Frequently Asked Questions

TellDear is a free platform for media and argument analysis. It catalogs 535 aspects of reasoning — logical fallacies, cognitive biases, manipulation techniques, statistical errors, argumentation schemes, and discourse mechanics — organized into 6 dimensions. It also offers 22 AI-powered apps for training and analysis.

Yes. TellDear is and will remain free. The goal of the project is not to make money — it exists to make critical thinking tools accessible to everyone. Browsing the Aspect Directory, Knowledge Graph, and using the Flashcards app requires no account at all. AI-powered apps work in free mode or with your own API key from any supported provider. In the future there may be an affordable paid tier for convenience features, but the core platform will always be free.

Aspects are individual patterns of reasoning, bias, or rhetorical technique. Each aspect has a definition, real-world examples, verification steps to identify it, and formal logic notation. Examples include Ad Hominem, Confirmation Bias, or Cherry Picking.

The six dimensions organize all aspects by type: (1) Logical Fallacies — errors in reasoning structure, (2) Manipulation & Propaganda — deliberate persuasion techniques, (3) Cognitive Biases — systematic thinking errors, (4) Statistical Errors — misuse of data and numbers, (5) Argumentation Schemes — argument structures that can be valid or fallacious, (6) Discourse Mechanics — patterns in how debates and discussions unfold.

The aspects are compiled from academic literature on logic, rhetoric, cognitive science, statistics, and argumentation theory. Each aspect is verified against scholarly sources and enriched with real-world examples, formal logic notation, and practical verification steps.

Fact-checkers verify whether claims are true. TellDear does something fundamentally different: it analyzes how arguments are structured, regardless of their truth value. A statement can be factually correct yet still use manipulative framing, logical fallacies, or exploit cognitive biases. TellDear makes these structural patterns visible.

The Knowledge Graph visualizes how all 535 aspects are connected — which fallacies reinforce which biases, which manipulation techniques exploit which cognitive weaknesses. You can explore it in 2D or 3D and click any node to jump to its aspect page. It's the best way to understand how argumentation patterns interact in the real world.

Paste any text — a news article, speech, social media post, or argument — and the analyzer identifies which aspects are present. It provides a structured report with identified fallacies, biases, and rhetorical techniques, including evidence from the text and confidence levels.

Each app focuses on a specific angle of analysis — from general text analysis and headline checking to specialized tools like the Argument Mapper (visual structure), Steelman (strengthening opposing arguments), or the Source Evaluator (argumentation quality scoring). The Apps page has a brief description of each one.

Yes — the YouTube Analyzer extracts the transcript of a video and runs a full analysis on it. For audio without a transcript, you'd need to transcribe it first (e.g., with a speech-to-text tool) and paste the text into the Text Analyzer.

Each day, TellDear highlights one aspect from the catalog — a new logical fallacy, cognitive bias, or argumentation pattern to learn. It's a simple way to build your critical thinking vocabulary over time. You can dismiss it or disable it entirely in your account settings.

AI-based analysis is a powerful aid but not infallible. TellDear uses state-of-the-art models and a curated catalog of 535 aspects to guide the analysis, but results should always be critically reviewed. Think of it as a second pair of eyes, not an oracle.

This can happen — no AI is perfect. TellDear mitigates this by grounding analyses in a curated catalog of 535 verified aspects, but edge cases exist. We recommend treating results as a starting point for your own critical evaluation, not as a definitive verdict.

Yes! If you create an account, TellDear tracks your progress across flashcards and training sessions. Your account page shows which dimensions you've mastered, your learning streak, badges you've earned, and recent session history. You can also disable progress tracking in your account settings.

Absolutely. The Flashcards app, the Daily Dose, and the aspect directory with real-world examples are designed for learners at any level. Teachers can use the Teachers page for classroom-ready materials and exercises.

Yes, that's one of its core use cases. TellDear helps students and citizens recognize manipulation, framing, and rhetorical tricks in news, social media, and political discourse. Several apps (Headline Analyzer, YouTube Analyzer, Spin Doctor) are specifically designed for media analysis.

Absolutely. TellDear offers several tools that work without AI (Aspect Directory, Knowledge Graph, Flashcards) and are great for classroom use. AI-powered apps can be used with a shared class API key. See the "For Educators" page for lesson ideas and setup instructions.

We're working on structured materials for educators. Currently, the Teachers page offers guidance and the Flashcards provide a quiz-style learning path. If you're an educator and want to collaborate on lesson plans, please get in touch.

No account is needed for most features. An account lets you save your own API key (so you don't need a password), track your learning progress with Flashcards, and earn badges.

TellDear supports multiple providers. By default it uses Anthropic's Claude (Sonnet). You can also use OpenAI (GPT) or Google (Gemini) by entering the corresponding API key. The model is auto-detected from your key prefix.

Yes. In your account settings you can enter your own API key from any supported provider. This bypasses the password gate and lets you use your own quota. Your key is stored encrypted and never shared.

Currently, analysis results are displayed in your browser session and are not stored on the server. You can copy and paste the results, take a screenshot, or use your browser's print function to save them as PDF. A dedicated export and sharing feature is on our roadmap.

Yes. TellDear is self-hosted in Germany and fully GDPR-compliant. No cookies are used for tracking. Your analyzed texts are sent directly to the AI provider you configured and are not stored on the TellDear server. No analytics or tracking services are used.

No. Texts you submit for analysis are sent to the AI provider for processing but are not stored on our servers. Once your browser session ends, the analysis is gone. We take data minimization seriously — see our privacy policy for details.

TellDear is fully available in English and German. The AI analysis works with texts in any language, as the underlying models are multilingual.

There is no native mobile app, but TellDear is fully responsive and works well on mobile browsers. You can add it to your home screen for an app-like experience.

Not yet as a public API, but it's on our radar. If you're interested in integrating TellDear's analysis capabilities into your own tools or research, reach out and let us know your use case — it helps us prioritize.

We welcome contributions! You can report issues or suggest features on our GitHub repository. If you're a teacher, researcher, or subject matter expert, we'd love to hear how you use TellDear and what would make it more useful for your work. Reach out through the contact page.

Yes! If you find an aspect that's missing, incorrectly described, or could use a better example, please open an issue on GitHub or contact us through the About page. Community feedback is how the catalog stays accurate and grows.

Our roadmap includes an Aspect Explorer for walking the Knowledge Graph interactively, companion articles for all apps, community-sourced examples, and several new analysis tools. Check our GitHub issues for the full list of ideas and suggestions.