#and the carrd post still has people who cant read

[storm-of-feathers]

one of these days i am going to drop my take on how people use "white women" as a Get Out of Misogyny Free Card

[strawberrybabydog]

seeing as you've checked out another carrd on it, can you go through this disaster i keep seeing? das (dot) crd (dot) co

(link)

TLDR: it's not as terrible as i've seen in the past but it's still not great. most of the misinformation on here is fairly minimal but misinformation is still.. misinfo. so. yknow. some parts are Really Bad Though, wow.

as the last post, images will not be described because i don't have the alt text editor and i dont want this to look longer than it actually is cuz then people wont read it lolz. everything under the cut!

right off the bat they they that delusional attachment is a term for only psychotics to use because they don't know the difference between psychosis and delusions/use them interchangeably. it's an easy mistake to make, but also a very important one. by saying "delusional attachment" is psychotic-only, they completely exclude people living with delusional disorder (which yes is a psychotic disorder, but is not really psychosis and doesnt really make a person a psychotic. it's a grey area, basically.) which, delusional disordered-people make up a huge chunk of people experiencing delusions

also they keep saying "D/A is an alternative to identity delusion" which is something i've never actually heard of before, so i cant comment on it

i like that one of the first sentences you read confirms it's not medically recognized: this is a very annoying part of the discourse, where psychotics will criticize D/As for being bad because they... arent medically recognized? which is such a dumb point for so many reasons. TLDR, things exist before they're coined/recognized, thats the least of the reasons they're bad, & it's a sanist criticization to say "this isnt recognized therefore it is bad." also it's just overall a really pointless criticism. so yeah, good on them for shooting that down before it even begins lol

unsure why they also keep saying the "psychotic community" coined it when literally only 1 person coined it and it was meant to be for personal use (not wide-spread use.) it makes me wonder if the person who made this carrd is actually delusional themselves, because they seem to remove themselves from.. all of this. the way they word this also makes it seem like the entire psychotic community is on board with D/As when that's not true at all; i'd say like 70% of actuallypsychotics online are not fine with them at all.

they claim there's little-no information accessible about grandiose delusions... which isn't true. it's one of the most common delusions (because it's usually non-bizarre) you just need to Type Things In On Google about it first. i guess it makes sense that they don't know anything about grandiose delusions considering every delusional attachment(-aligned) person i have ever met or seen has 0 symptoms of grandiose behavior whatsoever, but self-DX as grandiose. i know why they think it's grandiose, but it's not actually. it's closer to be a DMS of the self, but that's not Officially a thing, so it's really just a bizarre/NS delusion revision: later in the carrd they clarify what grandiose delusions are (properly,) & explain that most D/As display grandiose behavior but i have literally not seen this a single time. i've never even seen anyone talk about it.

their information on psychosis itself seems all correct, but i think it would be far more useful for them to put information there on delusions instead of psychosis, given that D/As actually have nothing to do with psychosis (only delusions...) the way they do this implies that psychosis and delusions are interchangeable which isnt correct

cringe alert! DO NOT EVER ATTEMPT TO GIVE YOUR FRIENDS ANY FORM OF PSYCHIACTRIC TREATMENT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE.

i dont care if they said it's fine. ITS NOT. you are not a professional, you are not their therapist. not only will this ruin your relationship with them, but you are likely to cause harm. the harm could be extreme and permanent. i cannot stress enough how much you should not ever fucking do this. psychiatrics help isn't "recommended" for treatment of delusions: it is literally necessary. yes its very unfortunate if treatment isn't accessible to someone, but that's not an excuse to play-pretend therapist.

ok but this implies it's medically recognized. it's not, u already said this - this is just confusing. D/As please god PLEASE leave delusional misidentification syndrome alone challenge

i do like that they mention alterhuman at the end. i do believe D/As are alterhuman more often than not, regardless of whatever their diagnosis or identity or whatever is

welp things were okay until they recommend and detail how to offer psychiatric treatment to your friends. if the person who wrote this carrd ever reads this, take that out immediately please oh my god. that is so dangerous. instead it should just say something like "if your delusion causes you harm, distance yourself and seek professional psychiatric help if available. do not attempt to treat yourself or your friends."

