Privacy policy

What we collect automatically

When you load a page, our own server records the path you visited, the referring page if your browser sent one, a coarse client label such as “mobile-safari”, and a timestamp. It also records a salted SHA-256 hash of your IP address.

The hash is not reversible into your address, and the salt is a secret held only on the server. It exists so we can count how many distinct people read a guide without holding anything that identifies a person. Your raw IP address is never written to our database or our logs.

Cookies

That is the full list for ordinary readers. There are no advertising cookies, no tracking pixels and no third-party embeds on article pages.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics loads only after you accept it in the banner. If you decline, or ignore the banner, no Google script is requested at all. When it is enabled we run it with IP anonymisation on, advertising features off and ad personalisation signals off. You can change your mind at any time.

Change cookie choice

Newsletter

If you subscribe we store your email address, the page you subscribed from, the date, and a salted hash of your IP address at signup. We use double opt-in, so nothing is sent until you confirm from your inbox. Confirmed addresses are also stored with our email provider so the newsletter can be sent. Every email carries a one-click unsubscribe and our postal address. We do not sell, rent or trade the list.

What we never collect

• Your raw IP address, in the database or in application logs.
• Your name, unless you type it into an email to us.
• Precise location.
• Anything from other sites you visit.
• Payment details. The store is not open, and when it opens Stripe will handle payment data and we will never see a card number.

Retention

Activity records are kept for 12 months and then deleted. Error records are kept until resolved plus 90 days. Subscriber records are kept until you unsubscribe, after which we keep the address in a suppressed state so we do not accidentally email you again.

Your choices

You can decline analytics, unsubscribe in one click, and ask us to delete your subscriber record entirely by writing to hello@outpostcore.com. Because we do not store identifying information about readers who have not subscribed, there is generally nothing else to delete.

Children

This site is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect information from them.

Changes

If this policy changes in a way that affects what we collect, the date at the top changes and the change is described here rather than applied quietly. Questions go to the contact page.