I have to say that one of the enormous super-powers of the web is the precise opposite of your point.
The web is, at its best, an excellent medium for communicating in all sorts of ways - and indeed ways that we don't even have yet.
One of the most basic examples is people who use assistive technologies - how should a screen reader present your special "content warning" piece such that the joke still works? Are you really expecting to be able to preview how that functions in all the different screen readers?
What if someone creates an amazingly "accessible" version of Mastodon that functions brilliantly for sight-impaired users in all sorts of ways, that also breaks your joke? Is that "wrong", because they re-interpreted the content in a way that functions brilliantly for users, even at the cost of flexibility for some authors?
If somebody followed you, it's because they want to hear what you have to say. Ruining the message is bad for both parties, not just the writer.
There's always some risk when you present someone's message in a different way from what they meant it, but it's obviously worth it for people who couldn't read it otherwise.
Anyway, if you know that the screen-reader is going to explicitly spell out CONTENT WARNING, then the graphical interface should spell it out in so many words, too. But that's a choice made with hindsight; you can't always predict this kind of problem, and the real answer is to pay attention to how people are using your app and adapt for it if you think they're using it in a way that negatively impacts people using assistive technology.
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I have to say that one of the enormous super-powers of the web is the precise opposite of your point.
The web is, at its best, an excellent medium for communicating in all sorts of ways - and indeed ways that we don't even have yet.
One of the most basic examples is people who use assistive technologies - how should a screen reader present your special "content warning" piece such that the joke still works? Are you really expecting to be able to preview how that functions in all the different screen readers?
What if someone creates an amazingly "accessible" version of Mastodon that functions brilliantly for sight-impaired users in all sorts of ways, that also breaks your joke? Is that "wrong", because they re-interpreted the content in a way that functions brilliantly for users, even at the cost of flexibility for some authors?
That being said - very interesting article, thanks!
If somebody followed you, it's because they want to hear what you have to say. Ruining the message is bad for both parties, not just the writer.
There's always some risk when you present someone's message in a different way from what they meant it, but it's obviously worth it for people who couldn't read it otherwise.
Anyway, if you know that the screen-reader is going to explicitly spell out CONTENT WARNING, then the graphical interface should spell it out in so many words, too. But that's a choice made with hindsight; you can't always predict this kind of problem, and the real answer is to pay attention to how people are using your app and adapt for it if you think they're using it in a way that negatively impacts people using assistive technology.