You’ve submitted a report. It doesn’t show up on the project page yet, here’s exactly why, and what happens next.
Why isn’t it live immediately? Every report is reviewed by a moderator before publishing. This isn’t distrust of you specifically, it’s the mechanism that keeps GLOW’s data trustworthy for everyone, the same reason a newsroom has an editor and a court has a judge. Unverified claims and verified ones need to be kept clearly separate.
What does a moderator actually check? A few things: does the evidence plausibly match the project it claims to be about? Is the description specific and coherent, rather than vague or clearly fabricated? Does the automated screening (covered in “Can You Fake a Report on GLOW?”) flag anything worth a closer look, like a location far from the project, or a photo missing the metadata a genuine camera photo would normally have?
How long does review take? It depends on moderator availability, GLOW is currently run by a small team, so it may take a little while rather than being instant. This isn’t a sign your report was ignored; it’s in the queue.
What if my report gets rejected? It usually means something needs fixing, not that you did something wrong, maybe the evidence didn’t clearly match the project, or a required detail was missing. Your effort isn’t wasted; if you have better evidence or details, you’re welcome to submit an update once your cooldown period allows it.
What happens once it’s approved? Your report goes live on the project’s page immediately, counts toward that project’s average rating and current status, and rolls up into the sponsor’s public leaderboard score.
Every step here exists for the same reason: so that when someone looks at a published GLOW report, they can trust it without having to independently re-verify it themselves.
Next up: Rating a Project Fairly.