What information do we collect?

We collect information from you when you register on our site and gather data when you participate in the forum by reading, writing, and evaluating the content shared here.

When registering on our site, you may be asked to enter your name and e-mail address. You may, however, visit our site without registering. Your e-mail address will be verified by an email containing a unique link. If that link is visited, we know that you control the e-mail address.

When registered and posting, we record the IP address that the post originated from. We also may retain server logs which include the IP address of every request to our server.

Analytical data is collected through the open-source project Matomo. This service does not use cookies or personal information such as full IP addresses. This analytical data is only used to gain insight into the behavior of our visitors so that we can improve our website. If you do not wish to participate in the GDPR/AVG compliant data collection, please activate the Do Not Track option in your browser. When this option is enabled in your browser, Matomo will not be active on this website.

You may download your account activity to learn more about what information we collected about you.

What do we use your information for?

Any of the information we collect from you may be used in one of the following ways:

  • To personalize your experience — your information helps us to better respond to your individual needs.
  • To improve our site — we continually strive to improve our site offerings based on the information and feedback we receive from you.
  • To improve customer service — your information helps us to more effectively respond to your customer service requests and support needs.
  • To send periodic emails — the email address you provide may be used to send you information, notifications that you request about changes to topics or in response to your user name, respond to inquiries, and/or other requests or questions.
  • To cross post topics on social-media — when we automatically cross post topics on Facebook, Twitter and Mastodon, your username on the forum is used to give you credit. Along your username we also post the title of your post and a link to the forum topic.
  • To safeguard against power abuse — actions done by users with administrative rights are recorded.

How do we protect your information?

We implement a variety of security measures to maintain the safety of your personal information when you enter, submit, or access your personal information.

What is your data retention policy?

We will make a good faith effort to:

  • Retain server logs containing the IP address of all requests to this server no more than 90 days.
  • Retain the IP addresses associated with registered users and their posts no more than 5 years.

Do we use cookies?

Yes, we use cookies. Cookies are small files that a site or its service provider transfers to your computer’s hard drive through your Web browser (if you allow). These cookies enable the site to recognize your browser and, if you have a registered account, associate it with your registered account.

We use cookies to understand and save your preferences for future visits and compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interaction so that we can offer better site experiences and tools in the future. These type of cookies are called functional cookies, we don’t use tracking/ statistical/analytical/marketing cookies.

Do we disclose any information to outside parties?

We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your personally identifiable information. This does not include trusted third parties who assist us in operating our site, conducting our business, or servicing you, so long as those parties agree to keep this information confidential. We may also release your information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect ours or others rights, property, or safety.

Third party links

Occasionally, at our discretion, we may include or offer third party products or services on our site. These third party sites have separate and independent privacy policies. We therefore have no responsibility or liability for the content and activities of these linked sites. Nonetheless, we seek to protect the integrity of our site and welcome any feedback about these sites.

Online privacy policy only

This online privacy policy applies only to information collected through our site and not to information collected offline.

Your right to be forgotten

Deleting your own account is possible, but there are limitations to this as a self-service. You are able to remove your own account (your email, (user)name, date of birth and avatar) if haven’t posted more than once and that post is not older than 60 days. After that period, please contact us in case you want to have your account and posts removed, or if you want to use your right to be forgotten. We will comply with this request within 30 days.

In case you want to be forgotten, we will anonymize your account and posts, which would preserve the content you posted on the forum, but not the personal information in your account (your email, (user)name, date of birth and avatar). The anonymization option allows thread conversations to remain consistent without gaps, but personal information from your account is removed. Complete deletion of also your posts is possible at request.

Your consent

By using our site, you consent to our web site privacy policy.

Changes to our privacy policy

If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes on this page.

This document is CC-BY-SA. It was last updated June 12, 2023.