Privacy Policy

This site is run by one person. It exists to share writing and ideas, not to harvest data. This policy explains — in plain language — what happens when you visit silentstones.net.

What this site collects

Forum accounts

If you register for the forum, you provide a username and email address. A secure password is generated for you. Your email is stored in a Cloudflare D1 database alongside your username, a salted password hash (never the plaintext password), and your forum posts. This data is used solely to operate the forum. Your email is not shared, sold, or used for marketing.

Forum posts (threads and replies) are publicly visible to all site visitors. Your username is displayed alongside your posts. If you wish to have your account or posts deleted, use the contact form.

Contact form

If you use the contact form, you voluntarily provide your email address, an optional name, and a message. This information is stored in a database and delivered to a private email address. It is used solely to respond to your message. Your submission is not sold, shared, or used for marketing.

Server logs

This site is hosted on Cloudflare Pages. Cloudflare may collect basic request data (IP address, browser type, pages visited) as part of their infrastructure. This is standard web hosting behaviour and is governed by Cloudflare's own privacy policy. I do not run any additional analytics tools.

Cookies

This site uses cookies in the following categories:

Necessary cookies

Cloudflare may set cookies required for security and site functionality (such as __cf_bm for bot management). These cannot be disabled as they are essential for the site to work. A small cookie is also stored locally to remember your cookie consent preferences.

Session cookies

If you log in to the forum, a session cookie (ss_session) is set to keep you authenticated. This is an httpOnly cookie — it cannot be read by JavaScript — and expires after 72 hours. Your theme preference (light or dark mode) is stored in your browser's local storage, not as a cookie.

Embedded content cookies

The videos page embeds YouTube content. Even using YouTube's privacy-enhanced mode (youtube-nocookie.com), YouTube may set cookies when you interact with the player. These are only loaded if you give explicit consent via the cookie banner. If you decline, no YouTube content is loaded and no third-party cookies are set.

Font cookies

This site loads fonts from Google Fonts. Google may log requests to their font servers. For details, see Google Fonts privacy information.

What this site does not do

• No tracking pixels or fingerprinting
• No Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, or any third-party analytics
• No advertising
• No data sold or shared with third parties
• No email list or newsletter (unless added in future with explicit opt-in)

Your rights

If you're in the EU, UK, or another jurisdiction with data protection laws (GDPR, UK GDPR, etc.), you have the right to:

• Know what personal data is held about you
• Request deletion of any personal data (including your forum account and posts)
• Withdraw consent at any time (clear your cookies or use the cookie banner)
• Lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority

If you want your forum account or contact form submission deleted, use the contact form to request it.

Third-party services

This site relies on the following third-party services:

• Cloudflare — hosting, DNS, security, email routing, database (D1), rate limiting (KV)
• YouTube (Google) — embedded video content (consent required)
• Google Fonts — typeface delivery

Each service has its own privacy policy. This site does not control how they handle data once it reaches their servers.

Changes

If this policy changes, the date at the top will be updated. No email notification — it's a personal blog, not a bank.

Contact

Questions about this policy? Use the contact form.