Note:

This is standard privacy policy language for author websites. But my personal addition is that I will never use your information for anything other than chatting with you, replying to your comments, and if you subscribe to my newsletter, sending you emails. THAT’S IT. I would never sell your information, and honestly, I don’t even know how to find your info that might be saved here. (Probably not super reassuring, but I’m a busy author, not a code aficionado.) So rest assured you’re safe here.

Who I am

My website address is: https://www.melaniehoo.com.

What personal data is collected and why

When visitors leave comments on the site, the data shown in the comments form is collected, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Contact forms/cookies

If you leave a comment on this site, you may opt-in to saving your name, email address, and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you don’t have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

If you have an account and you log in to this site, a temporary cookie will be set up to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, several cookies will be set up to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracing your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Analytics: Who your data is shared with & how long it’s retained

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so any follow-up comments can be can recognized and approved automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users that register on this website, the personal information they provide is stored in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

What rights you have over your data

If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided. You can also request that any personal data held about you be erased. This does not include any data I’m obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

Where we send your data

Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.