Privacy Statement
Information I collect
When you register for an account on this website, you are required to enter your email address, and to confirm via email that it is a valid email address which you have access to. The reason I require this is so that I have a way to contact you with information or questions regarding this website in general, or your account in specific. You may also optionally enter your email address when you contact me via the contact form on this website, for the obvious reason that I will otherwise be unable to respond to your message. Using the contact form does not require an account.
Logs
All web servers automatically generate log files which record some information every time the server is accessed. These logs include information such as the page that was accessed and the ip address it was accessed from, as well as date and time and other diagnostic information. Since I own the server this website is hosted on, I have access to these files and may review them for the purpose of administering the site. These log files are not linked to your account or personal information.
Additionally, I use log files to keep track of certain events that happen in the code (particularly errors). These log files may be linked to your account, but will not contain your email address.
Cookies and tracking
This site uses cookies as part of a standard security protocol to prevent cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attacks. These cookies contain a random value, are only kept for the duration of your session, and do not personally identify you. In addition, if you select the “Remember me?” option when you log in, a cookie will be used to keep you logged in between sessions. I do not use any third-party tracking or analytics software on this site.
What I will (and won’t) do with your information
I process all user input with Akismet in order to filter out spam. This involves sending information to Akismet including but not necessarily limited to your username, email address, and ip address, as well as any content you enter. You can view Akismet’s privacy policy here.
Aside from with my spam filtering service as detailed above, I will never share your email address (including making it available to other users of this website), nor will I use it for purposes other than communicating with you about this website or your account, unless you have agreed to such use.Deleting your data
When you are logged in, a “Delete account” link will be displayed in the footer. Clicking this link will take you to a confirmation page where you can choose to optionally also delete all the comments you have left on the site.
If you don’t choose to delete your comments when you delete your account, they will remain on the site but will no longer have any of your user data attached to them. This means that your username will not be displayed with your comments, and you will no longer be able to delete or edit those comments even if you make another account with the same email address.
When you delete your account, your data will be completely deleted for real with the following caveats:
- If I have communicated with you via email, I will still have those emails.
- Your username (but not your email address) may be preserved in log files.
- I keep rolling backups of my server, so your data may remain in backup form for a limited amount of time.
- I will still have the email alerts for any comments you left, which contain your username and the comment itself. These will be used only for personal reference, which is to say, if you said anything nice I want to look at it sometimes. :)
In addition to this, I reserve the right to delete your account or comments myself at any time and for any reason, though I will usually make efforts to mediate problems before lowering the banhammer. Remember that this is my personal website, and I am its benevolent dictator for life. In other words, don't be a dick.