Re: [sc-users] sc-users is closing down

I'm very sorry to hear this. It's disheartening to hear that someone is made unable to access the community resources for any reason. In my long-ish history in the software world, I've seen basic accessibility for visually impaired users fall off the end of feature lists again and again... It's infuriating for me to watch, and I'm sure a hundred times more infuriating to experience.

Accessibility for VI users in the Discourse forum software is a very hot topic, and is seeing active work (some topics are being discussed right now on this thread: https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-with-a-screen-reader/178105/76), but it's I think still far behind where it should be. I'd like to do whatever I can in terms of configuration to make the scsynth Discourse forum more accessible. Also, we update the software very regularly, so any accessibility related improvements or bug fixes to the Discourse software should end up on the forum very quickly.

If there are particular issues with the forum software, please feel free to reach out to me via email (scott@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) - I'm happy to do whatever is possible in terms of configuration to make the experience better. Also happy to bring up issues with the forum developer team / push for fixes in the forum software itself - as I said, there seem to be developers that are actively working on and passionate about this are (and, it's open source, so we can also contribute patches ourselves).

Finally - the forum also has a pure mailing list mode. I'm not sure how well this would replace the old school email list experience of sc-users, but it might be better than the website itself. If you already have an account, the setting is here: https://scsynth.org/u/my/preferences/emails (my mac screenreader says its "Enable mailing list mode checkbox"). If navigating the site is too much of a pain in the ass, let me know - I believe I can use my admin powers to make an account and sign you up for ML mode also :)

Additionally: if anyone else in the SuperCollider community feels unable to access forums, chats, documentation, web resources, etc. due to accessibility issues, feel free to reach out to myself (scott@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) or any of the other SC moderators (https://scsynth.org/g/moderators) and we will try our best to help.

Thanks much for being candid about your experience. Hopefully we can find a way to make this a bit better!

Best,

Scott C

On Thu, Jun 24, 2021 at 3:22 PM <mlang@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

i@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:

> Hi All,
>
> As some of you will know from the discussions here, this list will be closing
> down. We’re encouraging all users to join the forum at https://scsynth.org/

This is sad :-(

I refrained from commenting during the discussion, mostly because I no
longer think the exceptional situation of a single person can influence
current trends, and likely also because I was afraid of the grief I
would be feeling just having to participate in such a discussion.

I see the trend since a few years. Slack, Discorse, and of course web
forumss. All of these are pretty much excluding for me.
I am blind. And while I can use a modern web browser if I have to, the
inherent inefficiencies and accessibility problems make it pretty much a
no-fun experience. Well-defined protocols like SMTP/IMAP made it easy for
me to participate in a group like sc-users, because I was able to choose
the client software I am able to use efficiently.

In this particular situation, it will lead to me going into read-only
mode. I will likely not contribute to scsynth.org simply because I am
forced to go via the web. I might be able to stay in lurking mode as
long as the RSS interface works and the post pages stay clean enough to
be consumed with a text browser. But I am assuming even that is going
to go away after a few years. Well, such is life.

When I was young, I was hoping for computer accessibility to be an eye
for the blind to the rest of the world. After 25 years of surfing on
the various waves of the Internet, I realize certain trends have
actually done the contrary. The list of things I know about and would want to
take part in but can't because they are inherently inaccessible is
growing on a daily basis. At least at work I was able to crawl into my
little corner of "command-line expert" and will maybe be able to hide
there before I retire. Maybe, we will see.

I know that this letter is not going to change things, and I dont expect
that. But I have to say this aloud: The way the internet is going is
wrong. Pretending otherwise doesn't make it right.
Open standards are replaced with proprietary web-based interfaces.
And nobody seems to care.

Question is, how many years will it take until BLM could also mean
"blind lives matter"? Given the current trend, never.

It was a pleasure to read you all, kthxbye

--
CYa,
⡍⠁⠗⠊⠕

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