What personal data I collect and why I collect it…
If you are a casual visitor on this site — meaning you browse the pages and don’t leave any comments — then I do not collect or store any of your personal data. If you leave comments, you are required to fill out a simple form with your name and email. This information is retained simply to facilitate responses and, possibly, moderate your comments. It is also possible, although not very likely, that I will send you an email response.
WordPress…
This site uses WordPress as its web platform. If you register on this site to receive email or other updates whenever the site is updated, personal data may be generated from technical processes such as contact forms, comments, cookies, analytics, and third party embeds. By default WordPress does not collect any personal data about visitors, and only collects the data shown on the User Profile screen from registered users. By default WordPress does not share any personal data with anyone. Some plugins on this site may collect personal data, also for analytical and reporting purposes.
Akismet…
Information about visitors who comment on this site may be collected from Akismet’s anti-spam service. This information typically includes the commenter’s IP address, user agent, referrer, and Site URL (along with other information directly provided by the commenter such as their name, username, email address, and the comment itself).
Cookies…
I love cookies. Chocolate chip is my favorite, but I’m also partial to those Samoa cookies the Girl Scouts sell. And let’s honest, they don’t sell those things nearly often enough, which is probably a good thing for my health. Feel free to send cookies to my house any time. It’s also possible I don’t quite understand what website cookies actually are. I mean, you can’t eat them or anything. It’s a pretty stupid name, imho. But you should know that if you leave a comment on this site, you may opt-in to save your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year, unlike the home-baked chocolate chip or Girl Scout samoa kind, which I would not recommend eating after that long.
How long we retain your data…
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
For users that register on this website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide 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.
Comments…
First, the legal stuff: When visitors leave comments on this site, we collect the data shown in the comments form 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.
Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.
Now, the sandbox rules: This is my own personal website, which gives me the right to say anything I like. You do not enjoy that same privilege here. Your Freedom of Speech has no jurisdiction on my site. If you read the First Amendment to the Bill of Rights (which, sadly, too many ‘Murcans fail to do) you will find that Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech. I am not Congress, therefore I can make whatever rules I like about which freedoms you get to enjoy when expressing your views and opinions on my site.
My rule is simple: you are free to express whatever views and opinions you like, as long as you do it thoughtfully and respectfully. If I feel your comments do not adhere to this rule — and since I am the king of this castle — I reserve the sole right to moderate, edit, delete, or otherwise banish you and your comments from my kingdom.
Personal experience on the ‘Innernet’ has shown me that some people are simply incapable of distinguishing appropriate from inappropriate comments and behavior. Therefore, for all you social justice warriors and trolls out there, here are some examples of the types of behavior that will get you shunned and sent to live in the leper colonies:
- Abusive language, especially towards me or other commenters
- Any form of racism
- Any form of homophobia
- Sexist and demeaning comments towards those of the opposite or same sex
- Derogatory or demeaning comments towards those with mental and/or physical disabilities
- Obvious trolling*
- Any other forms of -isms or -phobias, or comments I feel are not constructive towards the topic at hand
- Obvious personal opinions posted as facts (medical, political, or otherwise) with zero reference to any source data substantiating the claims. And just so we’re clear, YouTube and Google memes DO NOT count as valid source data, nor do any links or data already dis-proven as factually inaccurate or simply untrue. Note: if you post anything like this, expect to be challenged on your assertions and asked to provide references.
*Trolls deserve their own special section, which I will discuss here:
If you are one of those special people on the dubya dubya dubya whose sole life purpose it to cause trouble, wreak havoc, inflame emotions, gaslight, or you just generally cannot play nice with other human beings, then you are not welcome here. Move along. Whatever childhood, adolescent, young adult, or old age trauma damaged your brain and caused you to become a menace to society is not my problem. I will not tolerate your bad behavior, nor will I allow the other good people here to smell your rotting stink. I have posted a notice throughout the many corners of my kingdom decreeing that every troll shall be slaughtered on sight without question and without prejudice. Consider yourself fairly warned.
In general, every comment may be freely seen by others and will post directly to the topic thread. I have applied keyword and hyperlink filters in an effort to weed out obvious bots and violators. (Incidentally, Bots and Violators is the name of my band’s next album; look for my press release coming soon.) It is possible that some pernicious comments creep through the filters without my noticing. If you feel a comment violates the rules above, feel free to message me in the Contacts page to let me know.