●● IRC: #techbytes @ FreeNode: Tuesday, April 06, 2021 ●● ● Apr 06 [00:08] *GNUmoon (~GNUmoon@gateway/tor-sasl/gnumoon) has joined #techbytes ● Apr 06 [08:07] *GNUmoon has quit (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [08:43] *GNUmoon (~GNUmoon@gateway/tor-sasl/gnumoon) has joined #techbytes ● Apr 06 [10:23] *genr8_ has quit (Remote host closed the connection) ● Apr 06 [12:22] *genr8_ (~genr8_@unaffiliated/genbtc) has joined #techbytes ● Apr 06 [18:07] *liberty_box has quit (Ping timeout: 240 seconds) [18:11] *liberty_box (~liberty@host81-154-169-167.range81-154.btcentralplus.com) has joined #techbytes ● Apr 06 [20:23] *liberty_box has quit (Ping timeout: 260 seconds) [20:55] *liberty_box (~liberty@host81-154-169-167.range81-154.btcentralplus.com) has joined #techbytes ● Apr 06 [22:33] *GNUmoon has quit (Remote host closed the connection) [22:49] schestowitz > > 2 years ago I discovered that some messages in your support were [22:49] schestowitz > > censored by LibrePlanet mailing list admins (while attempts were made to [22:49] schestowitz > > remove you). I now hear that the same happens in GNU.org. Right now... [22:49] schestowitz > [22:49] schestowitz > > Do you know who runs the GNU domain and whether that person censors [22:49] schestowitz > > (drops) messages with your consent? [22:49] schestowitz > [22:49] schestowitz > I can't tell -- that description is very vague. There are certain kinds [22:49] schestowitz > of messages we do not want to allow in gnu.org. But it may also be [22:49] schestowitz > unapproved deletion. [22:50] schestowitz > [22:50] schestowitz > Alex, would you like to look into this? Get the details from Roy [22:50] schestowitz > and see what the pattern is? [22:50] schestowitz >> Alex, would you like to look into this? Get the details from Roy [22:50] schestowitz >> and see what the pattern is? [22:50] schestowitz > [22:50] schestowitz > I suspect Schestowitz is asking about the deletion of a doxxing message [22:51] schestowitz > by Pocock, that we all agreed didn't belong in GNU mailing lists. [22:51] schestowitz > [22:51] schestowitz > I see there are other missing/delete messages in the g.m.d archives, but [22:51] schestowitz > I haven't seen those, so it's hard to tell whether they have been [22:51] schestowitz > preempted or removed the fact, but I can't possibly tell whether there's [22:51] schestowitz > anything objectionable in them. It is not unfathomable that someone is [22:51] schestowitz > taking the direction to prevent doxxing a little too far, but it's also [22:51] schestowitz > possible that Pocock has insisted on the doxxing. [22:51] schestowitz > [22:51] schestowitz > I welcome more info from Roy or Pocock on what their understanding is [22:51] schestowitz > about what's going on, while I try to find out some more about how and [22:51] schestowitz > why other messages got deleted. [22:51] schestowitz > [22:57] schestowitz Re: gemini.techrights.org accessibility [22:57] schestowitz > Hi Roy, [22:57] schestowitz > [22:57] schestowitz > Just wondering if you've seen this post by Alyssa Rosenzweig? [22:57] schestowitz > [22:57] schestowitz > gemini://rosenzweig.io/gemlog/2021-04-04-your-gemlog-may-not-be-accessible.gmi [22:57] schestowitz This is very interesting. It didn't occur to me that screen readers struggled this much with those characters. I will ask a friend what to do... it should not be hard to correct. [22:59] schestowitz " [22:59] schestowitz Your gemlog may not be accessible [22:59] schestowitz Gemini seeks to be minimal, deliberately excluding markup for bold, italics, and images. A concerning trend in Geminispace is to use Unicode "look-alikes" to emulate these features, generally by abusing mathematical symbols or other special characters. While this defeats the Gemini "minimalism" point, my concern is not simplicity but accessibility. [22:59] schestowitz Consider loading gmisub, a list of aggregated feeds that includes the website Techrights. [22:59] schestowitz gmisub (warning: not accessible) [22:59] schestowitz Techrights "styles" itself with some... unusual Unicode. [22:59] schestowitz To a sighted person, this is inherently out-of-place on Gemini. But to a screen reader user, how does this single word title sound? To espeak, the word "Techrights" written in this funny way will be pronounced as: [22:59] schestowitz Yikes! After reading this for about 8 seconds at the default speed, espeak quits, having finished the phrase "Techri". Ostensibly this should be followed up with the rest of the word: [22:59] schestowitz So trying to read Gemini not only wastes a screenreader user's time tremendously but also completely obscures the meaning. What is "letter 1d57f" supposed to be? Apparently, "Mathematical Bold Fraktur Capital T". I'm a mathematics student, and I don't believe I have ever typed this character. What's it doing in your Gemini document? [22:59] schestowitz Of course, the user isn't much better off if their screen reader read [22:59] schestowitz If the user is paying tremendous attention they might be able to parse out the letters and reconstruct the word... after having to listen to a single word in Gemini for over 20 seconds at the default speed. You've wasted your users' time, confused them, _and_ most likely they have no idea what site it is you want them to click on. Why? [22:59] schestowitz By the way, it's not only screen reader users who have trouble with this sort of text. Anyone with stimulation issues, overwhelmed with the web, can be thrown off guard by unexpected emphasized text. Gemini specifically provides a safe haven for people with disabilities affecting content media, including blindness but also (for example) the autism spectrum. Gemini is designed to put the user in control of the presentation of content, [22:59] schestowitz instead of deferring to the publisher's wishes. This principle is powerful, and attempts to subvert it via abuses of Unicode is deeply unkind. [22:59] schestowitz There is a subtle point about a Gemini limitation here. Abusing Unicode for stylization became common as a hack to allow bold and italics text on plain text-only social media. We see the same trend of Gemini, which also bars formatting. Perhaps if Gemini supported semantic bold and italics via Markdown-like syntax, Geminauts wouldn't feel inclined to reach for the dirty tricks to get there instead. Paradoxically, this could return [22:59] schestowitz control to the user, by allowing bold and italics to be softened or removed altogether when presenting, although bad actors might still spoil it but bolding entire web pages and such. Alternatively, the fact that Gemini allows arbitrary Unicode at all is at best an oversight. Either way, this needs attention. [22:59] schestowitz To Gemini authors: Please, I beg you not to abuse Unicode like this. Sprinkling in a single "heart symbol" isn't a crisis, but chaining special characters together and abusing characters for their aesthetics rather than semantics does present a meaningful accessibility barrier. Let's keep Geminispace kind [22:59] schestowitz To Gemini developers: How can we fix this? Could a specification change mitigate this? What about client changes? Let's talk. [22:59] schestowitz " ● Apr 06 [23:02] schestowitz Thanks for your kind article regarding unicode and screen readers. We're reviewing the issue and can hopefully correct it soon. [23:02] schestowitz Regards, [23:28] *GNUmoon (~GNUmoon@gateway/tor-sasl/gnumoon) has joined #techbytes [23:51] *liberty_box has quit (Ping timeout: 246 seconds) [23:51] *liberty_box (~liberty@host81-154-169-167.range81-154.btcentralplus.com) has joined #techbytes