Community Rules

Rule 1.1- Only report activity you genuinely observed or reasonably identified

Users must not knowingly submit an aircraft sighting that did not occur or that they did not genuinely observe or identify.

Reports should be based on a genuine observation, legitimate scanner information, legitimate ADS-B information, credible information available to the user, or another source that the user reasonably believes to be genuine.

Rule 1.2- Do not deliberately fabricate details

Users must not deliberately invent callsigns, aircraft types, locations, times, sources, numbers of aircraft or other information in order to make a report appear more credible.

Rule 1.3- Correct mistakes

If you realise that information in your report is incorrect, you should correct it where the service allows you to do so or notify LFA Master administrators where correction is otherwise necessary.

Rule 1.4- Do not deliberately misrepresent your source

Users must not claim that information came from a scanner, ADS-B, visual observation or another source when it did not.

Rule 1.5- Good-faith mistakes are not automatically misconduct

An honest mistake, mistaken aircraft identification or incorrect interpretation of information is not treated in the same way as deliberate fabrication. Users are expected to correct genuine mistakes when they become aware of them.

Rule 2.1- Do not confirm your own sighting

Users must not attempt to confirm their own activity report using another account, a secondary account or any other method.

Rule 2.2- Only confirm activity you independently saw or reasonably verified

A confirmation should represent a genuine independent observation or legitimate verification. Users must not confirm an activity report simply because another person asked them to do so when they did not independently observe or reasonably verify the reported activity.

Rule 2.3- No coordinated fake confirmations

Users must not coordinate with other users to create artificial confirmation counts, whether through messages, groups, multiple accounts or any other method.

Rule 2.4- Do not exchange confirmations for favours

Users must not agree to confirm each other's reports without independently observing the relevant activity.

Rule 2.5- Administrators may remove invalid confirmations

LFA Master may remove confirmations that appear to have been submitted improperly or that do not meet the purpose of community confirmation.

Rule 3.1- Do not flood the activity feed

Users must not submit excessive reports in a way that deliberately floods the activity feed or makes genuine activity difficult to find.

Rule 3.2- Do not deliberately create duplicate reports

Where an existing sighting represents the same activity, users should not deliberately create additional reports simply to increase visibility, notifications or activity counts.

Rule 3.3- Do not manipulate popularity or counts

Attempts to artificially increase confirmation counts, activity counts, engagement or other visible statistics are prohibited.

Rule 3.4- Do not abuse notification systems

Users must not deliberately create activity for the purpose of generating unwanted notifications for themselves or other users.

Rule 4.1- Profanity is prohibited

LFA Master does not permit profanity in user generated content, including usernames, display names, sighting notes, comments, messages where applicable, reports or other publicly visible content.

Rule 4.2- Attempts to disguise profanity are also prohibited

Replacing letters with numbers, symbols, spaces, punctuation or other characters in an attempt to bypass profanity rules is still considered profanity where the intended meaning is reasonably apparent.

Rule 4.3- Circumstances may be considered

Moderators may consider context when determining whether language is genuinely prohibited profanity, particularly where a term may have an innocent technical, geographic, aviation or other meaning.

Rule 5.1- No harassment

Users must not repeatedly target another user with unwanted, hostile, intimidating or abusive behaviour.

Rule 5.2- No threats

Threats of violence, harm, intimidation or other unlawful conduct are prohibited.

Rule 5.3- No targeted abuse

Users must not use LFA Master to repeatedly insult, humiliate, intimidate or deliberately distress another user.

Rule 5.4- Disagreements must remain civil

Users may disagree about aircraft identification, locations, sources or other spotting matters, but disagreements must not become personal abuse, harassment or intimidation.

Rule 6.1- No hateful conduct

Users must not use LFA Master to promote, encourage or direct hatred, hostility or abuse against people or groups based on protected or otherwise personal characteristics.

Rule 6.2- No slurs

Slurs and derogatory terms directed at individuals or groups are prohibited.

Rule 6.3- Context does not automatically permit offensive language

Quoting, disguising or indirectly repeating discriminatory language does not automatically make it acceptable. Moderation may consider genuine educational or reporting context where relevant.

Rule 7.1- Do not impersonate another user

Users must not pretend to be another LFA Master user or deliberately create confusion about who they are.

Rule 7.2- Do not impersonate LFA Master administrators

Users must not claim to be an administrator, moderator, developer, representative or other authorised person when they are not.

Rule 7.3- Do not create deceptive accounts

Accounts must not be created for the purpose of deceiving other users or manipulating community activity.

Rule 8.1- Do not attempt unauthorised access

Users must not attempt to access another user's account, administrative features, databases, private information or systems without authorisation.

Rule 8.2- Do not bypass restrictions

Users must not attempt to bypass suspensions, feature restrictions, rate limits, security controls or other technical restrictions.

Rule 8.3- No malicious automation

Automated systems, scripts or bots must not be used to abuse the service, flood endpoints, create large numbers of accounts, manipulate activity or interfere with normal operation.

