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Comments on Don't downvote just because someone posted screenshot.

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Don't downvote just because someone posted screenshot.

+5
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I've seen comments of admitting to downvoting a post just because that poster posted screenshots.

If someone is writing math, then they ought use MathJax, not screenshots.

But if you're quoting someone else, especially if you are alleging someone else made a typo or mistake, then screenshots are more reliable. I want to see what that person wrote exactly, not what you transcribed that person to write.

StackExchange has too many questions when the issue is that a poster mistyped someone else's writing. If they didn't mistype, the poster wouldn't need to ask the question.

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+6
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For various reasons, people need to use screen readers. To my knowledge, screen readers can't read text from images, so this is an accessibility issue.

In addition, some people might just find it hard to read text in images.

While there's nothing wrong with using screenshots, it is important that the text you're quoting is also typed into the post.

With that context, when someone says they're downvoting because it's an image, the (an?) underlying problem is because (other) people either struggle to or cannot read it.

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General comments
Monica Cellio‭ wrote over 3 years ago

Images are an accessibility problem (one I'm too often on the wrong side of), yes. We want to end up with accessible content. If someone doesn't know Mathjax and only has an image, I'd rather have the question than not (if it's otherwise good), but I'd like that state to be temporary. If we can help a newcomer with a Mathjax edit, let's do so. On the flip side, if someone becomes a regular participant, we should strongly encourage that person to learn Mathjax.

r~~‭ wrote over 3 years ago · edited over 3 years ago

I would say, in addition to ‘is also typed into the post’, that the text should be understandable without the image—so, in particular, having the main question of the post refer to a circled part of a screenshot can still be a problem, even if that circled part appears elsewhere in the post (because a reader who isn't viewing the image might still be confused as to what ‘the circled part’ means).