bcj

bcj

@bcj

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bcj
@bcj

Mastodon Recommends

In the mastodon web app, there are exactly 4 things Mastodon recommends:

  • Auto-play animated GIFs
  • Suggest account to others
    • Allow your account to be discovered by strangers through recommendations, trends and other features
  • Group boosts in timelines
  • Disclose application used to send posts

Exactly one of these is good (group boosts) and the first two are things I'm actively trying to avoid. Why does mastodon have an opinion on whether I have GIFs autoplay or not

edit: @noracodes points out that auto-play animated GIFs has been off by default since 2017. It's something most people want but for accessibility reasons it makes sense to default it to off. I'm guessing "suggest account to others" is a similar situation where they want everyone to use it but they don't feel comfortable defaulting it to on

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in reply to @bcj's post:

noracodes
@noracodes

Also, why the fuck does mastodon care if I have GIFs play

This was added as an access feature for people on platforms where "prefers reduced motion" is annoying to set or has other consequences that aren't desirable. Bit weird to have it so up front but I think it's a good feature.

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bcj
@bcj

Oops, I should rephrase. It's a good accessibility feature and I have it set to off because I find autoplay stuff really distracting. Why does the software specifically recommend it? Is this a case where most people want it on but they default it off for accessibility reasons?

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