> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.rescueconsole.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# The Public Registry

> The safety registry shared by every rescue on RescueConsole: what a flag is, exactly what is shared and with whom, raising a flag, and reviewing one.

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](/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.

## Who can use it

| Permission             | What it allows                                                                                |
| ---------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **See** on Registry    | Open this page and your rescue's flags, search the registry, and read a flag and its reviews. |
| **Change** on Registry | Raise a flag, and review another rescue's flag.                                               |

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](/settings/team).

## What is shared, and with whom

### 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.

### 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](#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.

<Warning>
  Write the narrative as something another rescue will read word for word. It is shown in full to every rescue that can see the flag.
</Warning>

### 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.

| Identifier                              | Shown to other rescues                 | Kept scrambled                                   | Found by [registry search](/registry/search)                       |
| --------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Name (prefix, first, last, suffix)      | Yes, in full                           | No                                               | Yes, by first and last name, unless an **Also known as** was given |
| Also known as                           | Yes, in full                           | No                                               | Yes                                                                |
| Date of birth                           | The year only                          | The full date                                    | No                                                                 |
| Address                                 | The city, state or region, and country | No: the street lines and postal code are dropped | No                                                                 |
| Email                                   | No                                     | Yes                                              | Yes                                                                |
| Phone                                   | No, only its country calling code      | Yes                                              | Yes                                                                |
| Microchip number                        | No                                     | Yes                                              | Yes                                                                |
| Animal name, species, breed, color, sex | Yes, in full                           | No                                               | No                                                                 |

Nothing is copied from your records into the registry except what is in the flag form when you press **Submit flag**.

### 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.

## 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.

| Status         | What it means                                                                                                                                                                          |
| -------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| pending review | Every new flag starts here. Other rescues' reviewers are asked to review a network flag and can open it to do so; no search shows it.                                                  |
| active         | Two different rescues corroborated it while it was pending review. Other rescues can now see it, if its visibility is **network**.                                                     |
| disputed       | Two different rescues have disputed it, whatever other rescues have said. A disputed flag is hidden from other rescues, and it stays disputed even if a rescue later changes its vote. |
| revoked        | Shown as a filter, but nothing in RescueConsole sets it. A revoked flag cannot be reviewed.                                                                                            |

A review saying **insufficient evidence** is counted but does not change the status. A rescue cannot review its own flag.

## 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](/settings/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.

## 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](/getting-started/dashboard).

## 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](/people/record#the-public-registry) or an [animal's record](/animals/record). From a record, the form opens about that person or animal.

| Field       | What it means                                                                                                               |
| ----------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Subject     | **person** or **animal**. The identifiers asked for follow it.                                                              |
| Flag type   | **animal abuse**, **neglect**, **fraud**, **abandonment**, **falsified application** or **other**.                          |
| Severity    | **advisory**, **moderate** or **severe**.                                                                                   |
| Narrative   | Required. Why the flag is being raised. Shown in full to every rescue that can see the flag.                                |
| Identifiers | Who or what the flag is about. At least one is required. See [what each identifier becomes](#what-each-identifier-becomes). |
| Visibility  | **network** or **private**. See below.                                                                                      |

Press **Submit flag**. The flag starts as **pending review**.

### 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.

| Field                                 | What it means                                                                                                                              |
| ------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Prefix, First name, Last name, Suffix | Their name.                                                                                                                                |
| Also known as                         | A nickname or an alias. When you give one, it is the name a name search matches on, instead of the first and last name.                    |
| Email                                 | Kept scrambled.                                                                                                                            |
| Phone                                 | With its country, so the same number matches wherever it is typed. Kept scrambled.                                                         |
| Date of birth                         | Only the year is shown to other shelters; the full date is kept scrambled.                                                                 |
| Address                               | Appears only when filled from a person record. Only the city, state and country are kept; the street is dropped. **Remove** leaves it out. |

### Identifiers for an animal

Choose the animal under **From an animal record**, then press **Fill the fields below from** followed by its name.

| Field                              | What it means                                                                                                                                 |
| ---------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Microchip number                   | Kept scrambled. The only animal detail a search finds. The line under the box says what was read from the number, with a **Look it up** link. |
| Animal name, Species, Breed, Color | Shown in full, because they are how another shelter recognises the animal. A search does not look at them.                                    |
| Sex                                | **unknown**, **male** or **female**. Shown, but it does not count as an identifier.                                                           |

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.

<Warning>
  Email, phone and microchip numbers are kept only in scrambled form, so a mistyped one produces a flag that exists but that no search will ever find, and nothing tells you. Fill the fields from the record rather than typing them from memory.
</Warning>

A street address alone cannot be searched, so a flag whose only identifier is an address is refused.

### Visibility

| Visibility | What it means                                             |
| ---------- | --------------------------------------------------------- |
| network    | Shared with other rescues once the flag is active.        |
| private    | Never shown outside your own rescue, whatever its status. |

## Opening a flag

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

| Tab          | What it shows                                                                                                                                                                             |
| ------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Details**  | **Subject**, **Severity**, **Visibility**, **Submitted**, **Corroborations** and **Disputes**, then the **Narrative**. On your own flag, a line says it is your shelter's own submission. |
| **Reviews**  | Every review, with its vote, notes and date. Reviews do not name the rescue that wrote them.                                                                                              |
| **Activity** | What has happened to the flag and when.                                                                                                                                                   |

### 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.

## 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**.