Privacy Policy
What this site collects, what it does not, and the few services that touch your visit.
The short version
This is a personal website, not a business that runs on your data. I do not sell or rent personal information, I do not run advertising, and I keep tracking to the minimum needed to see whether the writing is landing and the site is healthy. The longer version below names every outside service the site touches and how to opt out.
What I collect
When you read the site, ordinary web-request data is logged the way every web server logs it: your IP address, your browser and device type, the page you asked for, and the page that referred you. The aggregate analytics described below add things like which posts get read and which links get clicked. None of it is tied to your name unless you give me one.
When you email me, send a message through the contact form, or leave a comment on a post, I collect whatever you choose to put in it, which is usually your name, your email address, and your words. Comment names and websites are published once I approve them, but your email address never is.
The services I use
I keep the third-party list short, and this is the whole of it.
Google Analytics measures aggregate traffic: which pages get read, what devices people use, and where visitors come from. Google’s handling of that data is covered by its privacy policy . You can opt out across every site with Google’s opt-out browser add-on , or block it with most content blockers.
Google Search Console shows me how the site performs in Google Search, including the terms people use to find it and any indexing problems. It reports on Google’s own search data and does not track you here. It is governed by Google’s privacy policy .
Bing Webmaster Tools does the same for Microsoft’s Bing search. Like Search Console, it reports on the search engine’s data rather than tracking your visit, and it is governed by the Microsoft privacy statement .
Formspree delivers messages from the contact form and comments left on posts to my inbox. Whatever you submit passes through Formspree on the way to me, under its privacy policy . If you would rather not use it, just email me directly instead.
Gravatar supplies the small avatar beside each reader comment. This site began as a WordPress blog, and its comments came along when I rebuilt it by hand, which is why those avatars are here at all. Gravatar is the avatar service run by Automattic, and when your browser loads one of the images it asks Gravatar’s servers for it, so your IP address and browser details reach Automattic, who may log that request the way any image host can. The picture is matched by a one-way hash of the commenter’s email address, and that hash is all the site stores, never the email itself. Gravatar is governed by Automattic’s privacy policy . A content blocker will stop the images from loading, and you can claim, change, or clear your own avatar at Gravatar .
Cookies
The site itself sets no advertising or tracking cookies. Google Analytics may set its own cookies to tell repeat visits apart. You can clear or block cookies in your browser, or use the opt-outs above, and the site will still work fine.
How I use what I collect
I use this information to understand what is worth writing more of, to keep the site fast and unbroken, to answer your messages, and to defend against abuse. That is the whole list. I do not sell it, I do not build advertising profiles, and I do not share it except as needed to run the services above or to comply with the law.
How long I keep it
Analytics data follows each provider’s own retention windows. Email and form messages stay in my inbox as long as they are useful, and I am glad to delete correspondence on request. Server logs rotate out in the ordinary course.
Your choices
You can browse with a content blocker or the analytics opt-out, and I will never know you were here in any detail. You can reach me by plain email instead of the form. And you can write to me any time to ask what I have or to ask me to delete it.
Changes
If this policy changes, the new version replaces this one right here. Nothing retroactive, nothing sneaky.
Contact
Questions about any of this go to the contact page , or you can reply to anything I have written. I read it.