Privacy policy
Updated: 24 December 2019
We want you to understand how and why the the Forum ("we", "our" or "us") collects, uses, and shares information about you when you access and use our websites, mobile apps, widgets, and other online products and services (collectively, the "Services") or when you otherwise interact with us. This Privacy Policy applies to all of our Services, unless we provide different notices about our privacy practices.
Information You Provide to Us
We collect information you provide directly to us when you use our Services. Depending on which Service you use, we may collect different information about you. This includes:
Information Regarding Your Use of the Services
We collect the content and other information you provide when you use our Services. This includes information used to create your account (e.g., a username, password and an email address), account preferences, the content of private messages between you and other users, and the content of information you post to the Services (e.g., text, photos, videos, links).
Information We Collect Automatically
When you access or use our Services, we may also automatically collect information about you. This includes:
Log and Usage Data
We may log information when you access and use the Services. This may include your IP address, user-agent string, browser type, operating system, referral URLs, device information (e.g., device IDs), pages visited, links clicked, user interactions (e.g., voting data), the requested URL, hardware settings, and search terms.
Information Collected from Cookies
We may receive information from cookies, which are pieces of data your browser stores and sends back to us when making requests. We use this information to improve your experience, understand user activity, and improve the quality of our Services. For example, we store and retrieve information about your preferred language and other settings. For more information on how you can disable cookies, please see “Your Choices” below.
Social Sharing
We may offer social sharing features or other integrated tools that let you share content or actions you take on our Services with other media. Your use of these features enables the sharing of certain information with your friends or the public, depending on the settings you establish with the third party that provides the social sharing feature. For more information about the purpose and scope of data collection and processing in connection with social sharing features, please visit the privacy policies of the third parties that provide these social sharing features (e.g., Tumblr, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter).
How We Use Information About You
We use information about you to:
- Provide, maintain, and improve the Services;
- Help protect the safety of our Service and our users, which includes blocking suspected spammers, addressing abuse, and enforcing our user agreement and our content policy;
- Send you technical notices, updates, security alerts, invoices and other support and administrative messages;
- Provide customer service;
- Communicate with you about products, services, offers, promotions, and events, and provide other news and information we think will be of interest to you (for information about how to opt out of these communications, see “Your Choices” below);
- Monitor and analyze trends, usage, and activities in connection with our Services; and
- Personalize the Services and provide advertisements, content and features that match user profiles or interests.
How We Share Information
When you use the Services, certain information may be shared with other users and the public. For example:
- When you submit a post or comment to the Services, visitors to and users of our Services will be able to see the content of your posts and comments, the username associated with your posts or comments, and the date and time you originally submitted the post or comment.
- When you send private messages, the recipients of those messages will be able to see the content of your message, your username, and the date and time the message was sent.
- When other users view your profile, they will be able to see information about your activities on the Services, such as your username, prior posts and comments, and how long you have been a member of the Services.
We will not share, sell, or give away any of our users’ personal information to third parties, unless one of the following circumstances applies:
- We may share information (and will attempt to provide you with prior notice, to the extent legally permissible) in response to a request for information if we believe disclosure is in accordance with, or required by, any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request;
- We may share information in response to an emergency if we believe it's necessary to prevent imminent and serious bodily harm to a person;
- We may share information if we believe your actions are inconsistent with our user agreements, rules, or our policies, or to protect the rights, property, and safety of ourselves and others;
- We may share information with your consent or at your direction.
We may share aggregated or de-identified information, which cannot reasonably be used to identify you.
Ads and Analytics Partners
We may partner with third-party advertisers, ad networks, and analytics providers to deliver advertising and content targeted to your interests and to better understand your use of the Services. These third parties may collect information sent by your computer, browser, or mobile device in response to a request for content, such as unique identifiers, your IP address, or other information about your computer or device. For example:
Advertisers and Ad Networks
Our ad partners and network may use cookies and use related technologies to collect information when ads are delivered to you on our Services, but we do not link to or provide your actual account details to these advertising partners. This means we do not share your individual account browsing habits with advertisers. We cannot see advertisers’ cookies and advertisers will not see our cookies.
Analytics Partners
We use analytics partners (such as Google Analytics) to help analyze usage and traffic for our Services. As an example, we may use analytics partners to analyze and measure, in the aggregate, the number of unique visitors to our Services.
For more information about how you may control the collection and/or use of information for advertising and analytics purposes, please see “Your Choices.”
Security
We take reasonable measures to help protect information about you from loss, theft, misuse and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction.
Children under 13
Although we welcome users from all walks of life, our Service is not intended or directed at individuals under the age of 13. Therefore, individuals under the age of 13 may not create an account or otherwise access or use the Services.
Your Choices
As a user of our Service, you have choices about how to protect and limit the collection, use, and disclosure of, information about you. This includes:
Daily/Weekly digest email
When you sign up to our service you are given the choice whether to sign up to our email digest containing the latest posts on our website. If you wish to unsubscribe from our digest emails then there is an "Unsubscribe" link at the bottom of each email.
Preferences
We may provide you with tools and preference settings that allow you to access, correct, delete, and modify information associated with your account.
Your right to request your data
You may request the data we hold on you at any time by contacting us from your account. We aim to complete this request within 30 days.
Your right to withdraw your data
You may withdraw your data and request your account to be deleted at any time by contacting us from your account. When your account is deleted, your profile is no longer visible to other users. All data associated with your account, including comments and private messages you have posted, is deleted and removed from our services immediately at the time of deletion.
Cookies
Most web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can usually choose to set your browser to remove or reject first- and third-party cookies. Please note that if you choose to remove or reject cookies, this could affect the availability and functionality of our Services.
Third-Party Advertising and Analytics
Some analytics providers may provide specific opt-out mechanisms (e.g. Google Analytics Opt-out), and we will provide, as needed, additional tools and third-party services that allow you to better understand cookies and how you can opt-out. You have the ability to opt out of having your web browsing information used for behavioral advertising purposes. For more information about behavioral advertising, or to opt out, please visit www.aboutads.info/choices.
Changes
We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we do, we will let you know by revising the date at the top of the policy. We encourage you to review the Privacy Policy whenever you access or use our Services or otherwise interact with us to stay informed about our information practices and the ways you can help protect your privacy. If you continue to use our Services after Privacy Policy changes go into effect, you consent to the revised policy.
Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us.