[tropical-starlight]

hi! i wanna know how (in ur recent post that sparked some rlly angry ppl :/) its terf rhetoric? i am interested in hearing your opinion!

yeah here it is!

so im gonna put this real quick: tw for transphobia and multiphobia (discrimination aganist multigender and multisexual people) below the cut

so the phrase "men cant be lesbians" discriminates aganist both trans lesbians and lesboys! the phrase is transphobic as it makes it seem that transfem lesbians are still cis men and cant have attraction to fem-aligned people and call themselves a lesbian because of their agab.

i've explained what lesboys are in this post here: https://www.tumblr.com/funfettiandstarz/696977871555690497/friendly-reminder-saying-your-aganist?source=share /safe but tldr is that a lesboy is someone who has a connection to both masculinity and feminity thus making their attraction to fem-aligned people queer

for the "lesbians cant like men" phrase, it discriminates aganist both cis lesbians with trans partners and mspec-lesbians. for cis lesbians with trans partners it hurts everyone in the relationship because the cis lesbian is being called a "fake lesbian" because they're dating a trans person and its transphobic towards the trans person in the relationship because its calling them their agab instead of what they like to go by. as for mspec lesbians? well i havent made a education post on them..yet. but mspec lesbians have always been in the queer community. there is a lovely carrd here that explains a whole bunch about them, take a read if you got the time! its very well made and i actually learned some stuff i didnt know before: M-spec Lesbians (bi-lesbian.carrd.co) /safe

sorry for the late answer! i had surgery this morning and also got into a car acident after (dont worry! im ok!) but it was very nice to talk with you! /gen

[angeloncewas]

mcytblr red flags, according to mcytblr themselves (mainly dsmpblr)

(Disclaimer that this A) is not reflective of my personal opinions and B) doesn't cover all responses; I tried to focus most on trends !)

General -

Twitter users (x6)

Having a superiority complex about your blog (x5)

Taking stuff too seriously (x5)

People who add mcyt stuff to posts not about mcyt (x4)

Mcytblr superiority (x4)

People who don't rb art (x4)

Trying to apply irl concepts to mcyt (x3)

Having an mcytblr blog (x2)

Hermitblr (x2)

Not tagging triggers (x2)

People who insult ND traits (x2)

Dsmpblr

Not disclosing if you're white or poc

People who call mcyt haters "antis"

People with that "mcytblr supremacists dni" banner in their pinned

People who refuse to tag/untag things

Intense kinners

Excessive complaining

People who act as though headcanons are canon

If you're under 14

People who understand MCC

People who break their own DNIs

Blog content -

X-reader writers (x8)

Truthers (x7)

People that got mad at mcc15 (x5)

Blogs that are too into the darker parts of the lore (x4)

DNF shippers (x3)

Shipping blogs (x2)

People who only post lore (x2)

Real people analyzers (x2)

People who only post analysis (x2)

People who post Michael angst (x2)

Making more callout posts than actual content

Blog structure -

"c!dream apologist" in bio (x2)

"[character] apologist" in pinned/bio (x2)

Has any dsmp member's fanbase in their DNI

-

Gogy pfps (x18)

Irl cc pics as pfps (x4)

Dream pfps (x2)

Sad-ist pfps with no credit (x2)

Inniter pfps

Ranboo pfps

Karl pfps

Irl Dream pfps

Picrew pfps

People with Pintrest edits of ccs as pfps

-

Header is an irl pic/gif

Uncredited art as an icon/header

Icon unrelated to a blog's content

Essay-length pinned post

People with too much info in their bio

Carrds

-

Canon urls (x2)

"Fandom" urls (x2)

Soot urls

Innit urls

DNF urls

Dream urls

Techno urls

Phil urls

"Trash" "nerd" urls

"Gogy"/"notfound" urls

[sexuality][minor creator] urls

[sexuality][creator] urls

Based on enjoyment -

Beeduo mains (x5)

George mains (x5)

Dteam mains (x3)

BBH mains (x2)

Ranboo mains (x2)

Eggpire mains

Emerald duo mains

Rivalsduo mains

Allium duo mains

Benchtrio mains

-

George-only blogs (x5)

SBI-only blogs (x3)

Benchtrio-only blogs

-

Emerald duo fans (x3)

Inniters (x2)

Beeduo fans

Ranboo fans

Based on negatives -

Karl haters (x9)

Constantly disclaiming that you like the dsmp but hate Dream/the Dteam (x5)

Dream haters (x3)

People who dislike Puffy (x3)

Being mad at Scott for Ace Race (x3)

Being mad at H for MCC (x2)

Getting mad over MCC (x2)

People who love George, but hate Dream and Sapnap (x2)

People who don't like Sapnap (x2)

Calling Karl "annoying" (x2)

Tommy haters (x2)

SBI stans who hate the Feral Boys

People who think Wibur is a control freak

If you don't like Sneeg

Mcytblr people who hate the dsmp

Dream SMP -

c!Dream apologists (x14)

