Community Guidelines

Share the moment. Respect the person.

These rules apply to fan sites, sighting descriptions, comments, chat, usernames and uploaded images. The rules describe what we expect from members; the automatic protections below enforce only part of them.

Protect private whereabouts

Do not publish private addresses, exact coordinates, hotel or room details, residences, private entrances, backstage access, vehicle or travel routes, flights, or instructions for finding or following someone. Do not organise surveillance, pursuit, trespassing or unwanted contact. Do not reveal another fan’s private details.

Do not bypass screening using spelling changes, emojis, images, shortened links or several messages. Do not put precise whereabouts into a sighting’s general-area title or photo. Those fields are not covered by the description text classifier.

Public events are a limited exception

A broad city reference or ordinary discussion can be acceptable. A named stadium, arena, theatre or other venue is not automatically exempt. For screening to recognise a public appearance, staff must record a verified announcement and a valid event time window for that fan site. A poster saying “it is public” is not verification. Private entrances, exits, backstage areas, hotels and travel details remain restricted even during an announced event.

How text and link redaction works

• New Fan Chat messages, comments and sighting descriptions are screened before saving. Edits to comments and descriptions are screened again.
• Blocked location details appear as [Location details redacted]. Blocked links appear as [Link Removed]. Unrelated text is preserved where it can be separated safely.
• The local screening blocks recognised web and map links; destinations are not opened or verified. If contextual AI is configured, it judges the submitted text and can select exact excerpts to mask. It does not browse linked pages, write replies or make posts.
• Local rules can remove a larger clause and may miss disguised or non-English disclosures. AI can also make mistakes. If configured AI screening is unavailable, the submission is held back and the draft stays in the form for retrying.
• Older unscreened chat messages, comments and sighting descriptions are filtered when displayed. Previously removed text is not restored automatically.

Sighting approval and editing

A new sighting starts pending. It becomes public when a moderator with platform-granted reviewer trust approves it, or automatically after one hour if it remains pending without a recorded review. A rejection prevents automatic approval. Automatic approval is a timing rule, not confirmation that the sighting is true or safe.

The sighting date and time are the submission timestamp; authors cannot choose a different sighting date. Authors with posting permission may edit their description or replace their photo without restarting review. The general-area field and map coordinates stay locked. Authors can withdraw their sightings. Approved photos and posts may already have been viewed or copied before withdrawal.

What the map shows

• Only approved sightings with coordinates contribute heat.
• Each contributing sighting spreads heat across a 500 m radius. Nearby sightings add together, creating more heat.
• Heat decays with age and disappears after 14 days. This removes it from the map; it does not delete the underlying post.
• The public heat-map response provides coarse areas and rendered heat, not exact coordinate fields. Blurring does not guarantee anonymity or prevent someone drawing inferences from the map or other content.
• Recent sightings and the heat map refresh approximately every 30 seconds while the page is visible. Approval and refresh timing are not an emergency service or a live tracking guarantee.

Accounts and community permissions

Account names may contain only A–Z, a–z and digits, with a maximum of 150 characters. Posting requires a signed-in, active account and an approved fan membership or permitted staff role. A site ban prevents participation even if an account is active elsewhere. Owners manage moderators; moderators can review sightings and manage fans within their permissions. Early sighting approval requires reviewer trust granted by a platform administrator. New owners and moderators start without that privilege; they can still reject unsafe sightings. Appointing a moderator does not grant reviewer trust.

Owners can require join approval or disable chat. New fan sites default to chat enabled and join approval disabled. Active accounts can create fan sites and save favourites. Reading public pages does not require joining.

Chat, comments and uploads

Chat messages are limited to 2,000 characters, with at least two seconds between sends. Sighting descriptions are limited to 5,000 characters. Text formatting and emojis are available, but they do not bypass moderation.

Image uploads have a maximum file size of 20 MB. Profile images are cropped to a square and saved between 800 × 800 and 1500 × 1500 pixels; 1200 × 1200 is recommended. A 2400 × 800 landscape banner is recommended. Banners have no enforced minimum dimensions and are scaled to fit within 3000 × 3000 pixels. Uploaded photos are re-encoded, but there is no automatic guarantee that text, faces or location clues inside the picture are safe.

Be respectful and post responsibly

No harassment, threats, hateful abuse, sexual exploitation, impersonation, scams or spam. Do not fabricate sightings or present speculation as confirmed fact. Upload only material you own or have permission to share, respect attribution requirements, and avoid identifying bystanders unnecessarily. Moderators may reject or remove content and restrict accounts or memberships.

Reporting and appeals

To appeal a moderation decision, choose “Appeal a moderation decision” in the report form and include the decision or report reference, why you disagree, and relevant evidence. Platform administrators handle these submissions independently of the fan-site management dashboard. Signed-in users can track their reports and read responses through My profile → My reports and appeals. Reports and appeals do not automatically change a moderation decision or trigger a ban.

Use Report a concern for privacy disclosures, abusive content, image-rights issues or moderation questions. Give the Sighting page link and a brief explanation. Reports are private to authorised administrators and do not automatically remove content. For immediate danger, contact your local emergency services rather than waiting for a website response.