This page summarizes LaneHelp's main site policies. Separate policy pages may provide additional detail.
LaneHelp is a civic information platform and public-benefit technology service operated by LaneHelp LLC.
- Terms of Service: Rules for using LaneHelp, disclaimers, limits of liability, account rules, acceptable use, third-party data limitations, automated systems, arbitration, and legal terms.
- Privacy Policy: How LaneHelp collects, uses, shares, stores, and protects information.
- Community Content and Moderation Policy: Rules for submissions, corrections, reports, provider updates, organization updates, public content, and moderation.
- Waterfowl Neutrality Statement: A very serious statement for unserious pond-related misunderstandings.
LaneHelp is not 911, a crisis line, a shelter operator, a transit authority, a government office, a law firm, a medical provider, or a case manager.
If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 911 or your local emergency service.
LaneHelp information can be incomplete, delayed, stale, or wrong. If information affects safety, shelter, transportation, health, legal rights, money, employment, benefits, or access to services, confirm it directly with the original provider, agency, carrier, employer, venue, court, or source before acting.
LaneHelp SMS resource replies are operated by LaneHelp LLC at (541) 991-5263 for user-initiated LaneHelp/Paddle resource replies only. Paddle is LaneHelp's assistant, and replies may begin with "🦆 Paddle:". The public SMS program page is https://lanehelp.com/sms.
Users opt in by texting (541) 991-5263 with a local resource search request, such as food, shelter, bus, rent help, detox, alerts, or a resource name. LaneHelp replies only to user-initiated requests and does not send marketing, promotional texts, third-party advertising, purchased-list messages, or bulk outreach through this number. One-time sign-up, sign-in, or account verification PIN messages are separate account authentication messages sent only when a user enters their phone number on a LaneHelp sign-in or sign-up page and requests a code.
Message frequency varies based on user requests and local conditions. Message and data rates may apply. Reply HELP for help or STOP to opt out. See https://lanehelp.com/privacy and https://lanehelp.com/policies.
Questions, correction requests, takedown requests, privacy requests, or legal notices may be sent to:
LaneHelp LLC Email: admin@lanehelp.com
This Community Content and Moderation Policy explains how LaneHelp handles user-submitted, provider-submitted, organization-submitted, and community-submitted content.
LaneHelp exists to make public-service information easier to find and use. That only works if submissions are useful, accurate enough to responsibly handle, respectful of safety and privacy, and not turned into a chaos machine by bored humans with keyboards.
LaneHelp may allow users, providers, organizations, agencies, staff, representatives, volunteers, contributors, or community members to submit, suggest, claim, correct, report, update, or publish content. This may include:
- new resource listings;
- updates to existing listings;
- shelter, bed, capacity, service-status, or access updates;
- event submissions;
- job submissions;
- corrections;
- issue reports;
- source links;
- public notes;
- community notes;
- organization details;
- provider details;
- profile information;
- photos, screenshots, or attachments;
- claims of ownership or representation;
- comments or messages;
- feedback;
- moderation reports;
- other content submitted through LaneHelp features.
This policy calls all of that Community Content.
This policy applies alongside LaneHelp's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. If this policy conflicts with the Terms, the Terms control.
Community Content should help improve public-service information. It should help people understand where services are, what they offer, how to access them, what changed, what source supports the update, or what needs review.
LaneHelp is not a review site, gossip board, complaint wall, revenge tool, debate forum, social network, provider-shaming feed, or place to punish staff, clients, agencies, organizations, or community members.
Resource updates should improve information quality, not create drama with a source link attached like a tiny legal fig leaf.
LaneHelp is not obligated to publish, display, preserve, respond to, investigate, verify, or act on Community Content.
LaneHelp may review, approve, reject, edit, restrict, suppress, hide, remove, preserve, summarize, reformat, label, or decline Community Content at any time for any reason, including:
- accuracy;
- safety;
- source quality;
- privacy;
- provider safety;
- community safety;
- legal risk;
- abuse prevention;
- duplicate prevention;
- data quality;
- moderation workload;
- public-service usefulness;
- operational needs;
- because the content is not useful in the public-service context.
