Community Guidelines
The explore community guidelines help protect our vibrant community.
COMMON SENSE RULES:
Do not post hateful comments. Anything that incites violence against people based on race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation or politics is not permissible. We support freedom of speech, but not when it incites people against people.
Do not post anything that incites anger towards animals and nature. Our mission is to help people fall in love with the world and inflammatory remarks disrupt the spirit of the community. Please also refrain from posting violent photos or gifs of animals, including disturbing imagery from the live cams.
Do not post negative or damaging comments about our non-profit and partner groups. We understand that these cameras make everyone emotional, but under no circumstances are you to contact authorities or live cam locations if you see something on a live cam that concerns you. Instead contact us at 911@explore.org. Trust us to handle it.
Please respect our non-profit partners’ decisions regarding wildlife intervention policies and training techniques. Our partners are experts in their fields and work in accordance with state and federal laws. Please refrain from criticizing our dog and cat rescues’ homes, training facilities, and volunteers.
Do not chastise the moderator. Moderators are volunteers who try to educate and improve your experience. If you have a concern related to Community Guidelines, please reach out at feedback@explore.org. If you see a comment that might violate our guidelines, please help moderators by using the “flag” feature. Do not attempt to moderate other commenters.
Please keep comments focused on or related to the views on the camera you are watching. We welcome communities bonding over their interest in the cam they are viewing. Moderators may encourage you to visit the Off Topic Community Chat Board https://explore.org/offtopic for open discussions that are not about the cam views.
Please do not request specific views from volunteer camera operators or disparage the view. Camera operators cannot read your comments during their shift. If you have comments, please reach out at feedback@explore.org.
Do not post any threats that promote stalking or predation against people. We will not tolerate cyber-bullying or any form of harassment.
Don’t post with negative intent towards others. Remember there are people behind these posts and we want to treat them and the community respectfully.
Please respect privacy. Don’t post about issues regarding other peoples’ personal lives in chat rooms. Keep in mind that explore.org is a public forum.
The promotion of products, personal fundraisers, or external campaigns is not allowed. Posts of this nature will be removed.
Any attempt to harass explore staff, explore mods or explore cam ops on their personal social, email, phone etc. will result in an immediate ban. If you are concerned with the behavior of an explore staff member or volunteer email feedback@explore.org.
Our national park cameras sometimes have park visitors or park staff in view. For privacy reasons, please refrain from taking and sharing photos of them, or posting commentary about any people you notice on camera. Our cameras are meant to be an entertaining and educational view of the wildlife, and are not meant for surveillance of the people sighted accidentally. If our camera operators spot a clear violation of NPS policies involving people and wildlife, explore.org has internal reporting methods to handle it. If you have questions about NPS policies, please use the Message Partner button located at the top of the comment section.
On the Africam network, you might spot a rare view of a rhino. Please refrain from snapping or sharing photos of rhinos; they are highly endangered and storing or sharing photos of them might put them at risk of poaching.
Feedback - Please write to us and let us know what you think would enhance the community. We are flexible and will update our rules if needed. We want to grow.
Respect the platform. Explore is a special family unit and we don’t ever want to have to flag or ban users from the site. If you are unable to comment or see that you are banned, please reach out to us at feedback@explore.org.
Celebrate Nature! Fall in love with the World! Grow with us!
Disciplinary Policy if Guidelines Are Broken
The following leads to an instant ban from explore.org:
-Spammers
-Someone who incites any form of hatred
-Predatory behavior, cyber-bullying, lewd acts
-Someone who encourages calling authorities on a live cam location/host
For all other guideline violations:
1st time offense = 72 hour ban
2nd time offense = week long ban
3rd offense = 2 week ban
4th offense = seasonal ban, or 3 months, at moderator’s discretion.
5th offense = lifetime ban
We know that fans have a lot of creativity, passion and skill. What follows are guidelines for using explore footage for your videos.
Non-commercial use only. Your video cannot be monetized by ads or sponsorships. If you would like to use explore.org footage for commercial purposes please contact PR@explore.org
Please use explore.org in the title of your video
Make sure the watermark is intact and clearly visible
Link back to live cam your footage came from in your description.
Under no circumstances can you repost a video explore has published on its own channels. (IE posting a live chat on your YouTube channel like it is your own work)
Videos produced must follow all explore.org community guidelines. This means that you can not use our footage to bully, harass or disparage our live cam partners or other fans. Your videos can not promote misinformation or violence in any way.
Explore.org owns the copyright to all live cam footage produced and we reserve the right to request a copyright take down for any video. Whenever possible we try to contact the creator before beginning the copyright takedown process. To this end it is helpful if you have a valid form of contact somewhere in your profile wherever the video has been published.
Explore.org does not permit re-streaming or rebroadcasting any of our live streams to your personal channels. For any reason. Any live stream of our cameras found will result in a copyright take down immediately.