Have I mentioned how much I fricking love alt text for the different things you can do with it? Since mainstream fedi clients (that I know of) do the sensible thing and expose alt text to graphical interfaces as well as text-only and screen reader implementations, alt text can be used as subtext that adds a little extra for those who read it, the stage whisper, the cough behind the hand.

Take the op as an example: The main text takes the part of the buffoon reveling in the "poet" title, while the alt text describing the screenshot reveals that it's a truncation of a "poetry" submission. Alt text can slyly poke holes and sneak punches much like the role the bullet point took in The Colbert Report (remember that one?). Alt text can be the court jester, a textual whisper of truth in a world overwhelmed by loud images.