Public safety, accuracy, source quality, provider safety, community harm reduction, and operational integrity matter more than speed.
If you submit Community Content, you represent that:
- you have the right to submit it;
- it is accurate to the best of your knowledge;
- it is not intentionally misleading;
- it does not violate anyone else's rights;
- it does not contain confidential or sensitive information you are not allowed to share;
- it does not impersonate another person, provider, organization, agency, staff member, or representative;
- it complies with LaneHelp's Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, and this policy.
If information is uncertain, say so. Do not present guesses, rumors, assumptions, or secondhand claims as confirmed facts.
LaneHelp may take moderation and enforcement actions at any time, with or without notice.
LaneHelp may:
- review submissions before or after publication;
- approve, reject, edit, summarize, reformat, annotate, restrict, or remove content;
- limit visibility of content;
- convert public submissions into internal notes;
- remove identifying details;
- preserve content for moderation, safety, legal, or audit purposes;
- suspend, ban, restrict, or rate-limit users;
- restrict accounts, organizations, provider claims, email addresses, domains, devices, or IP ranges;
- block or throttle submissions;
- disable features;
- remove badges, scores, roles, claims, or permissions;
- maintain internal logs and audit trails for abuse prevention, safety, source integrity, security, and moderation.
LaneHelp may take action based on content, behavior, risk, patterns, technical signals, source quality, abuse reports, or operational judgment.
You may not submit Community Content that includes or promotes:
- harassment, threats, intimidation, stalking, or targeted abuse;
- hate speech, slurs, dehumanizing content, or discrimination;
- doxxing or personal information about private individuals, including private addresses, private phone numbers, workplaces, schedules, identifying details, or location information;
- unverified allegations about individuals;
- revenge reviews, smear campaigns, personal grudges, or targeted accusations disguised as updates;
- instructions or encouragement for wrongdoing, fraud, violence, evasion, exploitation, or unlawful conduct;
- spam, scams, phishing, impersonation, fraud, fake claims, fake providers, fake resources, or manipulation attempts;
- malware, exploit links, credential-harvesting links, or attempts to compromise systems;
- sexual content involving minors;
- sexual exploitation, non-consensual intimate content, or abusive sexual content;
- confidential records, medical records, protected health information, legal case files, passwords, payment details, Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers, private home addresses, immigration documents, or other sensitive data you are not authorized to share;
- content that is false, misleading, defamatory, invasive of privacy, or likely to create harm;
- content that infringes copyrights, trademarks, privacy rights, publicity rights, or other rights;
- content meant to poison data, manipulate rankings, trigger false alerts, abuse workflows, or degrade LaneHelp quality.
Because LaneHelp lists real services, organizations, staff, public-facing access paths, and sometimes sensitive service contexts, additional rules apply.
Do not:
- submit revenge reviews, personal attacks, threats, or accusations as resource updates;
- post unverified allegations about staff, clients, residents, patients, participants, providers, agencies, or private individuals;
- identify vulnerable people without authorization;
- expose private shelter locations, private staff contact details, confidential intake paths, or sensitive operational details unless the provider or source has made them public for that purpose;
- submit information that could create undue risk for vulnerable people, service providers, outreach workers, clients, residents, patients, or community members;
- use LaneHelp to pressure, shame, punish, or threaten a provider, organization, staff member, agency, client, or private person.
If you report a safety concern, stick to verifiable facts:
- what happened;
- when it happened;
- where it happened;
- what source supports it;
- whether it is firsthand, secondhand, public-record, provider-confirmed, or uncertain.
LaneHelp may refuse or remove Community Content that creates undue risk, lacks adequate source support, is not useful to publish, or would be more appropriate as an internal moderation note.
Helpful submissions usually include a source. A source may include:
- a provider website;
- a public agency page;
- a direct provider confirmation;
- a public notice;
- a screenshot;
- a flyer;
- a social post from the provider or agency;
- a phone confirmation;
- a dated observation;
- another reliable source.
LaneHelp may reject or limit content that cannot be verified enough to responsibly publish.
