Who are we?

How we use the personal data we collect

Comments

When you leave a comment on our website, we collect the data entered in the comment form, as well as your IP address and browser user-agent string, to help detect spam.

An anonymised string created from your email address, also called a hash, may be sent to Gravatar to check whether you use that service. Details are available in Automattic’s privacy policy. Once your comment is approved, your profile picture is publicly visible beside it.

Media

If you are a registered user uploading images to the website, we recommend avoiding images containing embedded GPS location data (EXIF). Visitors can download images and extract location data from them.

Cookies

If you leave a comment, you may choose to save your name, email address and website in cookies. This is for your convenience, so you do not have to enter these details again when posting another comment. These cookies expire after one year.

If you have an account and log in to this website, a temporary cookie is created to determine whether your browser accepts cookies. It contains no personal data and is automatically deleted when you close your browser.

When you log in, we set cookies to save your login information and screen preferences. Login cookies last for two days, and screen-option cookies for one year. If you select “Remember me”, your login is retained for two weeks. Logging out removes the login cookies.

When you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie is stored in your browser. It contains no personal data and simply identifies the article you have just edited. It expires after one day.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles may include embedded content such as videos, images or other articles. Embedded content from another website behaves in the same way as if you had visited that website directly.

Those websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed third-party tracking tools and monitor your interaction with embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to their website.

How long we retain your data

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This allows subsequent comments to be recognised and approved automatically instead of being held in the moderation queue.

For users who register on our website, where registration is available, we also store the personal information provided in their user profile. Users can view, edit or delete their personal information at any time, except for their username. Website administrators can also view and edit this information.

Your rights over your data

If you have an account or have left comments, you can request a file containing the personal data we hold about you, including data you provided. You can also request deletion of your personal data. This does not include data we must retain for administrative, legal or security purposes.

Where your personal data are sent

Visitor comments may be checked by an automated spam-detection service.