Ride45 - 12:12 am on Mar 6, 2004 (gmt 0)

I believe Google works like this:

* If you stuff your ALT tags with keywords you get penalized

* If use non-descriptive text for ALT tags you get penalized because Google likes web sites that are accessible, and without ALT tags even on small images your site is inaccessible. This "may" include having target keywords for every ALT tag, but these are still non-descript. They are obvious attempts at manipulating and not serving the ALT tag purpose.

* If you don't use alt tags your site will produce warnings with W3. Google likes (especially for spidering) sites that are easy to read and follow including having every ALT tag labelled.

Just my 2 cents