Tribes & chapters

Tribes are private communities of Rovers who share a region, a rig, or a way of travelling. Chapters are local cells inside a tribe. Joining is always free; creating one is part of Pro.

The structure

A tribe is the top-level group — "Texas Overlanders," "Vanlife Northwest," "Solo Hunters." A chapter is a regional cell inside a tribe — "Texas Overlanders / Austin." You join a tribe to participate; chapters are optional sub-groups for people who want a more local feed.

Finding a tribe

Visit the tribes directory to browse. Each storefront shows the mission, region, vetting style, and what's expected of members. You don't need an account to look around.

Applying to join

Tribes have three vetting styles. Which one a tribe uses determines what happens when you hit Apply.

  • Open — you're approved instantly.
  • Screener — you answer a few questions written by the chief, and you're approved instantly. The chief can read your answers later.
  • Manual — you write a short application message; the chief reviews it and approves or rejects you. You'll get an email either way.

Once approved, you have access to that tribe's notice board, member roster, events, and any chapters it contains.

The notice board

Every tribe (and every chapter) has its own notice board for members. Posts are time-bounded — they auto-expire and disappear, with a maximum of 90 days. Five kinds of post:

  • Announcement — chief or member updates.
  • Trail report — recent conditions, washouts, gates closed.
  • Gear — recommendations, sales, asks.
  • Safety — bears, fires, road hazards.
  • Event — gatherings, group runs, meetups (with RSVP — see below).

Posting

  1. From your tribe (or chapter) page, tap New post.
  2. Pick a kind, write a title and body, optionally drop a pin on the map.
  3. Add up to 3 photos (auto-resized to keep things light).
  4. Pick how long it should stay up (1 day to 90 days).
  5. Post.

Comments

Other members can comment on any notice. Comments are flat (no replies-to-replies for now). Authors can delete their own comments; chiefs can delete anyone's.

Pinning

Chiefs can pin a notice to the top of the board. Useful for ground rules, recurring events, or important safety info.

Events with RSVP

An event notice has a date, optional location, and an optional attendee cap. Members can RSVP going, maybe, or can't make it. The notice page shows who's coming.

Your own RSVPs across all your tribes show up on My Events.

Notices on the map

If a notice has a pin, it can show up on the main map. There's a toggle in the side panel under Community → Show tribe notices on map. It's off by default — flip it on to see member-only pins for any tribe you've joined. Public tribes also drop a chapter centroid pin on the map at zoom 6+ so people can find them.

Reporting bad content

If a notice or comment breaks the rules, tap the report icon. Reports go to the chief (and chapter mods, if applicable). You can pick from spam, off-topic, safety, harassment, breaks tribe rules, or other, plus an optional 500-character note.

The chief reviews reports and either resolves them (took action) or dismisses them. Reports older than 7 days that haven't been touched get auto-escalated and emailed to the chief once a day. You'll also get a notification of any action taken on your report.

Why this matters. ZoRove's community works because moderation is local — your tribe's chief, not us, decides what flies in your tribe. Reports give every member a way to flag without being a snitch in the open.

Creating your own tribe Pro

Creating a tribe requires a Pro subscription. Once you're Pro:

  1. Visit /tribes/new from the directory.
  2. Pick a slug, name, mission, and region. You can add chapters later.
  3. Choose a vetting style (open, screener, manual). You can change this later.
  4. Save. You're now the founder + chief.

Roles inside a tribe

  • Member — default role. Read everything, post, comment, RSVP, report.
  • Moderator — chapter-level only. Can resolve reports for chapter-scoped content.
  • Chief — runs the tribe. Can approve applicants, ban members, edit/pin/delete any post, resolve reports.
  • Founder — same powers as chief, plus can transfer ownership of the tribe.

If you want to step away from running a tribe, transfer founder to another chief from the manage page. The transfer hands the role over cleanly — you become a chief again, the new founder takes the keys.

Weekly digest

If you're a chief or founder, you'll get an email every Monday with a 7-day rollup of your tribe — new members, pending applications, new notices, and the open reports queue. Quiet weeks don't trigger an email.

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