Story behind Dost logo and name
Does Dost seem familiar to you?
Dost’s logo is inspired by M-O from the movie Wall-E. Remember M-O? One of the most endearing and famous scenes from the movie is when M-O goes “Foreign Contaminant” when it first encounters Wall-E, his dost. The image of M-O, the purpose of the character (obsessed with keeping things neat and tidy) fits very well with the theme of Dost. This inspired us in creating our logo.
Why did we name our app Dost?
Dost (pronounced like ‘toast’) means ‘friend’. This word transcends many languages and cultures across Asia. Who is (a / your) Dost? Someone you can trust! Someone who is well meaning. Someone who does not hesitate to tell you things the way they are even if you are uncomfortable hearing it. Someone who taps on your shoulders and discreetly points to your errors with a positive intent. A dost also never memorizes your past errors, does not share your errors with anyone else, and is both forgiving and forgetful.
In the context of enterprise conversations that happen online, we were looking to build a product that acts as a catalyst for promoting safety and inclusion in written language, so that a person does not inadvertently make other people uncomfortable due to the unconscious biases and toxicity that seeps into our language.
Seamlessly integrated with your Slack, Microsoft Teams or your customer support software, Dost acts as a trusted friend in the room. When a person sends a message that is deemed toxic or biased, Dost immediately flags the content to the user with a discreet message and provides them an opportunity to consciously review their messages and take corrective actions (delete, edit, etc).
In addition, some key qualities of Dost app include:
Discretion & Trust: Dost messages are visible only to the sender. No one else.
Does not store any information: Dost does not store any user information or the message sent by the user or the message that was flagged in its systems. This way, Dost has no mechanism to trace either the message or the user.
Does not share with anyone: Dost does not share or report data to anyone. Your messages and even the event that a message was flagged for a user is not sent to any other person. Since Dost does not memorize, there is also no mechanism to trace a message or the people sending it.