OK having read through the reasoning, I actually agree with you on this (though I stand by my reasons for including it in the first place!)

I'm now considering the following:

Images should have specific alt text briefly explaining what is shown. Use the square brackets immediately following the ! for this (which may currently contain enter image description here)

Does that work any better?

OK having read through the reasoning, I actually agree with you on this (though I stand by my reasons for including it in the first place!)

I'm now considering the following:

Images should have specific alt text briefly explaining what is shown. Use the square brackets immediately following the ! for this (which may currently contain enter image description here)

Does that work any better?

UPDATE:

This is now done.

After going back & forth somewhat, we elected to leave out the suggested link to avoid slightly conflicting advice around when alt text is not needed: as it's essentially impossible for us to detect whether or not text nearby the image already explains its content, we felt it better to push for users to always add something. Those who are aware of the nuance here will still be able to omit as this is technically still a warning which does not prevent submission.