Privacy policy

A short, honest account of what this site stores and what it does not. No accounts, no cookies, no third-party trackers.

Last updated: August 17, 2026

What stays in your browser

The following data lives only in your browser's local storage. It never leaves your device and is never sent to our servers:

  • Search and filter choices. The full index loads into your browser and is searched locally. Nothing you type in the search box ever reaches a server.
  • Votes and display preferences. Your upvotes, sort order, and similar settings are kept in your browser so they persist between visits. Clearing your browser data erases them permanently.

What we store on our servers

  • Vote totals. The aggregate score for each idea, along with a randomly generated browser identifier so you can change your own vote later. This identifier is not linked to any personal information.
  • Comments. The display name you choose, the text of your comment, and when you posted it. Display names are shown publicly, so pick one you are comfortable with.
  • Submissions. Anything you enter in the submission form, including an email address if you choose to provide one. That address is used only to follow up on your submission and is never shared.
  • Hashed network identifiers. To prevent abuse we create a one-way cryptographic hash of your network address. This hash is irreversible: the original address cannot be recovered from it, and it is useless to anyone who does not hold a secret key that exists only on our server.
  • Visit counts. When you open a page we record the time, which page, the site that referred you (if any), your country (determined from your network routing, not from anything you tell us), whether you are on a phone, and your browser name and operating system (determined from the description your browser sends automatically with every request). Alongside those we store a one-way hash of your network address and browser description so we can count how many separate people visited rather than how many pages were opened, and we note whether that hash has been seen before so we can distinguish new visitors from returning ones. The hash uses a secret key held only on our server, cannot be reversed into an address, and is meaningless to anyone else. Detailed records are deleted after fourteen days; only daily totals remain after that.
  • Which of our links you arrived through. Links we post elsewhere sometimes carry a short tag on the end of the address, so that we can tell how many people a particular posting brought in. If you arrive through one, we record that tag once, on arrival. The tag describes the link we published, not you: it is the same for everybody who uses that link, it says nothing about who you are or where you came from beyond the referring domain we already record, and it is not stored on your device or used to recognise you afterwards. Your browser removes it from the address as the page loads, so it is not carried onward if you copy or share the link.
  • Clicks on sponsored links. When you click a sponsored or affiliate link, we record the time, which page you clicked it from, which button you used, and the domain it points to, alongside the same one-way visitor hash described above so we can tell how many separate people clicked rather than how many clicks happened. We use this only to judge whether a placement is worth keeping. We do not record which link text you saw, and we send nothing to the destination site beyond the ordinary request your browser makes when it follows any link. These records are kept longer than visit records, because comparing one season to another is the whole point of them.

What we do not collect

We do not collect, store, or process any of the following: account credentials or passwords, cookies set by this site, advertising or social-media tracking pixels, third-party analytics services (our visit counting runs entirely on our own server), your name or email unless you type one into a comment or the submission form, or anything you type into the search box.

We do not sell, rent, or share any information with data brokers, advertisers, or other third parties for marketing or profiling purposes. We have never sold personal information and have no plans to do so.

Our visit counting sets nothing on your device. Search terms and filter selections never leave your browser, and the address of the page you were on before visiting is stripped down to just the referring domain before it is stored.

Why we collect this and our legal basis

We use visit counts to understand how many people read the site, which ideas are popular, and where our traffic comes from, including which of the links we have posted elsewhere are worth the effort. We use hashed network identifiers to enforce rate limits and prevent abuse. We use comments, votes, and submissions to run the community features of the site.

If you are in a jurisdiction that requires a legal basis for data processing (such as the European Economic Area under the GDPR), our basis for visit counting and rate limiting is legitimate interest: we have a reasonable need to understand how the site is used and to protect it from abuse, and the privacy impact is minimal because we never store your actual network address, cannot identify you from the data we keep, and delete detailed records after fourteen days. Our basis for storing comments and submissions is that you chose to provide them. You may object to processing based on legitimate interest at any time by contacting us at the address below.

We do not build profiles, serve targeted content based on your browsing history, or make automated decisions that affect you. The visit data is used only in aggregate to see overall trends.

Do Not Track

We respect Do Not Track browser signals, though the practical effect is the same whether the signal is present or not: we do not track you across sites, we do not build profiles, and we do not share data with anyone who does.

Third-party services

This site is hosted on Cloudflare, which processes requests on our behalf and maintains standard server logs under its own privacy policy. Beyond Cloudflare's infrastructure, no third-party service receives data about your visit from us.

Pages on this site may link to third-party websites and services. We are not responsible for their privacy practices and encourage you to review their policies before providing personal information.

Affiliate links

Some links on this site are affiliate links. Clicking one takes you to a third-party site that may set its own cookies, collect browsing data, or track conversions under its own privacy policy. We do not control what those third parties collect.

Data retention

Detailed visit records are deleted after fourteen days. Daily summaries (total visitors and page views per day, with no individual identifiers) are kept indefinitely. Records of clicks on sponsored links are deleted after roughly thirteen months.

Votes, comments, submissions, and the hashed identifiers used for rate limiting are retained for as long as the site operates. If you request deletion of your data, we will remove it within a reasonable timeframe.

Data security

All traffic between your browser and this site is encrypted over HTTPS. Network addresses are hashed with a secret key before storage, so neither we nor anyone who gains access to the database can recover the original address. Access to stored data is restricted to the minimum needed to operate the site.

International visitors

This site is hosted on a global content-delivery network, so your request may be processed in the region closest to you. The hashed, non-reversible identifiers described above do not constitute personal data in any jurisdiction we are aware of, but if your local law treats them as such, the protections described on this page apply regardless of where you are.

Your rights

Depending on where you live you may have the right to access, correct, or delete information we hold about you, or to restrict or object to certain processing. If you are in the European Economic Area, these rights arise under the GDPR, and you also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority if you believe your data has been handled improperly. If you are in California, they arise under the CCPA/CPRA, and we confirm that we do not sell or share your personal information as those laws define those terms.

We will not treat you differently for exercising any of these rights. Using the site costs nothing and requires no account, so there is no service to withhold or degrade.

To exercise any of these rights, or to request removal of a comment or submission, email us at mailsidehustleindex@gmail.com.

Children's privacy

This site is not directed at anyone under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If we learn that we have done so, we will delete it promptly.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The current version is always the one on this page, and continued use of the site after a change means you accept the updated terms.

Contact

Questions about this privacy policy can be sent to mailsidehustleindex@gmail.com.