Fox Hunting Outreach Strategy & Protocol
Parent Project: Fox Hunting: Community Policing
A short, repeatable script (opt-in help first):
- “Hey—quick heads up: we’ve received a report of regional mesh disruption and we’re doing a quick field investigation to identify the source and restore service. Are you running a Meshtastic node here?”
- “If yes: totally normal—lots of settings can accidentally cause issues. Want help checking your config and antenna? We can usually fix this in a few minutes.”
- “If no: all good—thanks for your time.”
If they are running a node but don’t want help
Keep it calm, factual, and non-threatening. Don’t argue on-site.
- “Understood. To help isolate the issue, would you be willing to power it down temporarily while we confirm whether it’s contributing to the disruption?”
- If they refuse: “Okay. We’ll document what we’re observing and continue troubleshooting from other locations. Thank you.”
Investigation + reporting context (how to explain why you’re asking)
Our purpose in contacting you is to restore regional communications and to complete an investigation record tied to a reported disruption.
Use this framing:
- “We’re investigating a reported network disruption for an FCC complaint.”
- “If this turns out to be an accidental configuration issue, we can usually fix it quickly and note the resolution in the report for the FCC.”
- “If you’d rather not troubleshoot with us, that’s your choice.”
Escalation (only for clear, intentional, harmful interference)
If you have credible evidence a transmitter is being operated in a way that is willfully causing harmful interference (beyond ordinary misconfiguration), then the appropriate response is:
- Document: times, locations, symptoms, screenshots/logs.
- Defer to local/event comms leads (if applicable) before involving outside authorities.
- Report through the proper channels rather than making threats in-person.
No accusations. No “you’re disrupting.” Default to: “We found symptoms; we’re helping fix.”