Community Guidelines

Welcome to the CatchKeeper Community

CatchKeeper is built by fishers, for fishers. Whether you're chasing your personal best, exploring new species, or just sharing a great day on the water, you're part of a global community of people who love fishing.

These guidelines exist to keep CatchKeeper a place where everyone feels welcome, catches are trusted, and the fishing community thrives. They apply to everything you do on the platform — posts, comments, catch logs, event participation, reviews, group discussions, and profile content.

Please read them. They're straightforward, and they'll help all of us get the most out of CatchKeeper.

Be Respectful

Fishing brings together people from all walks of life, all over the world. That's one of the best things about it.

We expect you to:

• Treat other fishers the way you'd want to be treated on the water.
• Be constructive when offering advice or feedback — especially to newer fishers.
• Respect that people fish differently. Fly fishing, spearfishing, bottom fishing, bow fishing — it's all fishing, and everyone belongs here.
• Engage in good faith, even when you disagree with someone.

We don't tolerate:

• Harassment, bullying, intimidation, or personal attacks.
• Hate speech, slurs, or content that targets people based on race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability, or any other characteristic.
• Threats of violence or encouragement of harm toward any person.
• Doxxing or sharing someone else's personal information without their consent.
• Stalking or unwanted persistent contact with other users.

Keep It Honest — Catch Data Integrity

Trust is the foundation of everything on CatchKeeper. When you log a catch, other fishers rely on that data — for analytics, for species insights, for location trends, and for community leaderboards. Accurate data makes the platform better for everyone.

The golden rule: log what you actually caught.

This means:

• Species: Identify your catch as accurately as you can. If you're unsure, ask the community — there's no shame in not knowing. Logging the wrong species on purpose is not okay.
• Measurements: Record honest lengths and weights. Rounding up a little is human nature, but deliberately inflating your numbers undermines the community's trust and the quality of everyone's analytics.
• Photos: Post photos of your actual catch. Don't use other people's photos, stock images, or AI-generated images and pass them off as your own.
• Location and Time: Log where and when you actually caught the fish. Falsifying location or timestamp data corrupts community insights for everyone fishing in that area.
• One catch, one log: Don't log the same fish multiple times.

Why this matters so much: CatchKeeper's analytics, forecasting, and community insights are only as good as the data behind them. When catch data is honest, everyone benefits — better species insights, more accurate location trends, and fairer competitions. When it's not, the whole community loses out.

What happens if you don't: Deliberately falsified catch data may result in the removal of catch records, suspension from events and leaderboards, loss of achievements, or account suspension or termination. We'd rather it never comes to that.

Share Thoughtfully

CatchKeeper is a social platform, and sharing your catches, stories, and tips is a big part of the experience. Just keep a few things in mind:

• Keep it relevant. CatchKeeper is a fishing community. Posts should be related to fishing, the outdoors, or the community itself.
• Give credit. If you're sharing someone else's tip, technique, or content, acknowledge the source.
• Be mindful of what's in your photos. Make sure you have the right to share any images you post, and be considerate of other people who may appear in your photos.
• Avoid spam. Repetitive, irrelevant, or promotional content that clutters the community experience isn't welcome. This includes excessive self-promotion and unsolicited advertising.

Respect the Environment

Fishing and the natural environment go hand in hand. We encourage all CatchKeeper users to fish responsibly and to promote sustainable practices within the community.

• Don't post content that promotes or glorifies illegal fishing practices, poaching, or environmental destruction.
• Be thoughtful about sharing locations of sensitive habitats or vulnerable species populations.
• Handle fish with care, whether you're keeping or releasing them.

We're not here to police how you fish — but we do ask that the content you share on CatchKeeper reflects a respect for the waters and the species we all depend on.

Play Fair in Events

Fishing events and competitions on CatchKeeper are meant to be fun, friendly, and fair. Everything in the catch data integrity section above applies doubly during events.

• Submit only genuine catches made during the event period.
• Follow the specific rules and scoring criteria for each event.
• Don't use multiple accounts to gain an unfair advantage.
• Win or lose, be a good sport. Celebrate others' catches and achievements.