Rule 8.4- No deliberate disruption

Users must not deliberately attempt to slow down, damage, disable or disrupt LFA Master or its supporting systems.

Rule 9.1- Do not publish private information

Users must not use LFA Master to publish another person's private or sensitive information without appropriate permission or lawful reason.

Rule 9.2- No doxxing

Publishing personal information for the purpose of identifying, targeting, intimidating or exposing another person is prohibited.

Rule 9.3- Do not collect information through deception

Users must not trick another person into providing passwords, private account information or other personal information.

Rule 10.1- Do not use LFA Master to encourage dangerous behaviour

Users must not use the service to encourage behaviour that creates an unreasonable risk to themselves, other people, aircraft, property or aviation operations.

Rule 10.2- Respect access restrictions

Users are responsible for following applicable trespass rules, access restrictions, site rules, aviation restrictions and other applicable laws when spotting.

Rule 10.3- LFA Master is not an operational safety system

Activity reports, notifications, radio information, LFA information and other content on LFA Master must not be treated as authoritative operational or aviation safety information.

Rule 10.4- Do not interfere with aviation operations

Users must not use LFA Master to organise or encourage interference with aircraft, airfields, personnel or aviation operations.

Rule 11.1- Usernames must be appropriate

Usernames and display names must not contain profanity, hateful language, threats, deliberate impersonation or content that is otherwise inappropriate for the service.

Rule 11.2- No deceptive identity claims

Usernames must not be designed to falsely suggest that a user is an official organisation, administrator, military representative or other person or entity they are not.

Rule 12.1- Follow reasonable moderation decisions

Users must comply with reasonable instructions from authorised LFA Master administrators relating to moderation, account safety, content removal or platform misuse.

Rule 12.2- Do not deliberately obstruct moderation

Users must not deliberately interfere with an investigation, moderation process or platform safety measure.

Rule 13.1- Do not use LFA Master for unlawful purposes

LFA Master must not be used for unlawful activity, fraud, deliberate harassment, malicious interference or other prohibited conduct.

Rule 13.2- Do not facilitate wrongdoing

Users must not deliberately use LFA Master to organise, encourage or facilitate unlawful activity.

Rule 14.1- Do not create multiple accounts to evade moderation

Creating another account after suspension, restriction or removal in order to regain access without authorisation is prohibited.

Rule 14.2- Multiple accounts used for manipulation are prohibited

Multiple accounts must not be used to create fake confirmations, manipulate activity, evade cooldowns or otherwise gain an unfair advantage.

Rule 15.1- Use reporting mechanisms responsibly

Users should use available reporting tools to identify genuine issues rather than deliberately submitting false complaints against other users.

Rule 15.2- False reports of misconduct

Deliberately making false allegations about another user in order to get them punished, suspended or removed may itself be considered misconduct.

Rule 16.1- Rules are applied based on context

LFA Master may consider the circumstances of an incident when deciding whether a rule has been broken and what response is appropriate.

Rule 16.2- Intent may be considered

Where relevant, moderators may consider whether conduct was accidental, negligent, reckless, deliberately deceptive or malicious.

Rule 16.3- Previous conduct may be considered

Repeated breaches may receive a stronger response than an isolated and minor first-time breach.

Rule 16.4- Serious circumstances may justify immediate action

LFA Master may take immediate action without first issuing a warning where reasonably necessary to protect users, the service, its security, the integrity of the activity system or another legitimate interest.

Consequence 1- Informal reminder

For minor issues, LFA Master may remind the user of the applicable rule and request that the behaviour stops.

Consequence 2- Formal warning

A formal warning may be issued and retained as part of the user's moderation history.

Consequence 3- Content removal

Individual sightings, notes, confirmations, profile information or other content may be removed, hidden or edited where permitted.

Consequence 4- Confirmation removal

Invalid or abusive confirmations may be removed.

Consequence 5- Feature restriction

Access to particular functionality may be temporarily restricted. This may include reporting, confirmation, notifications or other community features.

Consequence 6- Temporary suspension

An account may be temporarily suspended for a defined period where continued access is not appropriate.

Consequence 7- Extended suspension

Serious or repeated breaches may result in a longer suspension.

Consequence 8- Permanent account removal

LFA Master may permanently revoke access to the service where conduct is sufficiently serious, repeatedly breaches the rules, creates a significant risk, involves malicious abuse or otherwise makes continued access inappropriate.

Consequence 9- Immediate restriction

In circumstances involving serious security risks, threats, malicious technical activity, significant abuse or other urgent concerns, access may be restricted immediately while the matter is reviewed.

Appeals 1- Right to request a review

Where an appeal process is made available, a user may request that a moderation decision be reviewed.

Appeals 2- Explain why the decision should be reconsidered

Users should provide relevant information explaining why they believe the decision was incorrect, disproportionate or based on incomplete information.

Appeals 3- Do not abuse the appeals process

Repeatedly submitting abusive, threatening or deliberately false appeals may itself result in further restrictions.

Appeals 4- New information may be considered

Where appropriate, an appeal may consider additional information that was not available when the original decision was made.