The internet sucks a lot right now. I know it’s full of AI and scammers, the Lemmy users are helpful to spread warnings about them everyday. It’s a little disheartening though to know that a lot of the warning signs are way above my entry level knowledge. Is there anyplace “safe” where someone can ask questions or even hire (not a job request post!) someone to help make a website without getting something that looks pretty but is actually a vibe coded nightmare?
Alternatively, what should laymen like myself be on the lookout for when trying to interact with this field? A real doctor can show credentials and answer questions, a real artist has a portfolio and can talk you through their process, I don’t know what to ask a website maker person
thanks :3
If you’re googling for something, adjust the date for results to end in 2022. You may miss out on some answers, but it should be relatively ai-free.
Udm14.com (google without the slopbots) and noai.duckduckgo.com are your search engine alternatives, allows for newer results without subjecting yourself to the clankers
This is exactly how I use the internet now. Search parameters between 1995 and 2022. However, depending on what the subject is, you could end up with dangerously outdated information. :/ then again, fuck knows how many current medical journal entries might be ai generated with dangerous information if reviews aren’t legitimately occuring.
Unfortunately, economics are working against you. Most of the smaller clients are just using one of the big website builders, or using AI themselves. So the days when someone could run a small business with maybe fifteen or twenty little clients and make a living are almost over. Today, you have to get a good four figure contract, or work for an agency.
Does your local university have a job board? That might be your best bet. Folks working towards a degree are often looking for jobs that won’t be full-time, as they want to focus on their studies. So if you’re a small organization of doctors, who remember what the university grind is like and are willing to work yourselves around exam season, that might be your best bet. Compsci students are also looking for work experience, and as with many young people are often more interested in advocacy than their elders. And if you get a third or fourth year student, you know they’re at least getting some sort of education in the craft, rather than just being a guy off the street with no knowledge, but an AI and a desire to make money.
Thats a good idea, theres a really cute tiny college nearby that I have faculty friends at. Maybe they can introduce me to someone
Use Wordpress
Direct communication with a real person should be your main goal. Call-up phone numbers, email people for Skype meetings, face to face. Real, no bs web developers will often be happy to give a consultation and price quote, so if they don’t want a meeting or they ask you to talk to their AI agents, move on.
thanks for responding! Are there any specific terms to watch out for? Solid questions to ask? Ways to see if they’re actually making things vs asking their AI to do it for them? We’re a tiny advocacy group and we have a lot of medical smartness on the team the joke about doctors being utter shit at making the computer go brr is sadly very true in my team
Lol, got it.
Weird formal grammar, way too much detail way too fast, non-substantive message content, or long pauses before responding to what should be a simple question are red flags.
If the conversation feels normal going back and forth, you’re getting the information you want from this person and they’re directly answering your questions, green flag.
There’s really no way to tell if they’re using AI on the back end, unless you’re extremely computer literate, because even if you find someone trustworthy, you don’t know what they’re doing, and some legitimate web developers use AI as a legitimate tool, so I’d encourage you to first make sure that you know exactly what you want for your website, because knowing exactly what you’re looking for makes any web developers job way easier, and then make sure that’s what the person is developing and that if you guys agree to work together you have a simple written contract that says the developer is going to build this website for this amount of money as specified in our agreement.
If they are a real web developer, they shouldn’t blink at a contract. If they are not legitimate, they will not want to sign an agreement.
All of that said, there are quite a few platforms that are drag and drop GUI build your own website templates you can use without any coding knowledge that you could check out and even participate in the free trial for and see if you want to build the site yourself first.
Squarespace, Wix, there are plenty of platforms on which you can build your own website that will include annual hosting for probably less than hiring a professional developer, especially if you’re looking for a simple website.
Totally depends on what you’re trying to create.
You know, fiverr has probably a billion vibe coders, but you could easily ask for a consultation with any of them and get a free five minutes Q&A so you can get used to asking developers questions.
Full disclosure, i’ve worked with a web developer tangentially, but have never hired one myself, so these are all general business suggestions rather than direct hiring experience talking.
Oh this feels very helpful! Thanks so much for taking the time to write this out. I’ll be on the lookout for this. I really appreciate your advice :D
You’re welcome
Oh jeez… are the boomers right? Go in person with a resume, a suit and a firm hand shake. 🤮
I am not ready for this brave new world.
Depends what you’re looking for. I’ll point out I didn’t mention a resume, suit or handshake, but direct communication and looking someone in the eye is the brave old world and still an effective way to build and establish trust.
Similar to an artist they should have some previous work they can show. Sites that they have built and previous clients.
As for where to ask I’m not really sure anymore. I haven’t done freelance in so long and I always just found work through word of mouth. Maybe ask around for recommendations from others in your industry?
It’s not a bad idea but most places are either saying to make it myself in one of the 4 big web builder companies, or they tend to be big enough to ask for 4 digit quotes. There’s gotta be someplace a lil indie project can find someon in the $$-$$$ bracket who wants to help a micro advocacy group out. Just looking at fiver and shit I can see a lot of AI art. Like… if I want to hire an artist I can go to Etsy, deviant art, all sorts of places both new old and micro but it seems like there isn’t a legit place to ask for website peoples help (especially if you, like me, aren’t sure what the difference is between web dev and web design)
thanks for your response!
I think you might need to adjust expectations a little. If your website is simple enough that a competent person could reasonably do it for <$1,000, you’re honestly probably better off just using Squarespace or similar.
Building a website for a few hundred dollars just isn’t worth anyone’s time. Just getting enough information out of a client to build a site they’d be happy with is usually hours of meetings regardless of how simple the site is. Usually the process is going to require multiple design drafts and a bunch of back and forth. That adds up to lots of hours of skilled work.
If you’re an independent web designer you need happy customers and good reviews if you want to get future customers, and trying to do things on the cheap end just isn’t really a workable business model.
Posts like this one, are obviously AI.
its not… I can link you to my other web posts. I’ve been trying to ask for help and all anyone says is to just check out one of the major brands (im not sure if I’m allowed to name them here, but they all seem to suck majorly at accessibility features like making things screen reader friendly)
what could I possibly do to prove im not a bot? serious question. Do I need to take a picture with me holding a handwritten sign like they used to do for reddit ask posts? You aren’t the first one to do this shit to me and im getting tired of having my posts taken down off from other websites because I didn’t ask for help “right”
also. Rude. This is part of why asking for help is sucking so much ass right now
