Privacy - StimHack

How does Stimhack collect data about me?

Stimhack collects data about you:

when you browse the Stimhack forum
when you create and use an account on the forum.stimhack.com
when you post, send private messages, and otherwise participate on forum.stimhack.com

Stimhack does not buy or otherwise receive data about you from data brokers.

What data does Stimhack collect about me, and why?

When you visit forum.stimhack.com, whether you have an account or not, the forum uses cookies, server logs, and other methods to collect data about what pages you visit and when.

Stimhack uses data about how you use the website to:

optimize the forum, so that it’s quick and easy to use
diagnose and debug technical errors
defend the forum from abuse and technical attacks
compile statistics on forum and topic popularity
compile statistics on the kinds of software and computers visitors use

Stimhack usually stores data about how you use the forum in identifiable form for just a few weeks. In special circumstances, like extended investigations about technical attacks, Stimhack may preserve log data longer, for analysis. Stimhack stores aggregate statistics about use of the forum for as long as Stimhack hosts the forum, but those statistics don’t include data identifiable to you personally.

Stimhack collects account data.

Many features of forum that Stimhack hosts require a forum account. For example, forum.stimhack.com requires an account to post and reply to topics.

To sign up for a forum account, forum.stimhack.com requires your name, a user name, and an e-mail address.

Stimhack uses your account data to identify you on the forum, and to create pages specific to you, like your profile page. Since the forum is public, Stimhack publishes your account data.

Stimhack uses your e-mail address to:

notify you about posts and other activity on the forum
reset your password and help keep your account secure
contact you in special circumstances related to your account
contact you about legal requests, like DMCA takedown requests

You may provide additional data for your account, like a short biography, your location, or your birthday, on the profile settings page for your account. Stimhack makes that data available to others who can access the forum. You don’t have to provide this additional information, and you can erase it at any time.

Stimhack stores your account data as long as your account remains open.

Stimhack collects data about posts and other activity on the forum.

Stimhack collects the content of your posts, plus data about bookmarks, likes, and links you follow in order to share that data with others, through the forum. Since the forum is public, Stimhack publishes your activity.

Stimhack also collects data about private messages that you send through the forum. Stimhack makes private messages available to senders and their recipients, and also to forum administrators.

Stimhack stores your posts and other activity as long as your account remains open.

How can I make choices about data collection?

You can make choices about how data about is used on the settings page for your account.-

Stimhack does not respond to the Do Not Track HTTP header

What is your data retention policy?

Our data retention is left up to the host of this managed forum instance. Our host is GDPR compliant.

Do we use cookies?

Yes. Cookies are small files that a site or its service provider transfers to your computer’s hard drive through your Web browser (if you allow). These cookies enable the site to recognize your browser and, if you have a registered account, associate it with your registered account.

We use cookies to understand and save your preferences for future visits and compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interaction so that we can offer better site experiences and tools in the future. We may contract with third-party service providers to assist us in better understanding our site visitors. These service providers are not permitted to use the information collected on our behalf except to help us conduct and improve our business.

Do we disclose any information to outside parties?

We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your personally identifiable information. This does not include trusted third parties who assist us in operating our site, conducting our business, or servicing you, so long as those parties agree to keep this information confidential. We may also release your information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect ours or others rights, property, or safety. However, non-personally identifiable visitor information may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses.

The third parties we use in the operation of this site:

Discourse Hosting – our forum.stimhack.com host
Amazon Web Services – for storing backups
Digital Ocean – our stimhack.com host
Cloudflare – our DNS host

Where does Stimhack store data about me?

Our forum is hosted on DiscourseHosting.com which is GDPR compliant. DiscourseHosting hosts forums in both in NYC and Washington DC. Their privacy policy is located at Communiteq Privacy Policy - Communiteq.

Does Stimhack comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulation?

Stimhack respects privacy rights under Regulation (EU) 2016/679, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Information that GDPR requires Stimhack to give can be found throughout this privacy notice. So can information about specific rights, like access, rectification, erasure, data portability, and objection to automated decision-making.

Where can I access data about me?

You can see your account data at any time by visiting your account page on the forum. Your account page also lists your posts and other activity on the forum.

Your account activity page also includes a link to download all of your activity in standard comma-separated values format.

How can I change or erase data about me?

You can change your account data at any time by visiting the profile settings page for your account. The settings for a particular forum may also allow you to close your account, on the settings page for your account. Closing your account starts a process of erasing or anonymizing Stimhack’s records of data you provided for your account. Forum administrators can also erase and anonymize accounts.

Depending on the settings for your particular forum, you may also be able to edit, anonymize, or erase your posts. When you edit posts, Stimhack will keep all versions of your posts. Forum administrators can view old versions of posts, and optionally make them visible to other forum visitors.

Does Stimhack make automated decisions based on data about me?

Stimhack classifies posts as spam automatically.

Stimhack uses data about your posts and other activity on many forums to make automated decisions about whether your posts to forum.stimhack.com are spam. When Akismet decides that a post is likely spam, the forum refuses to accept the post.

If you think a post has been wrongly blocked or removed, contact an administrator of your forum. They can override the decision that a post was spam.

Stimhack uses data about posts and activity to set trust levels automatically.

The forum may use data about your posts and activity to award you badges and calculate a trust level for your account. Your trust level may affect how you can participate in the forum, such as whether you can upload images, as well as give you access to moderation and management powers in the forum. Your trust level therefore reflects forum administrators’ confidence in you, and their willingness to delegate community management functions, like moderation.

If you think your trust level has been set incorrectly, contact an administrator of your forum. They can manually adjust the trust level of your account.

Third party links

Occasionally, at our discretion, we may include or offer third party products or services on our site. These third party sites have separate and independent privacy policies. We therefore have no responsibility or liability for the content and activities of these linked sites. Nonetheless, we seek to protect the integrity of our site and welcome any feedback about these sites.

Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Compliance

Our site, products and services are all directed to people who are at least 13 years old or older. If this server is in the USA, and you are under the age of 13, per the requirements of COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act), do not use this site.