Getting started
Is Sighted free?
Yes. Reporting, browsing, and validating sightings is free. A future Pro tier will offer extras like unlimited alerts and KML/CSV exports — but the core product stays open.
Can I report anonymously?
Yes — toggle "Submit anonymously" during reporting. Your account is still tied to the submission internally for abuse prevention, but no public-facing surface attributes the report to you.
Do I need an account to read sightings?
No. The live map and recent sightings list are public. An account is only required to file reports, comment, validate, or unlock the full archive after a year.
Privacy & data
What happens to my photos?
GPS EXIF is stripped before storage. Originals live on Cloudflare R2; the CDN serves WebP variants. Deleting your account removes every piece of media you submitted.
Do you share data with the government?
No. Sighted is independent. The public Research API on the roadmap will be the same data anyone can query — no privileged backchannel for any agency, anywhere.
Where is the data stored?
Postgres for structured data, Cloudflare R2 for media. Everything we store is what you submitted plus what the platform generates (timestamps, hashes, status). No hidden columns.
Moderation & trust
Who decides if a sighting is "Confirmed"?
Moderators set status with a full public audit log. Community validation votes feed into the score independently. Both are visible — you can see the moderator decision and the crowd score side by side.
What if a moderator hides my sighting?
You get a notification with the reason. Every hide action is reversible and logged in /mod/audit. Investigators and admins can review and overturn calls.
How do I report a problematic user or sighting?
Every sighting and profile has a "Report" action. Reports land in the moderation queue with optional AI pre-triage to help mods prioritize.
Ask the community.
The community page has active discussions, investigator notes, and a leaderboard of the most-corroborated regulars.
Visit the community →