Who we are
Our website/blog is an informational site for those who have published a book, want to publish a book, or just want to read about writers and their books. We offer writer’s services such as creating websites and editing services for authors. My name is Jolene MacFadden and I am the Blog website administrator, published author, and Blog Writer.
My website address is https://websandblogsforwriters.com.
What personal data we collect and why we collect it
The only data we collect is your email address and user name when you subscribe to the blog. We assume you want to receive updates from our website when you subscribe otherwise why would you in the first place? If you have a picture registered with Gravatar to the email you subscribed to they will add it to your profile page. We only have one email address jolene dot macfadden @ websandblogsforwriters dot com and if you receive an email from anyone spoofing our domain then you might want to just delete it. Know also that we do not send out blanket emails ever. The only exception is when we post a new article and WordPress automatically sends a notice to each of our subscribers. Otherwise, how would you know to come back and read it?
Comments
When visitors leave comments on the site the software collects the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection. We hate spammers and want to keep their postings at a minimum.
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.
Media
If you upload images to the website (we have turned off this feature in our email but the comment section may site allow it), you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.
Contact forms
We do use a Contact Form program through the Jetpack Module (https://automattic.com/privacy/) – that will send your comments, questions, and suggestions directly to our email server and all responses will be listed in the Feedback section of our WordPress Admin. Each form is checked for spam through the Askimet widget (https://automattic.com/privacy/). We keep your email in our email account at 1and1 Webhosting Webmail (https://www.1and1.com/terms-gtc/terms-privacy/) for a year as a reference and possible future blog posts. The information on our WordPress Admin Feedback Panel is erased weekly.
“If Akismet is enabled on the site, the contact form submission data (IP address, user agent, email address, site URL, and comment) is submitted to the Akismet service (also owned by Automattic) for spam checking.
The actual submission data is stored in the database of the site on which it was submitted and is emailed directly to the owner of the form (i.e. the site author who published the page on which the contact form resides). This email will include the submitter’s IP address, timestamp, name, email address, website, and message.
The IP address is included as an abuse prevention measure. And for sites using Akismet, it is required for providing proper spam defense.
We sync post and post metadata associated with a user’s contact form submission. If Akismet is enabled on the site, the IP address and user agent originally submitted with the comment are synced, as well, as they are stored in post meta.”
Cookies
If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving 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.
If you have an account and you log in to this site, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.
If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.
Embedded content from other websites
Articles 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 that embedded content, including tracing your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
Analytics
We have inserted a Google Analytics Tracking Code into our webpage to help Google Adsense deliver better ads to our sites. We don’t use the reports it creates and rarely even look at it. We just added it because we were told it was a good idea to help our readers get better ads that pertain to what they might be looking for. For more information on how and what that program does you can visit their informational website: https://developers.google.com/analytics/resources/concepts/gaConceptsTrackingOverview
Who we share your data with
We do not share your data with any person only the software companies required to keep the website going, safe from hackers and spammers, delivery of our writer’s newsletter, to process payments for those who buy our services and to provide more relevant content ads to our readers.
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 our 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.
Anyone who subscribes to our Writer’s Newsletter through our MailChimp Widget will have their email address, first name, and last name registered on our account with them in a listing to receive our monthly newsletter.
Anyone who buys one of our services we keep your contact information and payment history on file for 7 years as required by law and tax purposes.
What rights you have over your data
If you have an account on this site or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
Where we send your data
We don’t send your data anywhere unless you request an export of the personal data being collected by our Content Management System-WordPress (subscribing to our blog with email and a user name and any comments you make), Askimet (spam checking), Gravatar (to show your profile picture), Jetpack to send your email to us, to MailChimp (https://mailchimp.com/legal/privacy/) when you sign-up for our Monthly Writer’s Newsletter, Google Analytics to deliver more relevant ads while you are visiting our site, and we process payments for our services through the secure servers of Square Up Marketplace.
Visitor comments are be checked through an automated spam detection service as well as emails through our Contact Form.
Your contact information
Jolene MacFadden, Webmistress and Blog Writer
jolene dot macfadden at websandblogsforwriters dot com
I do not have a business address anymore as I have retired and written my blogs on the road while traveling in an RV.
Additional information
Any subscriber to this blog or the Mailchimp Writer’s newsletter, wishing to delete their account information from our website can do so through WordPress or contacting us via email with your email address you used to subscribe to and any user name you entered. When you receive the newsletter from MailChimp there is an “opt-Out” link at the bottom just click on that and it will take your name off the list. We ask that all comments be rated “G” and on-topic. All others will be deleted.
How we protect your data
Our web hosting service has protections in place to keep out unregistered users. Our CMS-WordPress Module Askimet weeds out spammers from registering as subscribers and making comments. Our email server has spam filters and virus protection monitors. Any information sent over the internet is encrypted by the program requesting or the information to and from our website. If you purchase one or more of our services that information is sent directly to the Secure Servers at Paypal. WE NEVER HAVE ACCESS TO YOUR FINANCIAL DATA
What data breach procedures we have in place
Should there be a data breach each of our affected subscribers will be emailed and if they request their account removed we will do so as soon as possible. Should you just want your private data erased we will do that as soon as requested.
What third parties we receive data from
The only third parties we receive data from are Gravatar if you have a picture registered with your email. And Askimet if your email has been registered as a spammer which those are erased every week. Paypal will send us a notice that we have received a donation from our website, who it was from, the amount, and their name. We keep the email for tax purposes. Mailchimp stores your email address in a listing within our account so that they monthly writer’s newsletters can go out, SquareUp that stores our transactions in our history on our account page but not the banking or credit card information.
What automated decision making and/or profiling we do with user data
We don’t use your data for anything other than the WordPress program sending you an email that we have posted a new article to the blog. Google Adsense may use your browsing and search history on our site to deliver more relevant ads while you are visiting our site.
Industry regulatory disclosure requirements
We have added the Cookie Opt-In pop-up to our site and linked it with our Privacy Policy.
