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So in the cases of domestic abuse, the victims usually contact a charity that organises a way for them to escape safely. That means setting them up with a new p
by deif 6y ago
So in the cases of domestic abuse, the victims usually contact a charity that organises a way for them to escape safely. That means setting them up with a new place to live, a job so that they can afford to live (as usually victims will be dependent on their partners), etc. This takes a bit of time and the victims usually stay in their abusive environment if they can (due to over capacity of shelters and other reasons, I'm not the most knowledgeable about all this). But a support network will be available and they'll have a number to call, or friends and family that they can call instead.
The problem is that even though this support network exists, victims often have their phones taken away from their abusers so they end up stuck. If friends and family go round to the house, their abusers can refuse entry and say that the victim is fine or sleeping when in fact they're in danger. This app does not intend to phone authorities, it is down to the individual support network to organise that as they see fit, this app only intends to reach out to the support network as fast as possible when it is needed. If there is a true emergency and they can call emergency services then they can do so, emergency services are set up to handle this. In the case that the victims only want to notify their support network then they can do so from the app using the panic button.
It might be the case in the future that I build contacts with emergency services for a more involved response but I simply do not have the contacts at this point in time.
- jonahx 6y agoConstructive feedback: All the copy on both your website and in the app store assumes that one knows what a dead man's switch is in general, and what it means in this context in particular (ie, what you wrote above). I had to use wikipedia to even (sort of) understand what you were selling.
- gowld 6y agoIt's also an absolute gobsmackingly terrible term to use for this application.
- deif 6y agoWhat makes you say that? It operates exactly like a dead man's switch.
- johnmarcus 6y agoi don't think the target audience of this app wants to think about being a "dead man", or dead anything, when this app would be useful. It's a fun nerd term, but if your life is actually in danger it's far from where your mind wants to wander, even though it's technically correct.
- JensRex 6y ago>a fun nerd term It absolutely isn't. Lots of things have dead man switches, like locomotives and heavy machinery, and they're named as such.
- johnmarcus 6y agoNerds work on locomotives and heavy machinery too. Those hard working folks are smart also. Unless your talking in a pirate voice, this is a nerd term for anything that kills something instantly.
- russell_h 6y agoYour target audience substantially isn’t men, and would probably be put off by the “dead” part too. Since I’ll bet your target audience doesn’t already know what a “dead mans switch” is, you get a chance to come up with a better targeted term.
- deif 6y agoTechnically this is a niche subset of my target audience. As I wrote in the article, the ideal scenario was that I had two separate apps where it has a completely different name, but due to Apple restrictions I was forced to name it Dead Man (actually suggested by Apple themselves when I spoke to them over the phone discussing this issue) as the name has to cover both parts of the functionality even though the target audiences are completely different. But this is not really going to be used by abuse victims of their own accord, it's more likely to be picked up by charities that need to set up a robust support network. It's a fine balance of SEO, networking, naming relevance, and sensitivity that I am tuned into.
- jones1618 6y agoIt's memorable and could be a plausibly "cute" name for an actual hang man game. Still, it might set off alarms of the abuser who's already constantly on the lookout for emotional/physical defection by their victim. I agree, too, the target audience might not know what a dead man switch is nor do you want them to think this is a last resort and literally only useful when they are dead. I'd market it as a "fail-safe switch" or "silent alarm." Maybe change the name to "Dead Spell Man" which sounds like something a non-English developer might call hang man and diffuses the "I want to kill my husband" kind of connotation. Otherwise, the idea and intention of this app make it a really, really worthy thing to put out in the world.
- sho 6y agoThanks for explaining. So basically - this app acts like a concealed/plausibly deniable dead-man's switch with the capability of contacting third parties who might be able to help if the phone is taken away/destroyed by the abuser. And the reason the action isn't taken immediately is that it can take some time to set up a proper "escape" - but if critical, this can be expedited. That makes sense now. It's not immediately obvious to a newcomer.