This major platform shift has taken months to organize and even longer to execute. I ask that you remain patient with the current case statuses as they are currently set (several are outdated) and hold off on posting comments on these cases until after the migration has been completed (expected around September 18, 2023).

This migration should not affect account holders. However, if you feel your account has been negatively affected, you will be able to submit a support ticket on our new platform.

Unfortunately, some information cannot be transferred. Your bookmarks may be reset; for this reason, please make note of those cases you are following so that you are able to add them to your “collections” once the migration is complete.

Missing NPF has always created and maintained each post that you see on our platform. Once the migration is complete, our membership will be able to add posts, create collections, and discuss cases in user-generated groups. You will be able to add locational data to supplement case files and perform several other activities that our current platform does not support. Perfecting this will take time, and I am hopeful that you will remain patient with us as we work through issues.

As a subscriber, you will access to a public support portal where you can see public-facing issues and our responses. The question has been raised several times through our private support portal in recent months, so I will address it here and offer a public response:

Government entities and/or law enforcement officials will need to subscribe to “claim” their listings but will not have the power to delete or otherwise alter any case files available on our website. If you are a government employee or law enforcement official that is interested in “claiming” an entity listing on our website, your email address will be vetted, and we will conduct a thorough review of your information prior to granting access to that listing.

I am a one-man band and remain dedicated to the mission of Missing NPF – supporting the search and information transparency for those who have become lost on federally managed land. We hope you enjoy the new Missing NPF, even though this transition has taken longer than anticipated.

-joss

We have officially started exporting and importing all of our content for migration to our new platform. In this new platform, you will be able to accomplish the following:

Follow. You will be able to “follow” instead of simply “bookmarking” the profiles available in each category of our database. This means when there is an update to a case, you will receive both an in-site notification and an email notification notifying you of that update. A link will be provided in your email notification directing you back to the profile/entity that notification is about.

Post to Site. We are making public input easier in Missing NPF V3. Now, you will be able to post to certain categories of data and that information will be visible through a “feed” that is publicly accessible. Almost like a “forum” (where commenting is the primary feature of communicating information), this will allow you to inform the public of the information you know and be able to categorize how you received that information and/or whether any external sites/entities can be helpful in learning more about the information you post.

Better Maps. For some time now, we discontinued our mapping feature, which was a very popular element of our site. We had the capability of only associating ONE location per “listing” or “profile,” until now. Now, you will be able to enter map details (coordinates or general locations) in the updates you would like to post to various profiles/entities. This allows you to exchange information with the public that is able to be mapped on our global search. For instance, if you hiked a certain part of Grand Canyon National Park – around the area where a person was last known to hike before going missing – you will be able to link your coordinates with that person’s profile to inform the public where and when you were hiking a certain area of the park. Keep in mind: officials from various state and federal agencies have profiles on Missing NPF, and it may be possible that the information you provide will help authorities fine-tune their search, even if that case is in “limited” status or “cold.”

Many other features will be added, but that information will be released once we are able to migrate all the data in our records and display that data in new ways soon.

The New Link System

One of the drawbacks to this migration is the way the data is organized. This is more a “pro” than a “con” in terms of how the site will work and how you can find information, but if you have profiles or entities saved (or bookmarked), those links may no longer be operational. Right now, all information is linked as a “listing” (if you’re familiar with permalinks, then this will make some sense to you: missingnpf.com/listing/____ is how information is currently organized). Once the migration is complete and V3 is LIVE, that will change to something like: missingnpf.com/people/_____ or missingnpf.com/places____. If you have listings that you are currently following or have “bookmarked,” it is advisable that you keep that information handy outside of MissingNPF.com so that you are able to simply search for those profiles once the new site is LIVE.

We are very excited about V3, and it has been a long time coming! We are hopeful that you find just as much (if not more) value in the ways in which we will be able to use the data we currently have and help us continue to grow Missing NPF as you have been for the past 2 1/2 years!

All the best to you!

Joss.

