Subic Bay community pilot · updated 8 October 2026
Private journal notes and photos stay in this browser’s device storage. They are not automatically backed up or synced. Export your journal before clearing browser data. Restore backup imports private notes on this device only; it does not publish them or restore management access to public reports. The offline app caches its interface and saved field guide after a connected visit. Live services and external images need internet.
Checking “Publish” sends your photo, notes, observation date and approximate area to our Vercel backend and Supabase storage/database in Singapore. Public reports, their photos and identification discussions can be viewed by anyone. Never include people, contact details, home addresses or nesting locations in photos or notes. Image metadata is stripped on upload, but visible details in a photo cannot be removed automatically.
Location is requested only when you choose a location feature. Public coordinates are rounded to approximately 500 metres. Unknown, sensitive and unrecognized bird reports have no public map pin. Do not write exact sensitive locations in your notes. These controls reduce exposure but are not a guarantee of anonymity.
Presence confirmation checks submitted GPS location against the sighting area; it is not proof of a person’s identity or of the species. Community push stores your browser push subscription, chosen approximate area and radius privately. It does not continuously track you. If you separately select iNaturalist alerts, the server checks recent external sightings approximately every 30 minutes. A private record of your browser identity and source observation ID prevents duplicate alerts; it contains no copied source photo. Subscriptions are eligible for alerts for 30 days after you enable or update them; expiration stops delivery but does not automatically delete the saved record. Open Nearby alerts and use “Stop community push” to remove your server subscription and saved area from the same browser, even if that browser no longer supports push. When available, the browser subscription is also removed. Delivery depends on browser, device and network support.
A signed, secure cookie lets this browser manage its own public reports and suggestions. No verified email account is currently provided. Different devices may belong to the same person; agreement counts must not be treated as expert verification. Clearing the cookie loses management access. Keep your browser data until you have removed any reports you no longer want published.
Open a report under “My sightings” to remove it. This hides the report and deletes its photo and public note content from active storage; infrastructure backups may persist. Withdraw your identification through the report’s discussion. Hidden reports may be retained for review. Private journal deletion is separate.
Email signup opens only after our sending service is configured. If you sign up, we store your email address, chosen email categories, confirmation and consent timestamps, consent wording version and unsubscribe status privately in Supabase. Only the informational weekly bird digest is available, off by default. It contains bird sightings and field tips, without advertising, offers or promotional app updates. Confirming an emailed link activates only the choices you made. This does not connect your address to your journal or public sightings.
Resend processes your address and message for delivery. Open and click tracking are disabled. Every digest includes email preferences and unsubscribe links. Unsubscribing stops digest delivery. Contact us at birdsofsubic@gmail.com. We do not treat digest consent as permission for unrelated promotions or list sales.
The weekly maintenance job clears unconfirmed addresses older than 7 days and fully unsubscribed addresses older than 30 days; removal happens on the next successful run. Minimal hashed suppression and consent records remain to prevent accidental re-enrollment. Delivery logs may be retained by our providers. Subscriber data is private operational data, not part of public bird-record exports. Use the link in your email to remove a subscription even if email sending is paused.
Share your own bird photos and truthful observations. Clearly explain tentative IDs and disagreements. No harassment, personal data, spam, copied photos, nest disturbance, wildlife playback or trespassing. Do not treat a pin as permission to enter a location.
Basic automatic text screening rejects some obvious profanity and abusive phrases in new public reports and identification suggestions, and hides matching text when displaying existing posts. It is not comprehensive moderation; respectful disagreements are allowed. Use “Flag for review” on concerning reports. Three browser identities flagging a report hides it pending review; this pilot does not promise continuous human moderation. “Hide this contributor” filters their reports on this device; undo it in About. Reports have daily per-device and network rate limits. Abuse prevention is basic in this pilot.
Vercel hosts the site and backend; Supabase stores shared records and photos. Infrastructure providers may process IP addresses and technical logs. Network addresses are hashed for application rate-limit records. Public records remain until removed or moderated. Expired push subscriptions are excluded from delivery; use “Stop community push” in Nearby alerts to delete your server subscription. Keep this browser’s identity cookie until removal is complete; clearing it loses access to the saved subscription.
Map tiles load from OpenStreetMap; bird records and taxonomy load from iNaturalist; fonts load from their provider; the mapping library is hosted with this app. Those requests expose ordinary connection information to those providers. Source photos, credits and learning links retain their respective licenses. Seasonal charts show recorded observations, not migration forecasts.
This pilot is still being tested. It is not an emergency service or a substitute for expert identification.
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