also going up. We need this feature to keep our own experience truly accessible! Hopefully this is something ge get in the future!

[henrik-stahl]

I support this 110%, let's make the internet a more accessible and inclusive place! ❤️

[Alex-CS]

This is a great suggestion!

I understand that labelers can technically do this, but they're flooded with the entire firehose of posts, whereas a native solution would make this almost as simple as the logic governing the alt badge

[ryanmueller28]

I believe this kind of request would work wonders, it would ensure that those who need alt text can engage with their feed knowing it is accessible. And those who want to ensure accessibility for others are engaging as well.

Even if it has slider options to hide/warn “no alt text included” like the NSFW tags.

[Vora-Sedai]

100% support this. Accessibility is important to make this place inclusive and welcoming to everyone, because no one should feel excluded. I believe this would help a lot of people 🥰

[sivaramanmvs]

I support this request.

This is essential for accessibility and inclusivity. It will be awesome if bsky can make this happen

[MariTJMaster]

Maybe also include an exception so to not filter out posts with the terms alt4me & for QRTs with Alt text: … but honestly even if that doesn’t work out on the technical side of things this feature would be worth the trade-off.

Immediate usability for screenreader users should take priority, because otherwise there’d be no point in promoting alt text usage on bluesky.

[AielCakes]

Maybe also include an exception so to not filter out posts with the terms alt4me & for QRTs with Alt text: … but honestly even if that doesn’t work out on the technical side of things this feature would be worth the trade-off.

Immediate usability for screenreader users should take priority, because otherwise there’d be no point in promoting alt text usage on bluesky.

I love this idea!

I think worst case is we would have to promote putting alt4me in the alt text field, because the feed will pick it up there too!

[Kaessa]

I like this idea a lot. I try not to repost images that don't have alt text, this would make it SIGNIFICANTLY simpler, as well as encouraging people to use alt text.

[cristisha10]

I love this idea for improving accessibility and encouraging use of AltText!

[airowe]

Would you all want the entire post to be hidden, a default ALT value if there isn't one ("NO ALT PROVIDED"), the image to be labelled/hidden but the post still showing...?

[AielCakes]

Would you all want the entire post to be hidden, a default ALT value if there isn't one ("NO ALT PROVIDED"), the image to be labelled/hidden but the post still showing...?

I personally would like the post to be shown, and given the choice like in other moderation settings. I think that would help with alt4me. The best of both worlds.

[Kaessa]

Would you all want the entire post to be hidden, a default ALT value if there isn't one ("NO ALT PROVIDED"), the image to be labelled/hidden but the post still showing...?

Perhaps if there is a default "no alt provided" label, you could filter those out with the other moderation tools if you wanted.

[hybridhavoc]

Would you all want the entire post to be hidden, a default ALT value if there isn't one ("NO ALT PROVIDED"), the image to be labelled/hidden but the post still showing...?

Perhaps if there is a default "no alt provided" label, you could filter those out with the other moderation tools if you wanted.

Honestly something like that could work as well. At present there are some self-labels that can be applied for: adult content; sexually suggestive; graphic media; non-sexual nudity. How posts with those labels are handled are defined not by the subscription to a Labeler - not even the Bluesky Moderation Service. It's instead a part of the Content filters for the app.

The app could automatically assign a no-alt label for any post made containing media that does not have alt text, as a self-assigned label. Then provide a similar content filter setting for posts with that label.

If this route is taken, I would like to see the No Alt Text content filter control available in both the Moderation settings with the other content filters and also in the Accessibility Settings. I don't know how feasible that is, but either place could be a reasonably expected home for such a setting.

[serenebabe]

I don't use a screenreader but my world opened up when I started to use Alt Text on all my images -- so many people I hadn't known before were able to see my posts. I get annoying with other people bc I'm always requesting they use alt text now. I'd love to not have to be the annoying one!

[Jburnish]

There are a lot of times that I can't understand what I'm looking at until I read the alt text on it. Being able to block images/gifs/videos without alts or captions would be hugely beneficial.

[daniellelorea]

Alt text is extremely important for a large number of people to successfully interact with and be involved in social media platforms.

Being able to hide all posts that don't include descriptive text will ensure a smooth and positive experience for many, and encourage others to start using alt text on their media. Overall a net positive for the platform.

[QueenSno]

literally the most feature i would like added most.

[bleonard252]

I run a labeler that categorizes political posts. It can't effectively label media that doesn't have alt text; so, for people who wish to avoid political posts as much as possible, this would be useful to let them completely hide those posts. It promotes accessibility, which is the main reason I'd use this setting myself, but others might use it to block posts they don't want to see that can't be effectively labeled.

eta: I expect this would be configured similarly to labels, where you can choose ignore, warn, or hide. It would be applied by the appview or the app itself, and not as a label, since that might be inefficient for something so relatively easy to go through programmatically.

[clawofalltrades]

I'd love for this feature to be added! I've been having to mute people who post a lot of images without ALT text to be able to better curate my feed because it's just very frustrating having a huge influx of images without ALT text all the time. And then if the people I'm muting eventually start adding ALT text to their pictures, I won't know unless I'm regularly checking the list of people I muted to see if they changed their behavior, which would be a lot of work to do, and it's more likely I'll just forget about them and they'll unfairly stay muted possibly forever.

[aliibarry]

Would you all want the entire post to be hidden, a default ALT value if there isn't one ("NO ALT PROVIDED"), the image to be labelled/hidden but the post still showing...?

Perhaps if there is a default "no alt provided" label, you could filter those out with the other moderation tools if you wanted.

I agree! A label would be very useful to auto-remove from curated feeds

[bleonard252]

Would you all want the entire post to be hidden, a default ALT value if there isn't one ("NO ALT PROVIDED"), the image to be labelled/hidden but the post still showing...?

I can't speak for users of accessibility tools (screen readers, Braille outputs, etc) but isn't an alt text that isn't an alt text counterproductive? A screen reader, for example, should just indicate that there is an image, and whether or not it specifies the absence of alt text is up to the accessibility tool and its user. Unless the norm of screen readers and other assistive technologies is to skip media that doesn't have alt text (which could make some posts confusingly empty, and I doubt this is the case), an empty alt text should simply be omitted entirely.

I'd like the options to be similar to labels, or maybe actually labels, but applied at the appview level so they're more consistent. So you'd be able to completely hide posts that need alt text, or warn for them if you wanted. I don't think hiding/warning/blurring the non-alt-texted media is helpful.

I agree! A label would be very useful to auto-remove from curated feeds

The feedgen should be doing this by checking for the presence of alt text! Although Skyfeed doesn't have that option, so adding that outside of Skyfeed does sound attractive -- but that's an option Skyfeed and other feed-builders should add, as well as Bluesky itself. Plus, it would be easier to configure it that way than adding a label.