Are photos and messages checked before they appear?
Yes — everything is held back until it has been through a content check, and a host can also choose to review everything themselves.
Nothing is publicly visible the moment it is uploaded. Every photo and every guestbook message arrives in a held state and is only shown once it has been through a content check.
- Passes the check — it is published, unless the host has switched on Require approval, in which case it waits for them.
- Flagged — it is not published and it is put in front of the host or a moderator to decide.
- Blocked — it is removed and quarantined, and a permanent record of the decision is written. It is never shown to anybody.
The system is built to fail safe: if a check cannot be completed for any reason, the content stays held rather than being let through, and the check is tried again. Doubt always means more review, never less.
A photo is always checked before it is public
When a host or moderator publishes a photo the check held for them, or one it flagged, that human decision is recorded as its approval. A host cannot publish a photo the check has not looked at yet: approving it early is remembered, and the photo appears only once its check passes.