LJ Cause for Concern

It was pointed out to me by the lovely tazcat, and I
subsequently confirmed it, that the audio captcha system no longer
exists with LJ when it comes to creating new journals. For those of you
who do not know, captcha is that question where a form will ask you to
type the characters you see on the screen, and then they give you some
fuzzy-looking and distorted characters to type in. Audio captcha is when
they let you listen to some distorted characters, usually with a fair
bit of ambient noise, and enter those characters instead. It's not a
perfect solution for the blind, and it's not a solution at all for the
deafblind, but it's still half a step better than no solution at all.
One disability advocate likens the situation to what African-Americans
faced in the sixties, where they were not allowed to enter restaurants
and so on. I strongly and vehemently oppose this analogy, as it (a) is
not accurate, since nobody is going to throw a person off of LJ for
being blind, and (b)uses a hideous example of human cruelty that
resulted in violence, irreversible damage to innocent people, and the
shedding of innocent blood to depict a situation that is merely
inconvenient for a blind person and requires that they employ sighted
assistance to gain entry. They are not in fear of being thrown off, spat
at, treated as lesser beings once in, tortured or murdered. However, the
inaccuracy of that analogy aside, LJ's removal of the audio captcha
option is most certainly a step backwards, and I feel strongly that this
important feature should be put back. I do not know why it was removed.
It could be something as simple as an oversight, it could be a
logistical problem, it could be someone at LJ thinking that it wasn't
important enough to maintain. I don't know. Regardless, I would like to
urge people to contact LJ, and
politely let them know that this issue is important to you and that you
would like to see this feature reinstated. Remember that the person
reading your message, in all likelihood, had nothing to do with the
problem, and will be much more inclined to help if you're polite and
friendly about it. It is quite possible to stress the importance of the
feature without getting abusive. Thanks, everyone, for reading this. I
see thattazcat has beaten me to this, but I'll post what
I've written anyway.

LJ Captcha Update

Just a quick update. I have heard back from LJ Support on the audio
captcha issue. They stress that they do not wish to prevent blind people
from independently accessing LiveJournal. Apparently the audio captcha
system is in fact still in place. One need only enter the word "audio"
without the quotes to accomplish this. Unfortunately, the instructions
for doing this are currently not being displayed in an accessible
manner. LJ is aware of this and has promised to correct it as soon as is
practical. My compliments to LJ for their response in this regard and
their commitment to accessibility.

Eight-Month Anniversary Poll

April fifteenth will be the eight-month anniversary of Caroline and me as a couple. I will be in Milwaukee for the occasion. What should we do to make it special? This is not today's official poll.

[Poll #1160205]

Ask Me About Myself

Well, others are doing this, so why don't I? I promise to answer any and all questions.

Everyone has things they blog about. Everyone has things they don't blog about. Challenge
me out of my comfort zone by telling me something I don't blog
about, but you'd like to hear about, and I'll write a post about it. Ask for anything:
latest movie watched, last book read, political leanings, thoughts
on yaoi, favorite type of underwear, graphic techniques, etc. Repost in your own
journal so that we can all learn more about each other.

Voice Post

A Confession and Showers of Blessing

I guess we all, as people, have our shortcomings. One of my many is an irritating habit of not letting things go. Something might be funny for the first few seconds, and I'll keep beating the proverbial dead horse.

It doesn't matter what the situation was, I was guilty of that this evening when talking to Caroline. Very quietly, very politely, very tactfully, very lovingly, she pointed out what I was doing, and I immediately saw that she was right. Of course, it'd've been beter if I'd figured it out beforehand, rather than after, but at least I did figure it out.

Some people would have taken advantage of the situation, made me feel guilty, gotten angry with me, and so on. But not Caroline. She just forgave me and we moved on from there. Talk about a wonderful, loving, beautiful, incredible lady. It's hard to envision myself worthy of this unparalelled blessing, but I have been blessed, and I am so thankful for Caroline in my life, what she means to me, and how much I love her. May I never take her love for granted, may I never abuse it, may I always strive to be worthy of that love.