r/Antiwork opposes ableism (as codified in Rule 1) but that is not enough. We call on Reddit to provide accessibility to all. We support the accessibility efforts of r/transcribersofreddit to make a form of it immediately available to our community. We request your cooperation when their volunteers work here.
Now, an important message:
Excellent subscribers of r/antiwork, hello from the mods over at r/transcribersofreddit! We just wanted to pop in and share a few things with you.
You’ve probably seen us around the sub quite a bit by now, we’ve really enjoyed transcribing for you these past few months; you were voted one of our favorite subreddits to transcribe in our end-of-year volunteer poll!
We’ve watched your sub grow substantially in this time, it’s great to see so many people rallying behind a cause! What’s less great is that a number of our volunteers have received aggressive messages questioning why we do this.
Our FAQ can tell you how we started and why we transcribe, but that doesn’t really seem enough sometimes. We’ve always been very open about our mission; to help make the internet a more accessible place and to allow everyone, regardless of any difficulties they face, to be able to take part in the myriad of conversations happening online.
Because, although the tides are turning, the internet still isn’t accessible to everyone. And it’s not just Reddit; many of the big websites don’t allow for alt-text to be added and the ones that do often rely on user input… So those places remain hidden to many.
Which leaves us in a difficult position – we agree that many sites could and should be spending a lot more on accessibility, but does that mean we should not transcribe there? We say no.
We will continue to transcribe where others haven’t until there is change. Our transcriptions don’t just provide information to those who need them, but they also raise awareness about the lack of tools available. Look at how many of you have voiced concerns about our transcriptions here! It’s wonderful that you have stepped up to show that you care about accessibility, especially that you believe there should be more paid roles dedicated to it!
And hey, we agree! But sadly our volunteers aren’t in a position to make that happen, they are just here to help out because they enjoy it! But there are people out there that can effect such change, so please direct your feedback to them in future and hopefully one day we won’t need to volunteer – but until that happens we will keep doing what we do because we can and because we care!
Thank you for reading!