Privacy Policy

This page explains how your information is collected, used, and protected when you visit https://writing-games.org.

Last updated on May 1, 2026 by Andruid.

Analytics

Litlyx

This site uses Litlyx, a privacy-respecting, cookieless analytics tool, to understand general traffic patterns and improve content. When you visit this site, Litlyx does not collect any personally identifiable information about you.

Information Litlyx does collect:

• what browser you’re using, e.g. “Chrome”
• what operating system you’re on, e.g. “Android”
• what country you’re browsing from, e.g. “US”
• and on what kind of device, e.g. “desktop” or “mobile”

Litlyx is also used to analyze what kind of newsletter content performs better (see Newsletter below).

In a Nutshell
I use Litlyx to see how many people visit and what pages are popular. It doesn’t collect personal info or set any cookies.

Forms

Newsletter subscription

To collect newsletter sign-ups, this site uses a form on the Subscribe page.

This form uses a confirmation step known as double opt-in. You’ll receive an email asking you to confirm your email address. If you don’t confirm within 48 hours, your request is deleted and nothing else happens. If you do confirm, you’ll start receiving the newsletter when it goes out.

Confirmation and newsletter emails are delivered through EmailIt, a third-party email service.

Instead of tracking opens and clicks with EmailIt, I use UTM parameters in the links. This lets me use Litlyx to analyze newsletter performance in privacy-respecting way.

In a Nutshell
If you sign up for the newsletter, you’ll be asked to confirm. If you don’t confirm, nothing is kept. Your email is only used to send you the newsletter. Your opens and clicks are not tracked.

Contact and other forms

Some pages on this site include feedback forms. These forms are used to collect information that you choose to provide, as well as your nickname and email for the purpose of ensuring you’re human and, if needed, responding to you.

The following pages have these types of forms:

• Contact
• Submit an Event
• Submit a Resource

The information you submit is emailed directly to me and is not stored in the site’s database.

In a Nutshell
If you fill out a contact, event, or resource form, your message goes straight to my inbox. Nothing is stored in the site’s database.

Surveys

Survey forms are hosted by Deftform, a GDPR-compliant form service based in Germany. For as long as a survey is open, responses are stored on Deftform’s servers in the EU.

Surveys are anonymous unless the survey form explicitly asks you for contact information, which you can choose not to provide. Your IP address is never shared with me.

An example of a non-anonymous survey would be one that asks you for your expert advice on a topic and provides fields for your nickname and contact info in order to verify and credit you as the source. In such cases, you can contact me to have your survey responses removed at any time (see Your rights).

Cloudflare Turnstile is used on these forms to deter spam (see Spam protection and security below).

In a Nutshell
Surveys are anonymous unless otherwise stated on the form. Responses are stored on Deftform (EU-based) until the survey closes. You can ask me to delete your responses at any time.

Spam protection and security

Spam protection

To help protect against spam and abuse, this site uses Cloudflare Turnstile and Akismet.

Cloudflare Turnstile

Cloudflare Turnstile is a privacy-focused alternative to traditional CAPTCHA systems. It works in the background to verify that a visitor is human and does not require interactive challenges in most cases. Turnstile may process limited technical information (such as browser characteristics) for security and fraud-prevention purposes. For more details, see Cloudflare’s privacy policy.

• Self-hosted forms that use Turnstile include Contact, Submit an Event, Submit a Resource, and the newsletter Subscribe form. Externally hosted survey forms also use Turnstile.

Akismet

Akismet checks your submission against known spam patterns. For more details, please see Akismet’s privacy policy.

• Forms that use Akismet include the Leave a Comment forms on blog posts and the account creation form used during donation checkout (see Donations and accounts below).

These tools help keep the site safe and functional, but they may involve limited data sharing with their respective services. By submitting a form, you acknowledge that some information may be processed for security purposes.

In a Nutshell
I use Cloudflare Turnstile and Akismet to stop spam. These tools may collect some data to check if you’re a real person.

Security logs

This site uses security software that temporarily processes IP addresses and related technical information for the sole purpose of protecting the site (for example, monitoring new user registrations, comments, and login attempts). These records are retained for no longer than 7 days and are not used for analytics, marketing, or profiling.

In a Nutshell
I use a security plugin to protect the site. It logs sensitive security-related activity and automatically deletes those records after 7 days.

Comments

When you leave a comment, this site collects your nickname, email address, and IP address. Your IP address is only collected for security purposes and is never shown to visitors.

Your nickname (or username, if you’re logged in) will be displayed alongside your comment once approved.

Your email address will not be displayed publicly. It is only used to contact you if I have a question, help detect spam, associate your comment with a Gravatar (if you have one), or notify you if a reply is posted (depending on your settings). Your email will never be shared or added to any list.

In a Nutshell
If you leave a comment, your nickname is shown to visitors. Your email is required but never shown or used for anything shady.

Comment cookies

If you leave a comment on a post, you may choose to save your nickname and email address in a cookie by checking the “Save my name…” box. This is for your convenience, so you don’t have to re-enter your information when leaving another comment.

• this cookie is optional
• it is only set if you check the box
• it does not track your activity
• it expires after one year

In a Nutshell
If you leave a comment, you can choose to save your nickname and email in a cookie so you don’t have to retype them. It’s totally optional.

Embedded content from other websites

Some pages on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with the embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Mostly, this is relevant to the handful of YouTube videos embedded in some posts. If you choose to play those videos, it will be as if you’d opened them on YouTube.com.

In a Nutshell
Some posts include things like YouTube videos. If you interact with them, it’s like visiting the original site.

Donations and accounts

When you donate directly on this site, limited personal information is collected for the purpose of account creation and managing Supporter access.

This information includes:

• a nickname / username
• an email address

If you do not already have an account, one is automatically created using this information so you can access supporter-only content.

No real names, billing addresses, or phone numbers are collected.

Your account information is never shown publicly unless you choose to leave a comment while logged in (see Comments section above).

In a Nutshell
Donations require only a nickname and email, which are used to create and manage a supporter account.

Login cookies

When you log in to this site, cookies are used to keep you authenticated as you move between pages.

These cookies:

• are required for logged-in functionality
• contain a session identifier, not personal information
• do not track you across other websites
• expire automatically after 2 weeks
• are cleared when you log out

If you do not log in or create an account, these cookies are not set.

In a Nutshell
Login cookies just keep you signed in. They aren’t used for tracking. They expire after 2 weeks.

Payment processing

Donations are processed by third-party payment providers:

• Stripe, or
• PayPal, depending on your choice

Payment details (such as card numbers or security codes) are submitted directly to Stripe or PayPal and are never stored on this site.

I receive only limited transaction information, such as the donation amount, date, and the email address associated with the transaction.

In a Nutshell
Payment details go straight to Stripe or PayPal. I only receive basic confirmation data.

Cookies related to donations

Cookies may be used during the donation process to:

• maintain login state (see Login cookies above)
• allow checkout to function correctly

These cookies are functional, temporary, and not used for tracking or advertising.

In a Nutshell
Donation-related cookies exist only to make the process work.

What rights you have over your data

If you submitted personal information about yourself through one of the methods listed above, you can email me at andruid [at] writing-games [dot] org to request to have your records permanently deleted. All such requests will be promptly honored.

In a Nutshell
If you’ve submitted any personal info through a form or have an account on this site, you can ask me to delete it. Just reach out and I’ll take care of it.