Ask, and it comes off

How to ask

Write to me. One line is enough. Tell me the business name, the town, and whether you want it fixed or gone. The link to the listing helps, but you do not need it. The button below opens your email app with the questions already typed out. Just fill in the blanks and press send.

Nothing happened when you pressed that? Your device may not have an email app set up. Write to hello@kootenaylist.ca directly instead, and mention the business name and the town.

What happens next

• I am Brett, and I read every email myself, here in Castlegar. None of it is automated.
• I make every removal and correction by hand, and I do it quickly.
• Taken down means gone. I take the listing off the site and delete its page. I do not just hide it.
• I keep a note that you asked. That way your listing does not come back the next time I go through the public sources.
• I reply to let you know it is done. I use your email for that and nothing else. I have no mailing list to add you to.

Corrections work the same way

Send one email for any mistake. That could be a wrong phone number, category, or town. It could be a business that closed two years ago. It could be a name spelled the way the town's licence list has it, instead of the way you spell it. I fix those the same way, just as quickly. You do not have to claim the listing first. Fixing it is free, like everything on the List.

If the business is just you

Plenty of businesses here are named after the person who runs them. When one person works alone, the business address is often their kitchen table. So for a business named after a person, I do not publish a home address or home phone number. The only exception is when the business publishes it on its own website. Until the owner claims the listing, it shows only the name, the town, the trade and the business's own link, plus any phone number or address the business publishes on its own site.

If something personal slipped through anyway, tell me. I will fix it before anything else. You do not have to prove the business is yours. There is more about how I handle personal details on the privacy page.

Why you were listed at all

Not because you signed up. I put the List together from what this region already makes public. That means businesses' own websites, chamber and tourism directories, and public trade and professional directories. It also means the business licence lists the towns publish, and the free map at OpenStreetMap. Every listing names its source, unless the owner sent it in. You can see every source on the sources page. Being in a public source is not the same as wanting to be in a directory. If you would rather not be here, just ask.