A big update is coming to Missing NPF and in order for us to make sure all data is migrated successfully, we are temporarily suspending new user registrations on our website. We are thankful to have over 600 users of Missing NPF, and we hope our update will bring many more. Features, such as Newsfeeds, the ability to follow profiles and so much more are on the horizon, and we appreciate your patience while we ready the site for this major overhaul. Everything will look different, and some components of our website will behave differently, but the user experience will be enhanced, and we are hopeful you welcome the change with open arms and that you continue ‘seeking’!

Thank you, again, for your support of Missing NPF, and I hope to bring you another update very soon!

-Joss

• New header section with increased visibility of the 3 most recently updated cases.
• We have eliminated the Facebook banner section
• We have excluded a form that was initially on the homepage asking for feedback. Users are now encouraged to use the Support page for these inquiries.

In alignment with our promise to keep Missing NPF optimized and consistent across all platforms, we have released an aesthetic update to our Welcome, About Us, and several other pages. According to our statistics, 66.4% of our visitors use mobile devices to access Missing NPF content, and 72.9% arrive at Missing NPF organically, necessitating a change in our homepage messaging. Some content has been updated to reflect our position with regard to the data we share from other sources, the frequency of our case updates, and our commitment to ethical and responsible reporting. As a supplement to the information previously indicated in our ‘Welcome’ page, we have included a clarifying identity statement:

Missing NPF is America’s first and most comprehensive missing persons database focused on centralizing information of those who have gone missing on federally managed land in the United States of America. Missing NPF launched in 2020 with the goal of cross-connecting case information from various websites and organizations into one, user friendly environment that – we believe – should have already been designed, developed, and maintained by the United States Government. Missing NPF does not create case file content, nor does it engage in subjective analysis of facts as presented by the investigative entity from which that data was retrieved. Missing NPF is not a federal agency or law enforcement entity; Missing NPF is not a search-and-rescue operation/agency. Missing NPF does not ‘blog’ (in the formal sense of the word), nor does it publish opinion pieces within any element of a listed case file (with the exception of ‘bulletin’ statements which provide clarification that we consider integral to the responsible consumption of information contained within the case file description). Missing NPF is an informational website that collects data from the public domain and centralizes that data in organized fashion.

The focus on those who have gone missing on federally managed land, and our ability to cross-connect valuable elements of data to each case file meets this statement with truth; in no way does this statement serve to devalue or otherwise de-emphasize the work of content creators on various platforms and the professional journalists who acquire vital information for dissemination. In fact, we recognize their efforts and have included the following in support:

The information posted inside case files comes from public reporting, and appropriate credit is given to the source (by name and linked URL) in a dedicated section of each case file.

In response to the growing numbers of websites and publishers who have used (and are currently using) the information we share, we have included clarifying remarks:

At any point in time, data available on Missing NPF should be considered incomplete. Missing NPF not only actively updates case files every day based on public reporting but also has a backlog of missing person cases that have yet to be added to the database; when the information available is simply not clear enough to determine whether the case file meets listing criteria, or the reporting organization has not released critical information needed for listing, we may refrain from listing the person until clarification can be obtained. We work hard to assess and release case files as quickly as practical, staying careful to provide the most accurate data available ethically and responsibly. If you plan on citing Missing NPF in your article or report, please note the above information and notate accordingly.

Missing NPF continues to build upon its current framework from a project management perspective using the insight of our users and guests who submit their recommendations. We have integrated a support tool to handle these incoming requests and to ensure that two-way communication is achieved. Please visit our Support page to view this tool.

As the Founder of Missing NPF, I am deeply humbled by the support we continue to receive from our growing userbase and look forward to releasing more features in the very near future. Thank you! -Joss

Missing NPF has connected the Subreddit r/MissingNPF to the database case file updater. This means anytime someone is added to the database, our Subreddit will be automatically updated with the person’s name and case status simultaneously.

This comes as Missing NPF releases V2 – featuring Twitter and Facebook integrations, News updates via email at the touch of the subscription button, and more sort/filter options in the Explore tab.

How do Subscriptions work?

Simply tell us your name and your email address, select which ‘list’ you want to be subscribed to (News Updates and/or Database Case File updates), confirm your subscription, and the relevant postings will be delivered to you via email!