People who hate c!Tommy (x5)

Supporters of doomsday (x3)

"c!Niki is a girlboss" (x2)

"c!Wilbur is insane" (x2)

Calling L'manberg "colonizers" (x2)

c!Techno haters (x2)

People who call c!Slimecicle a child (x2)

Ignoring the exile arc (x2)

Calling c!Niki and c!Puffy lesbians

People who act like c!Tommy's done nothing wrong

Ghostbur infantalizers

People who call c!Phil a bad dad

People who think c!Dream is pure evil

People who say that c!Sam is a cop

People who think c!Sam has done nothing wrong

Calling c!Ranboo and c!Tubbo bad dads

Ranking c!Ranboo as a better dad than c!Tubbo

People who insist c!beeduo are romantic

Only talking about c!Puffy as a mother/therapist

Blaming c!Tommy for what he's been through

c!Techno + c!Phil apologists

People who hate c!Phil

People who call them "manipulated minors"

People who say the enderwalk is evil

Oddly specific -

If they talk like they swallowed a dictionary

Unironicly relates to Your New Boyfriend

Creating kinnie accounts to flirt with ccs on Tumblr

Sending asks about piss to imposter blogs

Georgeburs who hate Dream

People with strong feelings about Karl

If you tagged the "red flags" post with "c!dream apologists"

People who say "icb"

Tickle fetishists

Anyone who's made a post that got over 834 notes

Benchtrio fans who post unprompted George neg

If you have the username whoregnf

Maining punz but misspelling bttv emotes

"Resse"

"Steph"

They follow @/off-and-odd-again or are @/hearty-an0n, @/sally-salmon, @/sajdd, or @/thesmpisonfire (all self-nominated)

Regarding discourse -

Posts too much discourse (x7)

Crits non-villain characters too much (x2)

Posts neg a lot (x2)

Doesn't tag crit (x2)

Karl-crit blogs (x2)

"I don't do discourse"

"I do discourse"

People who post too much twt neg

Puts c!crit in the main tags

People who crit anarchism when criticizing c!Techno and c!Phil

People who deflect crit as ableism

People who post ableist crit

Regarding content creators -

People who post random cc neg (x3)

People who make hating ccs a personality trait (x2)

People who're too defensive about their fave cc (x2)

People who like one cc but hate their friends (x2)

Trying to boss around ccs

People too invested in ccs' sexualities

People overly invested in ccs' hair

People who break cc boundaries

People who call ccs republicans

People who rank ccs' attractiveness

Community -

People who dono about alt pronouns (x3)

People who cant separate lore from real life (x3)

Interacts with the big inniter blogs a lot

Rb-ing posts from too many inniters

If you only read recaps and still make analysis posts

People who complain about the fandom making tommy too soft

People who send hate to big blogs

Enthusiastblr

If you take apologist labels too seriously

If you call yourself an apologist

"I'm never listening to Dream's music"

People too into crimeboys

Art -

Drawing anime Techno

Drawing Ponk with straight hair

Drawing cc!Ranboo without a mask

Zombie Wilbur fanartists

People who draw fat people skinny

People who draw c!Tubbo completely blonde

Having a Steven Universe art style

Artists who refuse to stop drawing with MD with the Mexican flag

[nako-doodles]

check in tag 😌

tagged by the cutest babes @jaehyukkies @gimbapchefs @taesjpg @joenns @honsool @taehyungq @himbojin @jiminswn & @kimtaegis  mwah! ✨✨

1. Why did you choose your url?

namjoon bought a duck mold, ventured out into a snowy day in winter, and gave me the greatest tweet i have ever seen

2. Any sideblogs? If you have them name them and why you have them

the day i gain the ability to wrangle more than one blog ill let yall know

3. How long have you’ve been on tumblr?

*starts calculating time furiously and almost burns out her single braincell* ive been here since like freshman year high school.....so............2010? 2011? ive deleted and restarted like 3 times tho so.........also you can calculate my exact age now (as if I dont have my age on my carrd aiowgjiorajgo)

4. Do you have a queue tag?

no we dont tag we just chaos in this house *finger guns*

5. Why did you start your blog in the first place?

i took a break from tumblr and kpop and then decided I wanted to make a bts blog out of the blue

6. Why did you choose your icon?

i drew all these tiny snow ducks i might as well capitalize on them yknow? really embrace my duck persona (Kim Namjoon witness the person you have made me)

7. Why did you choose your header?

honestly my entire blog brand at this point can be narrowed down to the hour ish (probably) joon spent wrangling snow into duck molds, placing them together for the twt, and captioning them ducktan sonyeondan (im on the look out for new ideas im ready for a change lmk if you have ideas 🥰)

8. What’s your post with the most notes?

i think its this post?? of the babies on rollerblades from that one iconic dynamite stage. and on that note tumblr should be able to let me filter based on note count instead of forcing me to rely one my shoddy terrible no good math skills. asking me to compare numbers bigger than 0? despicable. 