If information is uncertain, say so. Examples:
- I called on Monday and was told this may change.
- This was posted on their door on May 3.
- I could not confirm whether this applies every day.
- This appears outdated, but I do not have a replacement source.
Do not turn uncertainty into certainty. The public-service internet has enough cursed confidence already.
If you submit updates on behalf of a provider or organization, you must be authorized to do so.
Provider and organization updates should be clear, specific, and operationally useful. For example:
- hours changes;
- temporary closures;
- intake changes;
- capacity changes;
- eligibility updates;
- service interruptions;
- weather response;
- urgent access changes;
- public contact changes;
- referral guidance;
- supply needs;
- program changes.
LaneHelp may review, edit, reject, limit, expire, resolve, relabel, or remove provider and organization updates. LaneHelp may also preserve prior versions, moderation notes, audit logs, or source records.
Claimed profiles and provider tools do not give anyone the right to remove accurate public-interest information or dictate LaneHelp's editorial, safety, or moderation decisions.
Community Content may be:
- displayed publicly;
- associated with your account, profile, provider, organization, role, badge, or contribution history;
- summarized or reformatted;
- routed to moderation queues;
- shown to providers, organizations, agencies, or affected parties;
- used in public pages, feeds, quick sheets, print views, maps, search results, stats, or profile systems;
- preserved in logs, backups, audit trails, moderation records, or internal tools.
Do not submit content through public or semi-public features unless you understand that it may be visible, reviewed, logged, attributed, summarized, or preserved depending on the feature.
Do not submit:
- medical records;
- protected health information;
- substance-use treatment records;
- therapy notes;
- Social Security numbers;
- driver's license numbers;
- payment card information;
- passwords;
- private home addresses;
- private phone numbers;
- immigration documents;
- legal case files;
- private information about children;
- confidential provider, client, patient, resident, or case information;
- any sensitive information you are not authorized to share.
If sensitive information is submitted, LaneHelp may redact, delete, restrict, preserve, or use it as reasonably necessary for moderation, safety, legal compliance, abuse prevention, security, dispute resolution, or operational integrity.
Do not use LaneHelp submissions, accounts, public profiles, provider tools, reports, correction forms, feeds, or organization workflows to:
- spam;
- create duplicate noise;
- manipulate search, ranking, scores, badges, labels, trust signals, or visibility;
- poison data quality;
- mass-submit low-quality content;
- create fake resources, fake claims, fake events, fake jobs, or fake updates;
- bury accurate information;
- overload moderation;
- test system limits;
- scrape, harvest, or bulk-export data;
- degrade or disrupt the Service.
LaneHelp may rate-limit, block, remove, or investigate these activities.
To report inaccurate, harmful, privacy-sensitive, unsafe, unlawful, or abusive content, email:
admin@lanehelp.com
Include:
- the link or page;
- a plain description of what is wrong;
- a screenshot if useful;
- the source or evidence if available;
- whether the issue is urgent, safety-related, privacy-related, or accuracy-related.
LaneHelp may not be able to respond to every report individually. LaneHelp may take action, decline action, preserve content, request more information, contact relevant parties, or treat the report as an internal moderation note.
If you repeatedly submit false updates, spam, abuse, sensitive data, misleading claims, impersonation attempts, low-quality content, or content that violates this policy, LaneHelp may restrict your ability to submit content or access the Service.
LaneHelp may also block accounts, organizations, provider claims, IP ranges, domains, devices, or other technical signals associated with misuse.
LaneHelp is not required to provide an appeal process for moderation decisions unless required by law or a specific feature notice.
You may request reconsideration by emailing admin@lanehelp.com, but LaneHelp may decline to respond, decline to change a decision, or preserve the decision for safety, legal, quality, abuse-prevention, operational, or public-service reasons.
LaneHelp may update this Community Content and Moderation Policy from time to time. If LaneHelp does, it will update the effective date or last updated date.
Questions, reports, correction requests, takedown requests, or moderation concerns may be sent to:
LaneHelp LLC Email: admin@lanehelp.com