More to come, thanks for seeking!

Hey everyone, what a month! In addition to the updates we informed you about in previous posts, a few other features have been added, modified/enhanced:

A new ‘entity’ search has been added to our Explore page, just in case you’d like to know which entity is running and/or involved in the investigation. This explore option comes with a filter option to select a case file, and 3 ‘order by’ options: Latest, A-Z, Z-A.

The homepage has been restructured to display quick links to both the Database and the News sections. Included on this update: A new ‘Recently Modified Case Files’ listing (dynamically filterable by 4 main subsets of data – All, Found, Missing, Unidentified), and a new highlight section for Active Search Underway listings.

The news section now includes the complete site search, and a fully dynamic news filter, as indicated below.

Our new site search page has been reformatted.

We continue to add case files to our database on an almost daily basis; we will be launching a contact page which will make your reports to us more streamlined. We will be releasing information on this update soon.

Thank you for seeking, and for your continued support of Missing NPF!

For a while now, we’ve been restructuring the look and feel of Missing NPF. I’m not by any means a programmer or website design pro, but I had a vision of connecting data in meaningful ways, and I’m happy to report that we’ve been able to find and use low-cost tools that continue to help us achieve that goal!

While the database has been finalized – in terms of formatting – our ‘News’ section has been an element we could never quite connect. As some would know, structuring a many-to-many relationship when using more than one platform is a difficult task to do, especially when you’re not a developer and the project is personally-funded.

This week, we have finally been able to do what we’ve been wanting to for a while now – connect various elements of the website together while utilizing automation to enhance user experience and power site-wide growth.

From this point forward, case updates have a new home – the ‘News’ section, and those updates will systematically be connected to the case file in our database. A new ‘News Search’ has been added to the ‘News’ page, that will display results dynamically once a few letters have been typed as well. We’ve modified the single-post view, adding a link to the case file related to that posting, and a tag list that will make summarizing longer pieces easier. We’ve already included many ways to share our posts on various social platforms, and we’re looking into ways you can subscribe to text updates on newly listed postings, case reviews and case updates!

From social media creators and influencers, law enforcement entities, and you (seekers) I feel confident Missing NPF will soon celebrate its 1-year anniversary – alongside its 20,000 monthly visitors – an even more robust missing persons database.

Thank you for your interest and support, and I look forward to continuing on this journey with you!

As part of our commitment to provide as much meaningful information as possible, I will be adding a section to each case file that outlines which law enforcement entity has investigative authority for that case. Any entity which has involvement in an investigation will be linked to these case files.

This update will likely take several weeks to several months to complete, and will be completed manually on each new record that is added to the database. Contact information will be supplied for each entity.

Please leave your comment(s) below.

There have been quite a few changes on the Missing NPF platform, namely the release the following updates:

PHASE-OUT: Case “News” now in it’s own “Case Updates” category and listing

After much consideration, I have arrived at 99% certainty that I will be phasing the “News” section out in favor of the case information/description and update data connection system.

The vision I have for Missing NPF extends beyond posting connected news; while extremely important, and never would I devalue the work of bloggers and media professionals, I am more concerned with how best to connect elements of data within the story with relevant data outside the story. This being so, it’s only appropriate that our “News” section be used for general blog activity (camping gear, hiking news, etc.) than for case mentions and updates. The work of talented bloggers and disseminators of information external to Missing NPF will still be recognized in a more robust way once the data migration has been completed. I plan to address these plans in more detail as time goes on.

For now, I will keep the news we have up, which features approximately 30 stories, but will likely discontinue posting this type of content in this section of the website.

This is a decision which has not been made 100%. If you have a suggestion, I would love to hear it! Please reply to this post.

“CASE UPDATES” now inside Case File

Case updates still have their own tab on each person’s case details, but this connection has been extended to be included as links inside the overview section, below the initial case description.

We find that – if reading a long story and wanting to know if the case has been updated – it would be easier to navigate after reading the initial report than to navigate back up and search through the “Updates” tab.

Again, we will leave the “Updates” tab intact, as this tab will display the number of updates a certain case has had for quick reference when beginning to view a record.