9. How many mutuals do you have?

absolutely no fucking clue 🥰🥰🥰 i do love them to the moon (Kim Seokjin) and back tho!!!!

10. How many followers do you have?

ngl its still wild for me that even one of yall follow me thank you 🥺🥺🥺 its a great honor that you have bestowed upon me

11. How many people do you follow?

303 bc I like it when numbers are palindromes and also bc im bad at checking new blogs

12. Have you ever made a shitpost?

would like you to direct you to my #shirley you cant be serious.txt tag

13. How often do you use tumblr each day?

i try my best to “clean out” my blog (reply to my dms/askbbox, check out my mentions, scroll for new content i may have missed etc.) in the mornings and evenings when i have the time. ive been kinda bad at this lately bc its been hectic here in shirley headquarters but ill get to everyone soon I promise!! (this sounds like bad. its not!!! its just that leaving things stresses me out? like how i like replying to texts as soon as i see them or reply emails as fast as i can. ‘unresolved’ correspondence feels rude.)

14. Did you have a fight/argument with another blog once? Who won?

no im the type to unfollow/block/ignore if someone did or said something i dont agree with without a word

15. How do you feel about “you need to reblog this” posts?

i get the need for those signal boost posts and promulgating important information but (and this is going to sound selfish) tumblr is my destress zone. i go here when the world is being overwhelming and terrible. i certainly read and educate myself as much as my mental health will let me, and i try my best to promote information and donate whenever i can, but i feel like social media has caused some people here to be too into canceling, managing, and being performative in their ‘wokeness.’ like you HAVE to have a blackout pic on instagram and you HAVE to reblog all these posts and you HAVE to immediately cancel everyone who has ever made a mistake EVER with no nuance or context (or dare i say......humanity). like fighting for human rights and speaking up again racism and bringing attention to societal problems is just a checklist to go down instead of being things you should understand and try to improve? like being ‘unproblematic’ starts and ends with mindlessly reblogging ‘woke’ content. idk sorry for going on a rant. going back to your regularly scheduled lighthearted content in 3...2...1

16. Do you like tag games?

ABSOLUTELY TAG ME IN EVERYTHING PLS AND THANK MWAH

17. Do you like ask games?

ofc!!! i used to do a lot of ask games back in the day but work and the pixel art ive been working on has been eating up all my extra time (and i always feel bad if I leave asks unanswered for too long see: q. 13) i do have that clover moots post saved for when my mental health is up and i have the time to tho!!!! 

18. Which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

ngl the idea of being tumblr famous is hilarious to me bc it usually just the same 10 moots who share a braincell bouncing posts back and forth each other, but i do think all my moots are superstars that even class o super giants millions of millions of miles away are turning green w envy 🥰🥰🥰

19. Do I have a crush on a mutual?

i have a confession i have to make........i have a big phat standing crush on all my moots........its really embarassing............thats its bigger than even tae’s tush or joon’s tits..................pls let me down gently if you dont feel the same................

tagging: @cafejoon @stargazingjin @yoobijin @jinbestboy @jintae @jinv @taemaknae @butterful & anyone who wants to ✨✨

[queerlyhalloween]

Not to sound like the joker™️ but i hate western society. I know that hair and clothes aren't gendered, so do most of my mates, ive been working hard at unlearning the internalized transphobia that's just a part of being trans in the UK and actually ALLOWING myself to think about going on hormones and dressing in ways other than "ambigious as possible" despite the fact im non-binary

i grew myself a little mullet because ive not been working in the pub and wanted solid snake hair, ive allowed myself to look at my face and the long hair around it and not despair because i know that longer hair doesn't make me a woman, but the moment you go into a shop, or get takeaway or pass by people in the street its all "move out the way of this lady!" and "thank you, ma'am"

i dont want the gender option of 'other' on my ID i want to know 1 good reason why gender should be listed on an ID in the 1st place

ive just come back from the range and i had my hair up like some e-thot fuckboy, i had to go BACK to the range because they got my click and collect order wrong so ive got two members of staff looking over my order, im dressed in black jeans and a black masc-looking ripped shirt, mask covering half my face and as the manager's showing the kid who served me the receipt they go "oh I served that guy earlier" and the manager corrects them "its a lady". I say "im niether" and they both just stare at me like im a toddler. Im already panicking because the air feels the same way it did when some cunt came after me in the pub toliets. "dont worry about it :)" i say, they both turn back to the tills and completely ignore me.

