The Public Registry

The Public Registry is shared by every rescue that uses RescueConsole. A rescue records a flag in it about a person or an animal, such as a history of animal abuse, neglect or a falsified application, so that another rescue checking an adopter before an adoption can find it. Public Registry in the sidebar opens the list of flags your own rescue has submitted. Looking up flags other rescues have raised is done on registry search, reached with Search the registry. A flag is an allegation about a real person. Read what is shared, below, before you raise one.

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Who can use it

Raising a flag is a permission of its own: keeping animal or people records does not include it. Of the built-in team roles, Organization admin, Director, Shelter manager and Animal control officer have Change on Registry. Permissions are set per role under Settings → Team & volunteers → Team roles.

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What is shared, and with whom

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Your own rescue

Your rescue always sees its own flags in full, whatever their status or visibility: on this page, on each flag’s page, and in your own searches.

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Other rescues

Another rescue can see one of your flags when it is active and its visibility is network. A flag that is disputed, revoked or private is not shown to any other rescue, in a search or anywhere else. While a network flag is pending review, the people at other rescues who may review flags are asked to, and can open it to do so (see when another rescue asks for your review). It is not a finding yet: no search shows it until it is active. When another rescue can see a flag, signed in, it sees the whole flag:

• the subject (a person or an animal), the flag type, the severity, the status, the visibility and the date it was submitted;
• the Narrative, in full;
• the identifiers that are shown (see the table below);
• the number of corroborations and disputes, and every review with its vote, notes and date.

It is also given your rescue’s name and its contact email and phone number, so it can ask you about the flag.

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What each identifier becomes

Identifiers are the details that say who or what a flag is about. Some are shown to other rescues. Some are kept only in a scrambled form, so that a rescue that already has the value can find the flag by typing it, but nobody can read the value back. Nothing is copied from your records into the registry except what is in the flag form when you press Submit flag.

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Without signing in

Anyone can look up a microchip number in the registry without signing in. For a flag that is active and shared with the network, they see only whether it is about a person or an animal, its flag type, its severity, its status and the date it was submitted. They do not see the narrative, the identifiers, the reviews, or which rescue raised it. Searching the registry by a person’s name, email address, phone number or date of birth always needs a rescue’s sign-in.

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How a flag is vetted

A flag’s status is not set by the rescue that raised it. It follows the reviews of other rescues. A review saying insufficient evidence is counted but does not change the status. A rescue cannot review its own flag.

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When another rescue asks for your review

When a rescue submits a flag shared with the network, everybody at every other rescue whose role has Change on Registry is asked to review it:

• the bell at the top of RescueConsole shows Another rescue asks for your review of a registry flag, with the kind of flag, how severe it is, and whether it is about a person or an animal;
• the same notice arrives by email, a few minutes later.

Neither says who the flag is about or what it says. Open the notice to read the flag itself. The flags waiting for your rescue are also listed at the top of the Public Registry page, under Waiting for your review, oldest first. A flag leaves the list once your rescue has reviewed it. A flag you open this way says Not yet vetted. Another rescue asks for your review. It is an allegation nobody has corroborated yet: read it, then review it on its Reviews tab. It becomes active, and visible in searches, when two rescues corroborate it. Each person chooses how they are told, under Settings → Your account → Profile & password, Being asked to review a registry flag: in the app and by email, in the app only, or not at all. See your account. Flags and their reviews stay in the registry even if the rescue that wrote them later closes its RescueConsole account, because other rescues rely on them.

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Your flags

The page lists every flag your rescue has submitted, newest first. The counts at the top are Submitted, Awaiting corroboration (your flags still pending review) and Disputed. Disputed is highlighted when it is above zero: other rescues are contesting a flag you raised, which happens without anybody at your rescue doing anything. The panel on the left filters by Status, Flag type, Severity, Subject and Visibility, and each option shows how many flags you would get if you chose it. Above the filters, Views keeps filter combinations you use: set the filters, press + Save current view and name it. Your views are your own. Columns chooses which columns to show: Flag type (always shown), Subject, Severity, Status, Visibility and Submitted. Click a row to open the flag. Your rescue’s flags that are still pending review also appear on the dashboard: see the dashboard.

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Raising a flag

With Change on Registry, press New flag on this page, or choose Add to the Public Registry from the menu at the top of a person’s record or an animal’s record. From a record, the form opens about that person or animal. Press Submit flag. The flag starts as pending review.

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Identifiers for a person

Choose the person under From a person record, then press Fill the fields below from followed by their name. Nothing is copied until you press it: choosing somebody to look at is not the same as deciding to flag them. The copied details stay editable, so you can use, for example, the email address an applicant gave rather than the one on file.

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Identifiers for an animal

Choose the animal under From an animal record, then press Fill the fields below from followed by its name. The form accepts an animal flag with only a name, species, breed or color, but registry search finds an animal flag only by its microchip number. A street address alone cannot be searched, so a flag whose only identifier is an address is refused.

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Visibility

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Opening a flag

Click a flag to open it. The page has three tabs.

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Reviewing a flag from another rescue

With Change on Registry, the Reviews tab of another rescue’s flag has a form, on a flag that is active and on one you were asked to review. Choose a Vote: Corroborate, Dispute or Insufficient evidence. Add Notes if you want, and press Submit review. Your notes are shown to every rescue that can see the flag. Your rescue has one review per flag. Submitting again replaces your earlier vote and notes. The form does not appear on your own rescue’s flags.

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Editing or withdrawing a flag

A flag cannot be edited or withdrawn once it is submitted: RescueConsole has no way to change its details, its visibility or its status afterwards. Check the identifiers, the narrative and the visibility before you press Submit flag.