NavTrail — Content Moderation Policy

Last updated: 2026-06-19.

This document explains how user-generated content (UGC) in NavTrail is moderated. It exists to document our published moderation policy and to give users a clear picture of what they can expect. A copy is hosted publicly at https://navtrail.app/moderation (alongside the privacy policy).

If you have a question about a specific moderation decision or want to report content that the in-app flow doesn't cover, email contact@navtrail.app.

1. What is user-generated content in NavTrail?

Four feature areas accept content from users:

Feature	Free-text fields	Lifetime
Community POIs (camping, springs, viewpoints, refuges, tyre-repair shops)	name (≤ 80 chars), description (≤ 800 chars)	Permanent until reported / deleted by creator
Hazard reports (fallen trees, landslides, etc.)	description (≤ 280 chars, optional)	4 hours TTL, then auto-deleted
SOS alerts	description (≤ 280 chars, optional), contact_hint (≤ 80 chars, optional)	24 hours TTL, then auto-resolved
Convoy nicknames	nickname (≤ 8 chars, visible only to fellow convoy members)	12 hours after last activity
Username (public handle)	username (3–20 chars, letters/numbers/underscore; shown on your POIs, hazards, and SOS alerts in place of an anonymous ID)	Permanent until the account is deleted

Everything else (GPS tracks, downloaded map regions, tire-pressure calculator inputs, etc.) is stored only on the user's device.

2. What is not allowed

Hate speech, slurs, or content targeting people based on ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or disability.
Sexually explicit content.
Threats, harassment, or content that incites violence.
Spam — repeated or low-effort posting that drowns out legitimate community content.
False emergency reports (SOS alerts, hazards). These can cause real harm by diverting attention from genuine emergencies. Sending false SOS alerts will result in removal of your account.
Personally identifying information about other people (real names, phone numbers, addresses) without their consent. The contact_hint field on SOS alerts may contain the reporter's own contact info (e.g. their own phone number) but not anyone else's.
Content promoting trespass on clearly-marked private property.
Profanity directed at named individuals or groups.

3. How moderation works

NavTrail uses three complementary moderation layers, backed by an account model that strengthened in v1.2: browsing and posting POIs/hazards are anonymous by default, but a user can create a permanent, email-verified account — and sending an SOS now requires one. Because a verified email is needed to send an SOS, account-level enforcement (including removing the account of anyone who sends false SOS alerts) is a real deterrent, alongside the server-side controls below.

3.1 Server-side profanity filter (preventive)

Every POI name/description, hazard description, and SOS description/contact-hint passes through a server-side wordlist filter before insertion. The filter uses whole-word matching with Romanian diacritic folding (ă/â/î/ș/ț → a/a/i/s/t) to catch common bypass attempts. Content that matches the wordlist is rejected with the error content_blocked_profanity; the user sees a localized message asking them to rephrase.

Implementation: BEFORE INSERT triggers on pois, reports, sos_alerts in supabase/migrations/0010_ugc_moderation.sql.

The wordlist is intentionally narrow (severe slurs + common vulgarities, ~25 terms across Romanian and English). We err on the side of letting borderline content through; the report-and-auto-hide path below is the second line of defence.

3.2 In-app "Report content" action (community moderation)

Every UGC surface has a "🚩 Report content" action visible to all users except the creator:

POIs: "REPORT PROBLEM" button in the POI detail sheet. Reasons: doesn't exist, private property, spam, other.
Hazards: "🚩 Report content" link under the hazard confirmation dialog. Reasons: false report, spam, abusive, other.
SOS alerts: "🚩 Report content" link in the SOS detail sheet. Reasons: false, spam, abusive, other.
Convoy nicknames: convoy owners can kick any member at any time, which functions as the in-context block-user mechanism.

Reports are immutable and visible only to the reporter (a user cannot see who else has reported a row). One report per user per row is enforced at the database layer.

3.3 Auto-hide / auto-resolve trigger (≥ 3 unique reporters)

When the count of distinct reporters for a given row reaches 3:

POIs: is_hidden flag flips to true; the POI disappears from the map for everyone except its creator. A 24-hour age safeguard prevents griefing of brand-new POIs.
Hazards: status flips to RESOLVED; the marker drops out of bbox queries and Realtime UPDATE removes it from open clients' maps.
SOS alerts: resolved_at is stamped with the current time; same removal effect.
Convoy members: not subject to community auto-hide; owner-kick is the only path.

Triggers run as SECURITY DEFINER functions and stamp resolved_by_user_id = NULL so the audit log distinguishes system-resolution from human-resolution.

Implementation: poi_auto_hide_on_reports, report_auto_resolve_on_reports, sos_auto_resolve_on_reports.

3.4 Time-to-live cleanup (passive moderation)

Even content that nobody reports doesn't live forever:

Hazards expire 4 hours after creation (extendable to 4 more hours per community "still here" confirmation).
SOS alerts auto-resolve after 24 hours.
Convoys are reaped 12 hours after last activity.
POIs are permanent unless reported or deleted by the creator.

Expired/resolved rows are purged by pg_cron jobs every 15 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the table.

4. Operator-level moderation

For content that bypasses the automated layers (a single highly-toxic post that doesn't trip the wordlist and isn't seen by 3 other users), the operator (Constantin, contact@navtrail.app) reserves the right to:

Delete individual rows directly via the database.
Suspend or remove a user account — an anonymous session (revoke it and block re-creation from the same device by FCM token) or a permanent email-verified account (e.g. for repeated false SOS alerts).
Update the wordlist in response to observed abuse patterns.

These actions are taken in response to email reports at contact@navtrail.app or to proactive observation by the operator. Operator actions are logged but not publicly visible.

5. User rights

You can:

See what we know about you — no name, email, or phone is required to browse or post. An optional account (to back up your data across devices and to send SOS) uses an email + password; you may also set a public username shown on your POIs, hazards, and SOS alerts. POIs and reports you created are visible in the app.
Delete your content — POIs you created have a DELETE button. Hazards and SOS alerts you created can be resolved (which removes them from the map immediately).
Delete your account — in-app via Settings → Account → Delete account (removes your account and cloud data immediately; community POIs you created are anonymized rather than deleted, so the shared map stays intact). You can also email contact@navtrail.app with your user ID (visible in Settings → About) and we'll purge it within 30 days.

6. Reporting content that bypassed the automated flow

If you find abusive content that wasn't auto-hidden by the in-app report action:

Try the in-app "🚩 Report content" button first — it's the fastest path and triggers immediate moderation once 3 users agree.
If the content is severe (threats, doxxing, sexually explicit content involving minors, etc.) email contact@navtrail.app directly with a screenshot. We commit to first response within 48 hours and removal of clearly-violating content within 7 days.
For illegal content (CSAM, direct threats of violence), report to Romanian authorities (112 for emergencies, +40 21 208 25 25 for the General Inspectorate of Romanian Police) in parallel with notifying us.

7. Updates to this policy

This policy may change as the app grows. Material changes will be announced in the app's release notes and reflected in the "last updated" date at the top of this document. The current version always lives at https://navtrail.app/moderation.