Anyway, micro-aggressions, ive experienced a lot of them for many reasons over the course of my life and today ive decided to snap.

Not at the people in the range like, just in general.

I will never pass. That's just an element of trans euphoria i will never get to experience. Not right off the bat, anyway. Not where i live, and most likely not in my lifetime. Maybe for kids in LA or Brighton, and hey power to you guys man im happy for you, but people assume or guess m/f when they look at me and they will never get it right.

So when i see people on this site try and twitter etc rank "who's the most oppressed"™️ like a godamn smash bros tier list it blows my mind because of all the things you could spend your days doing thats what youre expending energy on?!

You could be the exact same age, race, sex, gender, sexuality, you could have the exact same disabilities, mental health conditions and money in your bank as another person on this site and you'd still never understand what they've been through. Our experiences, our families, our morals and lives are always gonna be different and the moment you try to write definitive rules on whose got it worse you've already lost and you're already wrong. Oppressed classes are not a fucking hivemind and pretending they are is only going to cause you more problems. I get the strong sense that some of you looked at the word intersectionality, went "ah yeah, i know what that means" having never read up on the matter, then proceeded to play the pain olympics.

And its creating a culture where kids feel the need to spills their souls online to justify living their lives!

You've not listed your disabilites in your bio so you're able-bodied. You're Irish but haven't listed your race so you're white. You're cis man so you've never played with gender and suffered as a result. You're asexual so clearly you're a cringeworthy baby who's never experienced a wrong-doing in their life.

The reverse is true too, if you list every aspect of yourself then you're automatically honest. The more opressed you are the less likely you are of causing harm to others. Psht, don't have a carrd in this day and age? What are you, a fraud? cishet white man playing make believe? Post a selfie or face the wrath of ozymandaus. What's privacy? It takes me 3 minutes to read the bio on this discourse side-blog so clearly they're an angel.

my mam abused me for years, she did the same to my brother when i left home at 18 and my dad drank himself to death. My nan, his mother, never believed me because my mam's a disabled woman with a lot of trauma, and at 14 how do you explain to the woman who takes you to the beach that it's WORSE because as she's beckoning you to the side of her bed so she can scream point blank in your face, or hit you, you're never truely sure, you're thinking about running away because of course she physically can't chase you but she can throw. And then where would you go if you did buggar off?

"You have to sleep sometimes" she used to say to me when I'd piss her off. Other days she told me horror stories about kids in care, and disabled people having their kids taken away, made me promise that I'd always love her and always be her baby, and I'd do that for her because she's my mam, she'd be satisfied then ignore me for a while. I grew up thinking that was entirely normal until i'd tell funny family stories at school and nobody would laugh. The closest I got to truely running away was when I changed my name and pronouns and her rejection, turned to vitriol one night and I so, so, nearly held a knife to my throat and simply fell forwards in the uni showers. Obviously I didn't do that.

But she's had a shitter life than me thus far so she's in the right, as the online black/white dichotomy states. I keep her at arm's length but I'm unable to cut her away without losing the rest of my family because I dared defy the role of eldest child and care for her as I've done my whole life, as is expected.

we need to take things on a case by case basis, and learn when stuff is none of our business.

"Hey! :) I see you've reclaimed (X) slur, without submitting the proper paperwork. Real quick tell me every trauma you've ever experienced or I'll write a callout post :) delete this anonymous message (as is your right) and i'll assume you as sus ❤"

you can only call yourself a dyke if on your 13th birthday, the moon's tender rays struck you through your bedroom window and gave you your first wet dream about girls.

Great, cool. I have no interest in calling myself a dyke, i cant call myself a lesbian because it makes me dysphoric, thats why im queer, but i can assure you that when 3 kids from catholic school pinned me under the bridge and threatened to cut me open for being a "dirty dyke tramp" they didn't play 20Qs with me first to check that i was actually a lesbian.

if your first thought is "well thats just misdirected homophobia, so youre not ACTUALLY a victim" log the fuck off and consider what's wrong with you. Because all our oppressors care about is sniffing out the wrong on you and beating it out, they dont care what breed of wrong it is.

so you're going to spend your day, the enlightened adult that you are, frothing at the mouth because some 15yr old dared call themselves butch despite them being OnLY a BiSexUAl? You're gonna say that trans woman deserves to be suicidal because yes she may be trans BUT she's from the UK, so clearly she loves her horrid country and government. You're gonna say that black lad deserves racial abuse because he's trying to focus on his studies rather than go to protests. That 19yr old who's living in poverty deserves it because they work for Amazon. Texans deserve to freeze to death because there are republicans in Texas.

