Living-Subjects Policy

Last updated: July 6, 2026

Research Bounties exists to recover the histories of artists the record forgot — not to investigate living people. Paid research into a living person is a privacy and safety hazard (stalking, harassment, doxxing), and we enforce this policy strictly and conservatively: when in doubt, we block or hold for review.

The rule

Research requests are only accepted for artists who are:

• documented deceased (a death year you can point to), or
• born more than 100 years ago, or
• last known active more than 100 years ago.

Anything else is held out of public view pending moderator review, and requests judged to concern a living or possibly-living person are rejected.

Enforcement

• Automated screening runs at page creation; ambiguous cases go to moderators.
• Every artist page carries a "this person may be living" report option. A report with supporting evidence hides the page immediately pending review.
• Comments or research that publish private personal information — addresses, contact details, workplace details — of anyprivate person (including an artist's living descendants) are removed, and repeat offenders are banned.

Appeals

If your request was blocked and you believe the artist is deceased or historical, use the appeal option on the block notice and include your evidence (obituary, death registry, cemetery record, catalogue raisonné entry). Moderators typically respond within 48 hours.