Last updated: 22 September 2026

The short version: I do not sell your data and I do not share it with anyone to use for their own purposes. There is no analytics on this site, no advertising network, and no tracking pixels. What follows is the longer version, which is mostly a list of the small number of things the site does record.

What gets collected

When you read a post. The server notes which post you opened, your IP address, your browser's user agent, the page you arrived from if your browser sent one, and the time. I use this to see which posts people actually read and where readers are coming from. It is not linked to a name and I do not build profiles from it.

When you leave a comment. Your name, your email address, your website if you choose to fill it in, your comment, and your IP address. Your email address is never published on the site and I will not use it to send you a newsletter or anything else. It is there so I can reply to you.

When you subscribe to the newsletter. Your email address, and nothing else.

When you use the contact form. Whatever you write, plus the email address you give me, which arrives in my inbox.

Cookies

This site sets very few, and none of them track you:

• One that remembers you have already rated a post, so you are not asked twice.
• One that remembers a display preference, if you set one.
• A login cookie — which only ever exists if you are me.

There are no analytics cookies, no advertising cookies, and no third-party tracking scripts. Every script, stylesheet and font this site uses is served from this site itself, so simply reading a page does not hand your address to anyone else. If you block cookies entirely, the site still works.

Who else sees anything

I do not sell your data, and I do not hand it to anyone to use for their own purposes. In the ordinary course of making the site work, a few services do unavoidably see something technical, and I would rather list them than pretend otherwise:

• My web host keeps standard server logs, which include IP addresses.
• StopForumSpam. When a comment is submitted, the commenter's IP address is checked against their list of known spammers. Only the IP address is sent — your name, email address and the comment itself stay here.
• A mailing service, if I move the newsletter to one. It would hold subscriber email addresses, and I will update this page before that happens.

Sponsors

Some posts and sidebar slots may carry a paid placement. These are always labelled as sponsored. When you click one, this site counts the click so I can tell the sponsor how their placement performed. That is a tally and nothing more: the sponsor receives a number, never your identity, your address or anything else about you. No advertising network is involved, and clicking does not hand you off to a tracker.

How long things are kept

View and click counts are written to monthly files on the server. There is no automatic purge at the moment; I clear out old ones by hand from time to time. Comments stay as long as the post does, unless you ask me to remove yours.

Your choices

• Ask me to delete your comments, or your email address, at any time, and I will do it.
• Unsubscribe from the newsletter whenever you like.
• Block or clear cookies in your browser — nothing here depends on them.

Children

This is a blog about Traverse City and northern Michigan. It is not directed at children under 13, and I do not knowingly collect anything from them.

Changes

If any of the above changes, I will update this page and the date at the top.

Getting in touch

Questions about any of this, or a request to delete something, can go through the contact page.