You're going to harass a complete stranger coming to terms with the parts of themselves society has taught them are worthless at best because they're not doing it the way YOU think is right.

This post has not ended where I started it but I really dont care:

Some of you are so fucking desperate to be the bullies you never got to be in secondary school and it shows. But you're cowards. You can't just admit you want to divide and concur so you do it in a new woke way and when your time on this earth is done, you'll have commited the same pain that's been dealt to you and wonder why you died miserable in a world thats more or less the same.

okay to reblog but dont @ me for a debate because i have, like, real problems and will just block you

[sorikkung]

Yea🥺🥺 that's okay, i might be social butterfly but have issues when it comes to making friends too, so i understand what you mean! Skkdkdkerk Bro- if you're Scorpio we're gonna have it the hard way🤣

Yeah, aussie bros😌😌🤙

Lmao, I guess it is. But yeah tumblr and twitter are two different worlds, like I'm not so active on twt but i see so many warzones, you literally can be cancelled so easily there. It's really much more free here, kinda prefer that tho. It's free, do whatever you want, why should you care about what others think. Like Tumblr anons pfff, Who at this point didn't get anon hates here lmao🤣

Damn, you really are that bitch, I like that! You're real and not scared to call people out. I know what you mean!! I absolutely agree with you saying that! But my carrd is something I wrote before. There's obviously a moment when I feel more comfortable writing for women because males are a bit more of an unknown area for me but sometimes I'm trying to make my work more non gender. not everything has to be written about "he insert his long dick into your pussy" you know☠️☠️ there's so many ways to say it differently without making someone feel disrespected and not valid enough.

You can't take things out and call someone if you don't know how old they are bro-

lmFAoo what do scorpios do if not always end up doing things the hard way

yeah ive recieved death threats on twt for calling felix nonbinary along with a bunch of other stupid shit, it's insane, so tumblr is just a fuckin lawless land lmfao absolute freedom. i post rpf smut and no one gives a shit. its great

i mean even if it was written a while ago, it's still up there on your page to represent you so if it doesnt apply then maybe you should update it LOL so i can absolutely call you out on it but im just glad you took it in stride lmfao. honestly its not a matter of fem reader fics making people feel disrespected or not valid enough, theres nothing Wrong with fem reader fics, but more just that isolation that comes with feeling like we dont belong here. people read self insert fics bc they want to feel Seen, and when the vast majority of self inserts are hard to relate to, it ends up having the opposite effect - we don't feel very seen at all. gender neutral reader fic means that everyone can feel included and enjoy inserting themselves into the story, so i feel like it should become the norm unless gender is relevant to the story somehow, or you're trying to make content for other types of readers you dont usually see (like how im writing a transmasc reader fic) but like... in the end, i cant control what other people want to write, and theres no right way to write fic, so. i just gotta put up and shut up really.

[magzoso-tech]

New Post has been published on https://magzoso.com/tech/how-to-make-an-app-when-you-cant-code-a-step-by-step-guide/

How to Make an App When You Can't Code (a Step-by-Step Guide)

Got a great idea? Here’s how to make an app that pops in a crowded marketplace.

December 30, 2019 13 min read

Outline: How to Make an App

Refine your idea.

Narrow your audience and test for demand.

Create a minimum viable product (MVP). 

Make the first version of your app.

You’ve dreamed up the perfect app idea, but your amount of technical knowledge is slim to none. Now what?

Coding experience isn’t necessarily vital upfront when it comes to making an app, so never fear. “People … essentially use the lack of this technical talent as an excuse to not get started when, in reality, it’s sort of this chicken-and-egg situation,” says Jonathan Greechan, co-founder of and head of marketing for The Founder Institute. “A lot of people think, ‘I can’t start the business until I have the technical founder — I can’t launch it,’ but in reality, you won’t find the technical founder unless you start building out the business.”

Many first-time tech founders think they need to find a team immediately, but in the early stages, the most vital part of your business is the product concept. Consider waiting to bring on a technical co-founder until you have a deep understanding of your market — because that understanding should inform who you want to partner with and the skills you’re looking for.

