Privacy

What a visit leaves behind

Each time a page is requested, the server writes down the page, the hour, which country the connection appears to be in, and, when another website sent you here, that website's domain (the rest of its link is ignored). Crawlers that announce themselves, such as search engines and AI bots, are tallied under their own names.

Telling visits apart, for one day only

So that one reader is not counted as ten, your network address is mixed with a random key into a short code. The server makes a fresh key every day, keeps it only in memory and never writes it down; when the day ends the key is gone, and with it any way of turning a code back into an address. The address itself is not stored anywhere.

Each code belongs to a single UTC day. It sits on that day's visit records and is wiped from them when the site next counts a page view or a visit after midnight UTC; it is never produced again, so a reader today cannot be matched with a reader tomorrow. 30 minutes without any activity closes a visit.

Reading time

A small script on each page tells the server which page is open and about how long it was read. Its clock runs only while the page is in view, and only for 45 seconds after the page opens or after your latest scroll, key press, tap or pointer movement. It carries no identifier of its own and writes nothing to your device; the server files its reports under the same one-day code.

The script's request is also how the server learns the kind of device (phone, tablet or computer) and the family of browser and operating system. The full browser description it reads for this is discarded straight away.

Global Privacy Control and Do Not Track

When your browser sends either signal, the page view and its hour are still tallied, and that is all: the view is never given a code, a country, a referring site, a device or a reading time.

How long any of it lasts

On the server, the daily tallies and the list of visits are kept for 400 days and then pruned. A visit entry holds when it started and ended, the country and continent, what kind of device it was and which browser and operating-system family, the pages seen and the time on each, whether it was a second visit that day, and the referring domain. None of it contains your address.

The daily tallies are also saved from time to time into the site's private code repository, so they survive when the site is updated; copies kept there are not pruned on a schedule. The list of visits stays on the server only, and starts afresh whenever the site is updated or restarted.

Messages through the contact form

Your name, email address and message are emailed to me. A working copy stays on the server in case the email fails, together with a keyed fingerprint of your network address that helps spot abuse, and that server copy is cleared whenever the site is updated. If you want a message you sent erased, say so through the form and I will delete it.

Cookies and local storage

Reading the site sets no cookies. The one thing stored on your device is your answer to the small note at the foot of the home page, once you dismiss it; it stays in your browser and is never sent to the server.

Everyone else

The site is served by a hosting company, its email goes out through a delivery service, and its code and backups live with a code host. Each handles what it needs to under its own policy. No advertisers, no outside analytics, and nothing is sold.

Questions go through the contact form on the home page.