We are committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy outlines our approach to collecting and handling your personal information. This policy applies exclusively to our website.

Please review this page regularly, as our practices may change to reflect new features or legal requirements. If you have any questions or concerns, please refer to the Contact Information section at the top of this page to reach our support team.

Information Collection and Retention

User Registration and Profiles

We collect personal information when you register on our website or subscribe to our mailing list. Your data is stored in your user profile; you may view, edit, or delete your personal information at any time (with the exception of your username). Website administrators also have access to view and manage this information.

Comments and Spam Prevention

When you leave a comment, we collect the data shown in the comments form, along with your IP address and browser user agent string to assist in spam detection. Comments and their associated metadata are retained indefinitely to facilitate the automatic approval of follow-up contributions.

Media Uploads

If you upload images to the website, we recommend avoiding files with embedded location data (EXIF GPS). Visitors to the site may be able to download and extract location data from images hosted publicly.

Password Resets

If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email for security and verification purposes.

Cookie Usage

Authentication Cookies

When you visit our login page, a temporary cookie is set to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser. Upon logging in, several cookies are established to save your login credentials and screen preferences. If you select "Remember Me," your login will typically persist for two weeks.

Logout Procedures

When you log out of your account, all active login cookies are removed for your protection.

Data Sharing and Third-Party Services

Service Providers

Your information may be shared with trusted business partners to provide the services you request, such as email delivery through platforms like MailChimp or Constant Contact. Additionally, user content may be processed through automated spam detection or editing services.

Gravatar Integration

An anonymized string (hash) created from your email address may be provided to the Gravatar service to check for an associated profile picture. Once a comment is approved, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment. You can review the Gravatar Privacy Policy here.

Embedded Content

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g., videos, images). Embedded content from other websites behaves exactly as if the visitor has visited the other website directly. These sites may collect data about you, use cookies, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content.

California Privacy Rights

As a California resident, you have the following rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA):

Right to Know

You may request details regarding the specific categories and pieces of personal information we have collected about you.

Right to Delete

You may request the deletion of your personal information, subject to certain legal exceptions.

Right to Opt-Out

You have the right to opt out of the sale of your personal information, should such a sale occur.

Right to Non-Discrimination

We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your privacy rights.