Is what I submit public?

No. Everything you submit is private by default. Tips, case details, uploads, locations, and your identity are never published automatically. Public content about an investigation is written separately, and only what has been cleared for release ever appears publicly.

If my case is documented, what can I keep private?

Documentary cases come with granular privacy choices. At minimum, you can ask us to:

• Not use your name
• Not show your face
• Not identify family members
• Not reveal the exact site location
• Not reveal property-owner information
• Not reveal the names on graves
• Not show identifiable landmarks
• Not publish sensitive historical details

You choose these when you submit, and each case carries its own disclosure level that governs what can ever be shown.

Are there limits to what privacy choices can guarantee?

We honor every restriction you select, and we tell you plainly where the limits are when you select them. For example, a site already described in public records, or visible from a public road, cannot be made secret by our withholding it — we can decline to amplify it, but we cannot erase what is already public. When you choose restrictions, you will see an explicit acknowledgment of what those restrictions can and cannot achieve.

Do I have to agree to filming to submit a tip?

No. Willingness to be filmed or interviewed is asked, but never required. Plenty of valuable historical work involves people who prefer to stay entirely behind the scenes.

What if I want no filming or documentation at all?

Our mission is documentary — projects are generally taken on because they have historical, educational, preservation, or documentary value. A request for a completely private investigation with no filming or documentation of any kind falls outside that mission. It may be possible as a separate private engagement, which may involve a charge if offered. Note this in your submission and we will follow up.

Who decides what gets published?

Publication is an editorial decision made case by case, and it always operates inside the privacy restrictions attached to the case. A case marked private never appears anywhere public — not in the archive, not in maps, not in aggregate views.

Can I change my mind later?

You can request changes to your privacy preferences, and you can request that your case be closed or that submitted files be removed. Requests are reviewed and handled by the team so that nothing is lost or exposed by accident.