How We Protect Your Spots from Overexposure

It all starts with the people — Quiet Camping is not an open platform for everyone.

- **Invite or approval-based admission** — Every new member is vetted before getting an account. We check that they share our philosophy: protecting spots rather than exposing them.

- **No public sign-up** — You can't create an account without going through our approval process. This naturally filters out people who don't understand the platform's ethics.

- **Revocable access** — Any member who breaches site confidentiality can have their account revoked.

This is our most important protection mechanism.

- **Approximate coordinates only** — Published sites never show exact coordinates. The map displays an approximate location (roughly 11 km of precision). Close enough to assess the area, but not precise enough to visit without unlocking.

- **Credit-based unlock** — To see the exact coordinates and detailed access info, a member spends a credit. The unlock is **permanent** — you only pay once per site.

- **No incentive to share elsewhere** — Since you have to "pay" to see coordinates, there's no benefit to sharing them on iOverlander. It would waste access to a network that took effort to join.

When submitting a site, we ask members **not** to enter exact coordinates or identifying details in public fields.

- **Precise details go in the long description** — locked behind the credit system.

- **What's publicly visible:** site name, province, approximate region, nearest town, access difficulty, camping type, and amenities.

- **What requires a credit:** exact GPS coordinates, detailed access directions, precise location notes.

Even if someone took a screenshot of a site's public page, they wouldn't have enough information to find it.

Every submitted site goes through a review process before being published:

1. **Coordinate verification** — We use the exact coordinates to locate the site on a map.

2. **Near-duplicate check** — The system automatically compares the submission against already-published sites (within 10 km) to catch duplicates.

3. **Cross-reference on Park4Night and iOverlander** — We systematically check whether the site already exists on these public platforms. If it does, it could already be "burnt" (exposed) and overcrowded, so it is rejected. Only still-preserved spots are shared on our network.

4. **Quality check** — We ensure the submission meets our discretion and quality standards before approving it.

This upfront verification guarantees that sites listed on Quiet Camping haven't already been overexposed elsewhere.

Not everyone sees the same thing on Quiet Camping. **Trust levels** decide how much of the network a member can see:

- **Standard members** see the community site list and map with approximate coordinates.

- **Trusted members** (who have proven themselves through quality contributions over time) unlock enhanced visibility — including a dedicated, fully detailed presentation for protected sites.

- **Highly Trusted members** enjoy the same trusted experience with the deepest level of community standing.

Trust is earned through contribution, not bought. It is reviewed automatically and can be adjusted by admins for exceptional circumstances. It's one more layer of protection: the most sensitive sites are only ever fully visible to members who have demonstrated they will protect them.

Beyond credits, each site carries an **annual unlock cap** (set by the submitter or admins, default 10 per year). Once that many members have unlocked a site's exact coordinates in a rolling 365-day window, the site stops accepting new unlocks until the window rolls over.

- The submitter, the site's already-unlocked members, and admins are never blocked.

- Caps apply only to *paid* unlocks — a submitter's automatic access to their own site doesn't count.

- This protects a fragile spot from suddenly becoming a destination for dozens of new visitors in one season.

Caps and trust work together: **trust** controls who gets deeper visibility, **caps** control how much total exposure a site receives.

When you share sites from your personal library (via folders or a share link), only **members** can ever view what you share:

- **No anonymous access** — a share link always requires a Quiet Camping account.

- **Read-only by design** — people you share with can see the sites, but can't edit, submit, or re-share them.

- **You stay in control** — every share can be revoked instantly or given an expiry date.

- **Recipients appear on the map** as orange pins in *their* "My sites" scope — they can see what you shared, not the entire network.

- **Referrals go hand-in-hand** — when you share by email, include your referral link so your friends can join through you and see the sites.

Sharing never means exposing: what leaves your control is a curated, revocable, members-only window — never public data.

The credit system is designed to align everyone's interests. Members who contribute the most have the most to lose if confidentiality is compromised.

- **To earn credits, you must contribute.** Submitting quality sites, earning badges and reaching new levels accumulate credits that let you explore further.

- **To see exact coordinates, you must spend.** Unlocking a site's details costs a credit — but the unlock is permanent, so you only pay once per site.

- **Buying credits is possible** — but most members prefer to contribute, which strengthens the community.

New members start with 3 credits. Members who don't submit sites only have these 3 — they must contribute or purchase credits to unlock more sites.