The #FSD purpose is to help people “find freedom-respecting programs”. Browsing the directory reveals copious freedom-disrespecting resources. For example:
- projects jailed in MS #Github (amid substantial ethical issues)
- projects jailed in #Gitlab·com (amid substantial ethical issues)
- projects with resources (docs, forums, wikis, APIs, etc) that are jailed in #Cloudflare’s walled garden (amid substantial ethical issues)
FSF has no tags for these anti-features. It suggests a problem with integrity and credibility. People expect to be able to trust FSF as an org that prioritizes user freedom. Presenting this directory with unmarked freedom pitfalls sends the wrong message & risks compromising trust and transparency. Transparency is critical to the FOSS ideology. Why not clearly mark the freedom pitfalls?
UPDATE
The idea of having exclusive clubs with gatekeepers is inconsistent with FSF’s most basic principles, specifically:
All important site functionality that's enabled for use with that package works correctly (though it need not look as nice) in free browsers, including IceCat, without running any nonfree software sent by the site. (C0)Does not discriminate against classes of users, or against any country. (C2)Permits access via Tor (we consider this an important site function). (C3)
Failing any of those earns an “F” grade (Github & gitlab·com both fail).
If Cloudflare links in the #FSF FSD are replaced with archive.org mirrors, that avoids a bulk of the exclusivity. #InternetArchive’s #ALA membership automatically invokes the Library Bill of Rights (LBR), which includes:
V. A person’s right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views.VI. Libraries which make exhibit spaces and meeting rooms available to the public they serve should make such facilities available on an equitable basis, regardless of the beliefs or affiliations of individuals or groups requesting their use.VII. All people, regardless of origin, age, background, or views, possess a right to privacy and confidentiality in their library use. Libraries should advocate for, educate about, and protect people’s privacy, safeguarding all library use data, including personally identifiable information.
The LBR is consistent with FSF’s principles so this is a naturally fitting solution. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is also noteworthy. Even if the FSD is technically not a public service, the public uses it and FSF is an IRS-qualified 501(c)(3) public charity, making it public enough to observe these UDHR clauses:
art.21 ¶2. Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.art.27 ¶1. Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
These fundamental egalitarian principles & rights are a minimum low bar to set that cannot be construed as “unreasonable” or “purist” or “extremist”.
I’m gonna need you to explain that one super chief. Do you seriously believe blind people browse the web through a terminal using Lynx or something?
I just encountered a website that uses
alt=""on buttons. That means the text description of the button is unreadable in GUI browsers. Mouseovers were coded so you can only get the description in GUI browsers like Firefox by hovering the mouse over the icon. Lynx renders the mouseover text in place of the button. So a screen reader would work on Lynx but not on Firefox for that website.That’s not how modern screen readers work. Did you even test it with a screen reader before making this assumption?
From the perspective of screen readers: yes
Please explain this non-sequitur of a reply. Blind people don’t generally actually use apps just designed for blind people. One of the mods of r/Blind pointed this out to Spez during the blackouts. Also, loading images has nothing to do with not passing the Cloudflare check.
This just feels like a really poor attempt at virtue signalling. Like, phone screens could just display black for a blind user. But they don’t. I have a few disabilities myself, and know a couple people who are blind. They just use Firefox.
Not defending or adding to what OP is talking about, I genuinely don't understand what they're on about, but just replying to your comment. When doing web development, one way to test out your site for accessibility purposes is to view it in a command line browser, since the way a cli browser sees it is how a screen reader is going to see it and parse it.
Cloudflare is anti-robot. It’s one of the things they’re not secretive about. Robots do not load images because they are scraping textual information into a DB. Not loading images is relevant to bot detection and triggers anti-bot blockades. So bot creators will sometimes code their bots to needlessly fetch images in order to appear more human.
But they should. The reason they don’t can only be attributed to no one making the effort to extend the battery life for blind users. If the option existed, why wouldn’t blind people use it?
Certainly you can’t speak for blind people by finding a few who have not realized they can disable images. This does not mean more advanced blind people have not done that. My vision is fine and I still disable images in Firefox in part to not waste bandwidth. Obviously I would keep image loading disabled if I were to go blind. The only reason for a blind person to load images (apart from getting help from someone else) is the same reason bot authors do it: to avoid being treated like a bot.