Community Guidelines

Last Updated: April 19, 2026

The short version. The LaunchDetect community is for people who watch the sky — rockets, satellites, aurora, meteors, eclipses, the Milky Way. Post photos and observations of those things. Don't post anything else. If someone breaks these rules, report them. If you break these rules, your posts can be hidden, your account can be suspended, and repeat or serious violations will get you permanently banned from posting.

1. What "Community" means on LaunchDetect

When you tap the camera button and submit a sighting, your photo and your caption become part of a public, geotagged feed. Your post appears in three places:

The 3D globe. Your sighting drops a pin (or contributes to a heat-glow when many sightings cluster) at the location you posted from. Anyone using LaunchDetect — signed in or not — can see the pin, tap it, and view your photo, caption, and handle.
The Community feed. A scrollable wall of recent sightings, ranked by recency, upvotes, and proximity to the viewer. Other users can upvote, comment, and share your post.
Your profile. A list of every sighting you've posted, viewable by anyone who taps your handle.

2. Location precision is your choice

Before each post, you choose how exact your location should be on the map:

Exact: Pin sits at your phone's GPS coordinates (within a few meters).
Fuzzed: Pin is randomized within roughly 1 km of your real location. Other users see only the fuzzed pin; LaunchDetect retains the precise coordinates internally for moderation and abuse prevention.
Map-picked: You drop the pin manually on a different point on the globe (useful when you photograph something from a viewpoint different from where you want it pinned).

If you're posting from home or another sensitive location, use Fuzzed or Map-picked. You can change this for every post — there is no global "default to fuzzed" setting yet.

3. What to post

Yes — post things like this:

Launches: rockets on ascent, plume + trail, pad views, recovery footage.
Re-entries: capsule streaks, debris fireballs, controlled de-orbits.
Satellites: ISS / Tiangong passes, Starlink trains, single-sat flares (Iridium), other identifiable orbiting objects.
Aurora: northern or southern lights, geomagnetic activity.
Meteors: meteor showers, bolides, fireballs.
Eclipses: solar, lunar, planetary transits, occultations.
Astrophotography: Milky Way, deep-sky objects, planets, the moon, comets.
Sky phenomena directly related to space: noctilucent clouds, atmospheric optics tied to space activity (e.g. SpaceX fuel-dump spirals).

Captions should be short and useful — what you saw, when, anything notable (sonic boom, trail duration, bearing). 140 characters or less.

4. What NOT to post

No — do not post any of the following. These will be removed and may result in suspension or permanent ban:

Off-topic content. Not space, not sky — doesn't belong here. Pets, food, selfies unrelated to the sky, memes, screenshots of other apps, terrestrial photography.
Sexual or graphic content. Nudity, sexual content, gore, violence, anything you wouldn't show a child.
Hate speech, harassment, or bullying. Slurs, threats, targeted attacks on a person or group, sustained abusive behavior.
Illegal content. CSAM, content that violates US law or the law where you live or where you posted from.
Spam, scams, or commercial promotion. Affiliate links, "follow my X" posts, fundraising, crypto, MLM, paid promotion of any product or service.
Misinformation passed off as observation. AI-generated images presented as real photos. Stock photos. Photos taken by someone else (post your own work, or get permission and credit clearly in the caption).
Copyright infringement. Don't repost other people's photos as your own. If you got permission, say so in the caption.
Doxxing. Don't post other people's home addresses, real names without consent, or other private information. Pin locations are yours to share — other people's are not.
Conspiracies and disinformation about space activity. "Chemtrails," fake-moon-landing claims, etc. The community is for observation, not pseudoscience.
Excessive profanity or aggression in captions. Some swearing in context is fine. A caption that's mostly slurs or hostility is not.

5. By posting, you agree to follow these rules

When you tap "Continue" on the share-sighting consent screen, you are agreeing that:

You will only post content that fits the "What to post" list above.
You own the photo, or you have permission to post it and you will credit the creator.
You give LaunchDetect a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to display your photo and caption on our platform (web, mobile app, social, marketing) for as long as your post exists. You retain copyright and you can delete your post at any time, which terminates the display license going forward.
You understand that your post is public and will be visible to anyone who uses LaunchDetect.
You understand that violating these rules can result in your post being removed, your account being suspended, or your account being permanently banned from posting.

6. How reports and blocks work

Every sighting has a Report action and every user has a Block action. Use them.

Reports

Tap the report icon on any sighting and pick a reason (off-topic, spam, NSFW, harassment, illegal, other).
The first report on a post temporarily hides it from the public globe and feed while we review.
A second independent report escalates the post to LaunchDetect for human review.
If we agree the post violates these rules, it stays hidden and a strike is added to the poster's account.
If we disagree, the post is restored. Repeated bad-faith reporting from the same reporter (e.g. mass-reporting a person you have a grudge against) is itself a violation and will be enforced against your account.

Blocks

Blocking a user hides all of their sightings from your view (globe, feed, profile) and prevents them from commenting on yours. They are not notified.
Blocking is one-directional and immediate — no review needed.

7. Suspensions and bans

Enforcement is graduated. Most violations result in a warning or a temporary suspension. Serious or repeated violations result in a permanent ban from posting.

Warning + post removal. First-time minor violation (off-topic, low-effort spam). The post is removed and you're notified.
7-day posting suspension. Repeated minor violations or a single moderate violation (clear NSFW, harassment, blatant misinformation). You can still view and use LaunchDetect; you cannot post sightings or comments for 7 days.
30-day posting suspension. Continued violations after a 7-day suspension, or a serious single violation (targeted harassment, doxxing, repeated copyright infringement).
Permanent posting ban. Egregious violations (CSAM, illegal content, severe and repeated harassment, ban evasion) or continued violations after a 30-day suspension. Your existing posts are removed. You can still view LaunchDetect with your account but cannot post, comment, or vote.
Account termination. Reserved for the most severe cases (illegal content, threats of violence, ban evasion across multiple accounts, fraud against LaunchDetect or other users).

We don't run a transparent appeals court, but if you believe an enforcement action was a mistake you can email connect@launchdetect.com with the post URL and a short explanation. We'll review.

8. Special note on minors

LaunchDetect is intended for users 13 and older (16+ in the EU/EEA/UK per GDPR). Don't post photos of identifiable minors without consent from a parent or legal guardian. Don't post content directed at minors that you wouldn't want a parent to see.

9. Special note on AI-generated and composite imagery

You can post AI-generated or heavily composited images only if you clearly disclose it in the caption (e.g. "AI render of expected Falcon 9 trajectory"). Do not pass off generative AI output as a real photograph. Do not post deepfakes or synthetic media of real people.

10. Reporting illegal content

For child sexual abuse material (CSAM), threats of violence, or other illegal content, use the in-app report and email connect@launchdetect.com immediately with the post URL. We are required by US law to report CSAM to NCMEC and we will cooperate with law enforcement.

11. Changes to these guidelines

We will update these guidelines as the community grows and we learn what works. Material changes will be announced in the app and via email to active community posters. Continued posting after a change means you accept the updated guidelines.

12. Contact

Questions, concerns, appeals: connect@launchdetect.com.

These Community Guidelines work alongside our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. The Terms of Service are the binding legal contract; these Guidelines describe the specific community standards we enforce on user-posted sightings. Where the documents conflict on user-content matters, these Guidelines control.