Cheating in events undermines the experience for every participant. We take event integrity seriously and will investigate reports of suspicious activity.

Business Accounts — Extra Responsibilities

If you're using CatchKeeper as a business (charters, guides, tackle shops, marinas, and so on), welcome — you're an important part of the community. Just a few extra expectations:

• Be genuine. Represent your business honestly. Don't misrepresent your services, location, or credentials.
• Earn your reviews. Don't solicit fake reviews, and don't retaliate against customers who leave honest feedback — even if it stings.
• Respect the community. Business accounts should add value to the community, not just advertise. Engage authentically and contribute useful content.
• Follow local laws. Make sure your business operates in compliance with all applicable regulations, licensing, and permits.

Content That's Never Okay

Some things have no place on CatchKeeper, full stop:

• Illegal content of any kind.
• Sexual, pornographic, or sexually exploitative content.
• Child sexual abuse material (CSAM) or any content that sexualises, exploits, or endangers minors in any way. We have a zero-tolerance policy for this category of content. Where detected — whether by user report, human review, or automated scanning — we are legally required to suspend the account, preserve the material as evidence, and report the incident to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), the Australian eSafety Commissioner, or equivalent authority. Accounts found to have uploaded such material will be permanently terminated. In accordance with applicable law, we will not notify the account holder that a report has been filed.
• Graphic violence or gore beyond what is reasonable in a fishing context. Routine catch handling — including bled, gutted, or filleted fish — is part of fishing and is welcome on the platform. Violence against people or animals beyond what occurs in normal angling is not.
• Promotion of terrorism, extremism, or organised crime.
• Hate symbols or material that promotes violence or hatred against any group.
• Malware, phishing, scams, or other fraudulent schemes.
• Impersonation of other users, public figures, or organisations.
• Content that infringes on others' intellectual property rights.

How We Enforce These Guidelines

We want to keep CatchKeeper a great place for everyone, and that means we do act when these guidelines are broken. Here's how:

Reporting: If you see something that violates these guidelines, please report it. Every report is reviewed. You can report content, users, or messages directly through the app.

Automated detection: We also use automated systems to scan images uploaded to the Service for content that may breach these guidelines. Where a possible violation is detected, your post may be briefly held from publication while it is reviewed by a moderator, or removed automatically in clear-cut cases. Most automated reviews complete within seconds, and you won't notice them. See our Privacy Policy Section 4.4 for the technical details of how automated content scanning works, and what providers we use.

What we may do: Depending on the severity and context of the violation, we may take one or more of the following actions:

• Issue a warning.
• Remove the content in question.
• Remove catch records, achievements, or event results.
• Temporarily suspend your account.
• Permanently terminate your account.
• Where the violation involves child sexual abuse material, suspend the account immediately, preserve the material as evidence, and report the matter to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, the Australian eSafety Commissioner, or equivalent authority. We will not notify the account holder of such a report.

How we decide: We consider the severity of the violation, whether it's a first offence or a pattern, the intent behind the behaviour, and the impact on other users or the community. Serious violations (such as hate speech, threats, exploitation, or systematic fraud) may result in immediate and permanent removal without warning.

Appeals: If you believe an action was taken against your account in error, you can contact us at support@catchkeeper.net to request a review. We'll look at it fairly. Appeals are not available where the violation involves child sexual abuse material or other content we are legally required to preserve and report.

A Note on Privacy

Respect other people's privacy the same way you'd want yours respected. Don't share other users' personal information, real-world locations, or private catch spots without their permission. What someone shares on CatchKeeper is their choice — don't make that choice for them.

For full details on how we handle your data, please see our Privacy Policy.

These Guidelines May Change

As CatchKeeper grows and the community evolves, we may update these guidelines. We'll let you know about significant changes through the app. We always welcome feedback — if you think something's missing or could be better, tell us.

Questions?

If you have any questions about these guidelines or need to report a concern, reach out to us:

Email: support@catchkeeper.net

Thanks for being part of CatchKeeper. Now go catch something!

These Community Guidelines are part of the CatchKeeper® Terms of Service. Violations may result in action being taken on your account as described above and in the Terms of Service.