Your mission when making an app: Prove to the world — and to potential investors and customers — that you’ve got a sound business idea. Though it’s important to show people may eventually be willing to pay money for your app idea, focus more on creating an absolutely essential product for your market rather than generating revenue right out of the gate, says Rob Biederman, co-founder and co-CEO of Catalant Technologies. 

Here’s your go-to guide for building out your business idea — from identifying your audience to creating your app.

Narrow your idea, and focus on the problem you’re solving.

Before Nadia Masri, founder and CEO of Perksy, incorporated her company, she dove into researching the consumer insights industry and her target market: the millennial and Gen Z generations. Before you move forward with creating your app, you need to gather key intel, including gauging the strengths and weaknesses of competitive products. Just because you’ve dreamed up something great doesn’t mean someone else hasn’t had the same idea — and had it sooner.

“People … are intimidated to talk about their competition,” says Masri. “Competition is great — it validates a concept. I think there’s a healthy level: Too much competition means the market’s oversaturated; not enough competition might mean that the idea is not that viable.” Of course, take any sweeping generalization with a grain of salt, she says. If you size up the competition and know you can do something differently to provide greater value to your end user, you’ve got a fighting chance. Make sure your potential product or service is something that you yourself need and want, and do an extensive amount of research to validate your app idea.

While you’re narrowing that idea, make your goal to “solve one problem for one customer with one killer feature,” says Greechan. Apps that try to solve a slew of problems often take on too much — either they’re not solving any of the problems especially well, or none of the problems are especially important. Think about what would make you yourself download the app and — this is key — keep it on your phone.

Another way to think about the problem you’re solving: Consider the “customer pain point,” says Biederman. Ask yourself what the app needs to be able to do to satisfy customer pain, then consider the key requirements of that solution — the ones without which it would have zero value. Focus on solving that one problem incredibly well, and once you do that, “customers will end up basically helping you define your product road map,” says Greechan. You’ll receive requests for adding certain features, and you can use them to help chart your way forward in product development.

Related: A Beginner’s Guide to Starting and Marketing an App

Pinpoint your audience, and test for demand.

Let’s say you’ve got 10 business ideas, and you know that the odds are only one of them will be successful. Would you choose one at random and fund it to fruition without doing your research? Or would you try your best to predict which of them is most viable, then put your time, energy and money behind that one? In a hypothetical scenario, it’s easy to say the latter. But once you have a tech business idea, there’s a psychological temptation to put everything behind it and hire developers from the get-go.

“It’s like going to the casino,” says Alexander Cowan, professor of technology management at The University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. “It’s exciting — you feel like you’re getting a shot at rolling the dice and seeing what happens. But the reality is you’re giving yourself one roll of the dice when you could be giving yourself five, and that’s a big mistake.”

To gauge whether or not you’re making a safe bet, you’ll need to test for demand. The first step: Identify your audience. “‘If you build it, they will come’ … is not reality,” says Greechan. Ask yourself: Who is this app for? You’ll likely need a niche market to start off, even if you want usage to expand to everyone, and a great way to start is a “factual screener,” says Cowan. Let’s say you’re making an app for HVAC technicians who fix air conditioning systems — if you ask a group of them how many they’ve repaired in the past week and they say less than 10, you may have misjudged the need for your service, says Cowan. If you’re hearing different levels of demand from different sources, you likely haven’t narrowed your ideal audience enough.

Related: How to Make Your Mobile App Stand Out in a Crowd

Once you’ve pinpointed a niche audience, you can start investing in it long before your app launches. If you’re creating an app for writers, for example, you could start a Meetup group, host events or even launch a podcast or blog. The aim is to build an interested community. If no one clicks on your posts or displays any interest in the events, that could be an indicator that you’re not on the right track, says Cowan. But if you do see some interest, try to quantify it. One of the easiest and most effective ways to start is by creating a landing page for your app, explaining your goal and collecting email addresses from people who are interested.

Before Biederman launched his marketplace for MBA students, he tested for user demand with a $9 landing page on GoDaddy and asked people to enter their email addresses if interested. He says anyone can do the same on a variety of platforms with $10 to $20, and no coding experience is required. Options include Launchrock (a standard for building “really easy landing pages,” says Greechan) and Carrd. After you’ve built your landing page, get the word out — and pay attention to how many email addresses you collect to gauge interest levels. If you go on to develop your app idea, ping your audience semi-regularly with updates.

Related: Apple Wants to Teach You How to Make Apps 

Make it work on the cheap.

“Figure out the absolute cheapest way to have something that works that you can start offering to the target customer,” says Greechan. “In the beginning, you’re really just trying to release the [simplest] product that … solves one customer problem. You don’t need tons of technology to do that.”

