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Show HN: Discreet dead man's switch for victims of domestic abuse

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Re: Show HN: Discreet dead man's switch for victims of domestic abuse

#101

Post by mizunooto »

__s wrote: post #84
DonHopkins wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're going to have to market this through other channels, pushing the message out to people who would want to use and distribute it, instead of assuming that many people will think that there's a category of mobile software called "dead man's switch" and go searching for it. It's not obvious how "dead man's switch" had any connection with domestic abuse. It sounds more like a really ineffective health app.

This is Product B. Product A is deadman's switch. It is appropriately named for the target audience of Product A. Apple won't allow Product B on grounds that it's spamming variants of Product A. So he's forced to create Product B as an offshoot of Product A unless he's going to get rid of Product A to have the desired Product B tl;dr Apple is forcing this unfortuate circumstance

As you may know, there is an app called Bright Sky which offers help to victims of abuse but that can be disguised as a weather app. From the reviews I’m not sure they have fully solved the ‘duplicitous’ aspect (it is available under Education). However something of this nature is very important so I wish all the devs. luck. As one further point, there must be people trapped in an abusive relationship who aren’t aware; i.e. that they have been manipulated into believing it is their fault and that nothing bad is being done to them. (I know there are such people from experience). I don’t feel I have said anything particularly useful but I thought it might set someone thinking.

Re: Show HN: Discreet dead man's switch for victims of domestic abuse

#102

Post by wpietri »

klipt wrote: post #100
wpietri wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The book in fact addresses that point. The author was a DV counselor in court-ordered programs. The vast majority of the people he saw were straight men, so he wrote what he knew. He's not erasing anything.

I doubt many lesbian or straight male victims would assume they'd be helped by a book called "why does he do that" when they were abused by shes .

Sure. That's good because they shouldn't assume that. The author isn't assuming that either; as I said, he wrote what he knew and was clear on that. I'm sure he'd be thrilled if other people wrote books covering the things he didn't know enough to cover.

That said, some GLBT people have said they find the book valuable. Even as a straight man, I found it very useful, and not just domestically. Abuser psychology doesn't just come out in romantic relationships; for example, it was great in helping me see what was going on with an abusive boss. I walked out of a terrible meeting saying, "What the hell just happened?" Later I had an inkling, so I opened up to the chapter on abuser types. In one meeting, the boss hit 80% of the characteristics of the "Mr Right" type.

Re: Show HN: Discreet dead man's switch for victims of domestic abuse

#103

Post by __s »

mizunooto wrote: post #101
__s wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is Product B. Product A is deadman's switch. It is appropriately named for the target audience of Product A. Apple won't allow Product B on grounds that it's spamming variants of Product A. So he's forced to create Product B as an offshoot of Product A unless he's going to get rid of Product A to have the desired Product B tl;dr Apple is forcing this unfortuate circumstance

As you may know, there is an app called Bright Sky which offers help to victims of abuse but that can be disguised as a weather app. From the reviews I’m not sure they have fully solved the ‘duplicitous’ aspect (it is available under Education). However something of this nature is very important so I wish all the devs. luck. As one further point, there must be people trapped in an abusive relationship who aren’t awar…

Wasn't aware, good to know there's more options, ideally there'd be a lot of different options to keep this functionality in some obscurity

What you described is called gaslighting

Re: Show HN: Discreet dead man's switch for victims of domestic abuse

#104

Post by alkonaut »

catalogia wrote: post #25
alkonaut wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. Without JS the base expectation should be a blank page. Not even an error message.

That's a bizarrely vindictive attitude.

I’m not saying it should be that way on purpose, I’m saying that’s what you can expect. No one tests for people using terminal browsers or IE4. Noscript users are in the same niche. I understand why you’d disable JavaScript but I don’t understand how people expect those who make web apps to cater for that.

Re: Show HN: Discreet dead man's switch for victims of domestic abuse

#105

Post by catalogia »

alkonaut wrote: post #104
catalogia wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a bizarrely vindictive attitude.

I’m not saying it should be that way on purpose, I’m saying that’s what you can expect. No one tests for people using terminal browsers or IE4. Noscript users are in the same niche. I understand why you’d disable JavaScript but I don’t understand how people expect those who make web apps to cater for that.

"Expect" is a word that has different meanings depending on the context: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/expect

> To predict or believe that something will happen

In this sense, I do not expect most websites to work without javascript.

> To consider obligatory or required.

In this sense, I do expect most websites to work without javascript. At the very least, for accessibility reasons.

Re: Show HN: Discreet dead man's switch for victims of domestic abuse

#106

Post by staticautomatic »

klipt wrote: post #97
staticautomatic wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Kill my abusive boyfriend" sounds like a valuable service.

Many people are against capital punishment, even for abusive girlfriends/boyfriends.

Who said anything about The State doing the killing?

Re: Show HN: Discreet dead man's switch for victims of domestic abuse

#107

Post by Dicey84 »

Coming from a background in Law Enforcement (Australia) and dealing daily with Domestic Violence, this is a great idea.

Does need a polish (few bugs - can't delete switches / change reporting time?) and yes, potentially a 'cover story change' (build a simple period tracker for the female audience?)

I know there are a few private and government organisations over here trying to battle this problem, with the use of technology.

This would be a good addition to the options available.

Re: Show HN: Discreet dead man's switch for victims of domestic abuse

#108

Post by cassiet »

catalogia wrote: post #105
alkonaut wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not saying it should be that way on purpose, I’m saying that’s what you can expect. No one tests for people using terminal browsers or IE4. Noscript users are in the same niche. I understand why you’d disable JavaScript but I don’t understand how people expect those who make web apps to cater for that.

"Expect" is a word that has different meanings depending on the context: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/expect > To predict or believe that something will happen In this sense, I do not expect most websites to work without javascript. > To consider obligatory or required. In this sense, I do expect most websites to work without javascript. At the very least, for accessibility reasons.

You can expect all you want, I expect you’ll be disappointed. The goal to keep the web in that languid state is of the same ilk of the buggy whip. It’ll have archaic use cases, but the numbers won’t make sense for a lot of if not most future endeavours.

Re: Show HN: Discreet dead man's switch for victims of domestic abuse

#109

Post by solveit »

staticautomatic wrote: post #106
klipt wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many people are against capital punishment, even for abusive girlfriends/boyfriends.

Who said anything about The State doing the killing?

Usually, people are even more against private killings.

Re: Show HN: Discreet dead man's switch for victims of domestic abuse

#110

Post by johnmarcus »

JensRex wrote: post #66
johnmarcus wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i 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.

>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.

Nerds 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.
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