i think i've identified another fundamental conflict
a recurring theme is "well, X should simply do Y". everyone should simply write alt text. staff should simply add a dark mode. yinglets should simply tag their posts. we should all simply recycle. eevee should simply stop posting. or whatever. some kind of "ought" that would ostensibly make the world a better place, often emphasized with an explanation of how truly easy it would be for someone else to do things differently.
and i think maybe this is functioning more as a shibboleth than a mere assertion of fact. but the people saying it aren't completely aware of this.
the conflict comes in when other people offer some kind of pragmatic solution. because that feels like it contradicts the "ought". "i shouldn't need the pragmatic solution in the first place, because the people should simply do the thing." at best, the pragmatic solution is an admission that people will not always do what they "ought"; at worst it's disagreement, a suggestion that those people maybe ought not do that thing. it opposes the utopia encapsulated within the "ought".
so people get mad about it. which leads to strange exchanges like "i have problem Z" — "here's a userscript to solve problem Z" — "what about other, hypothetical, people with problem Z? i'm not using this and it probably won't work anyway". if you solve the problem yourself, you tacitly admit that it's okay if X don't consider you, that maybe X don't need to Y at all.
i think that's what happened with my original accessibility post? i failed to say everyone ought to write alt text, and worse, i acknowledged that alt text is neither a magic solution for all problems nor always trivial to write. in doing so i guess i positioned myself within some ill-defined outgroup of people who... want the world to be worse?
but like here's the thing
saying "X ought to Y" is kind of useless. it doesn't do anything. it functions as some kinda group id, apparently, but otherwise it's mostly just bitching.
and that's fine! everyone is entitled to bitch about whatever they want.
but what really gets me is when people trying to solve problems — making suggestions, writing userscripts — get treated like they don't care about the problems, because the fact that they have a partial solution means they're less inclined to spend time broadcasting how the problem is bad and the people doing the problem really ought to just stop. meanwhile the "ought" people say the "ought" louder, while the problem remains, unaffected, and also they are making everyone miserable.
but i do care. like i said yesterday, i was all set to port the deyingletifier into a userscript so it would work on ios safari, and only stopped because i found out someone else had already done it. i tried to lay out a guide for someone who said they didn't understand how to install a userscript. i've written alt text everywhere it makes sense to do so for like 20+ years. i put positional captions in lexy's labyrinth because sound cues can matter and i redesigned the tileset to be readable without color. i gave it a step mode so you don't need quick reflexes to play. i avoid using a minifier so anyone can inspect the source code live. fox flux has extra design work to avoid relying on color alone, loads of extra collectibles so you can still play through it even if the puzzles are too hard, rebindable controls, customizable button prompts. someone told me the keyboard nav in a ren'py game i released is kind of jank so now i use the keyboard more often to navigate the game i'm working on. i don't think i'm an expert or especially amazing at this but i do, in fact, make an effort to make my stuff as available as i can. but now i get lumped into this mythical "the cohost userbase just hates disabled people"... because i wrote about some difficulties with alt text and the gaps it can't cross, instead of saying it's good and easy and everyone should do it. and boy that's painful. it is so painful that i've struggled to find the energy to post here for almost a year.
i don't know how to account for this. i don't know how to bridge a divide where "here is how to fix your problem" or "maybe it's not this simple" are regarded as hostile and met with evasion.
there might just be more layers underneath "ought". like... if the problem du jour is actually just a way to vent about some far deeper issue, then i guess solving that problem also acts as taking away the ability to vent. and that seems like it would suck! but, idk. maybe if you can let people help you with the one thing, you can let them help you with other things too