Return to the original problem you’re trying to solve for your core audience, and make sure you’re focused in on it. “You want to prove as many things as you can about your end market and their pain and how you can solve it at minimum possible cost,” says Biederman.

Now it’s time to build your minimum viable product (MVP). Although it can be tempting to go all-out on design and features from your long-term vision for the app, this step is about caution and making sure people still want what you’re offering before diving in headfirst. Your MVP is different than your Version 1.0 in that the “whole point of the MVP [is] actually to avoid building actual product if you can,” says Cowan, adding that the latter is expensive and more permanent.

Exhibit A: ZeroCater, an office meal catering company that serves as a liaison between local restaurants and companies, started out as just an email inbox and a manual meal-scheduling spreadsheet. When the company launched in 2009, “it consisted of zero lines of code,” says CEO Ali Sabeti. As the customer base grew, ZeroCater built out its service beyond a spreadsheet and invested in a more advanced website — one that allowed it to match office lunch preferences with hundreds of restaurants and local catering companies, plus keep up with feedback from tens of thousands of employees.

ZeroCater’s MVP was a simple spreadsheet.

Image credit: ZeroCater

If you’re not sold on the idea of DIY-ing your service via an email inbox and a spreadsheet, there are other ways to make an app with no coding required. For a mobile app, consider tools like Thunkable, Appy Pie and AppMachine. If you’ve got your sights set on a web application, try Bubble or Shoutem, and for a marketplace app, consider Sharetribe or Kreezalid. Finally, if you’re building an e-commerce platform, you could launch your MVP on a platform like Shopify.

If you’re able to validate business and potentially even start generating revenue without the app itself, says Greechan, you’ll be approaching people with the tech skills you’re looking for from a position of strength.

Related: 9 Tools for Building Your Own Mobile App

Make the first version of your app.

Before Masri launched her company, she used a permanent marker to draw what she thought her app should look like — even though she had no design experience. Put pen to paper to sketch out the ideal. It’s an easy way to get out of your own head and start wrapping your mind around the concrete product or service you’re offering. After your initial set of sketches, try pairing your design ideas with free online tools to create high-quality mockups, such as Proto.io or InVision (no coding required). Adobe InDesign is another option for creating mockups, though a subscription will set you back about $20.99 per month (after the free trial). Your mockups will also be useful for gauging how your potential audience feels about using your app — whether you’re hosting potential audience focus groups or soliciting feedback from friends and mentors.

Next step: If you’re unfamiliar with HTML and CSS, it’s a good idea to rectify that sooner rather than later. Even if you’re not planning to make the app yourself, being familiar with the most basic coding languages could help you communicate better with software engineers, developers, technical co-founders or anyone else who helps you later on your journey. “In 2016, not being able to use HTML and CSS was the professional equivalent of being illiterate,” says Cowan. “It’s so easy to learn as long as you have the right focus and … a relevant project to work on.” Free online platforms include Codecademy or Khan Academy, and for skills-learning websites like Coursera and Udemy, prices depend on the course.

Once you’ve got the basics of coding down — and if you’re set on making an app from scratch rather than sticking with a web app or other online tool — it’s time to build your basic concept. You can pitch your design — whether you created it on InDesign or using a web tool — to engineers. “It’s a lot easier for engineers, or anyone else for that matter, to understand what you’re trying to bring to life once they can see a visual representation of it, even if it’s not that great,” says Masri. “It helps them envision what they could help turn it into.”

Related: 3 Ways to Build a Mobile App With No Tech Skills

To find software developers or engineers to help you bring your idea to life, you can reach out to your network, attend networking events and Meetups, search by skills on LinkedIn or check freelancer websites like Gigster.

A note about pricing: “Don’t go for the person with the lowest day rate,” says Cowan. “What you really care about is: How much does it cost you for them to get you to a certain outcome with your app?” Finding the lowest possible hourly rate, he says, is seldom the most economical way to do that. Something else to keep in mind? Ensure you’re clear about your vision for the user experience, including who the users will be and the problem they’re hoping the app will solve, says Cowan, before you offer a developer the gig, make sure they’re engaged and have relevant questions about the project. You can offer payment via cash or with company equity, but be careful about offering too much of the latter. “I’m in the camp of, ‘Pay … someone a little bit, even in good faith payment,’” says Masri. “Find engineers who have full-time jobs who are willing to take this on as a side project.”

Combined with your vision, a clear audience and the quantifiable demand you measured earlier, the baseline version of your app should be enough to take to potential investors and customers.

Related: A Step-by-Step Guide To Building Your First Mobile App