Boylandonline's privacy policy

What information do we collect?

The list below is all of the information we collect about you or from you. This list is short.

• Your username, and previous usernames.
• Your current email address (not previous email addresses).
• A hashed password (undecipherable without knowing the actual password).
• Anything you write in the "About Me" or "Interests" sections of your profile.
• Any information you write in the registration form, including AoA and Reason for Registration.
• Your posts and PMs (unless deleted).

Regarding PMs: For a PM to be removed from our database, the sender and all recipients must delete the PM by leaving the conversation. Once there are no persons capable of seeing the PM, it is automatically purged from the database.

Regarding email address: We offer an email anonymisation service if you do not wish you use an email address while being a member. You will still need to verify your account during registration and have to provide a valid email address for this, but after approval we can remove this email and anonymise the email address listed. There will be no record of the email address you used to verify your account. Email anonymisation will also nullify your ability to recover your account if you lose access to it.

Cloud Storage and Image Handling:

In our commitment to providing a secure and efficient service, we utilize cloud-based storage solutions provided by our hosting service to store images that are uploaded to our site. This includes, but is not limited to, profile pictures, images shared in posts, and any other visual content you may upload as part of your interaction with our platform.

We choose our cloud service providers carefully, prioritizing those who demonstrate a strong commitment to security and privacy. However, it is important to note that while we implement rigorous measures to protect your data on our end, the management and operational practices of our cloud service provider are governed by their own privacy policies and security measures. We ensure that our providers use state-of-the-art encryption and security protocols to protect your images from unauthorized access, but we cannot extend our privacy guarantees to the infrastructures we do not directly control.

By using our service, you acknowledge and consent to the storage of images in the cloud as part of the functionality we offer. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of our cloud service provider to understand their practices and measures in place for safeguarding your data. Should you have any concerns or require further information about how your images are stored and protected, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Information we do not log include: IP address, device information, geo-location, browser information. More information is not collected, but these are the main ones. We have no need for it, so we don't collect it.

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What is this information used for?

The information you provide is kept completely private. We do not share your information with anyone, and never will. Your privacy is important, as is your anonymity, so we will protect that.

• Your AoA and Registration Reason will be used by site administration to determine whether or not to approve your account and give you access to the board. These pieces of information will be shared with your assigned Big Brother if you are approved.
• Your username will be used board-wide to identify your account and to identify any content you submit to the board.

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Who can access my information?

Access of your data is well guarded and for good reason. We don't want random people roaming and seeing everything.

Whilst we do our best to protect your privacy, Personal Messages are regularly checked to identify potential abuses and deal with such as we determine to be appropriate. Members of Boyland's administration have access to all messages sent and received via Boyland's PM system. Members may also report PMs to our moderation team, which gives them access to view the conversation.

• DreamHost (our host) can see all information on the entire website. This means they can also read PMs as and when they choose. This is why rules in PMs must also be followed.
• Board administrators can see all information on the entire website. This means they can also read PMs as and when they choose. This is why rules in PMs must also be followed.
• Registered board members can see: Your current username, AoA, posts in forums they have access to, profile status updates, your "About Me" profile section, and your "Interests" profile section. They can also see your current post count, reputation count, and the time of your last visit to the forum.
• Staff members (Moderator, Manager, Administrator) can see your previous usernames and your Reason for Registration.
• Your Personal Messages are only visible to you and the recipient, our host, and administrators. As explained above, admins will not read your PMs unless there is a reason to believe that your PMs contain content that may jeopardise our legal status.

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Cookie policy

Boyland uses cookies. These are small pieces of information stored in your browser. These are used by the site to log you in and keep you logged in. Without cookies, you won't be able to use the forums at all because you won't be able to log in.

One of these cookies is called "ips4_device_key", and under normal circumstances with an unmodified version of the forum software we run the cookie would use a hashed version of your user-agent to keep track of your device when you log in to the site. We've modified the site software to disable its ability to utilise your user agent for any purpose, so the cookie generated in this field is useless. It cannot be used to track what you do on the site, and it cannot be used to identify you.

The other cookies are generic ones. One of them tells the site how to display forums, another about whether you have JavaScript, another about your timezone as set in the database (as detected by JavaScript typically). None of these are identifiable.

Under Firefox/Tor Browser, you can view your cookies by opening the element inspector (press F12 or Ctrl+Shift+I) and navigate to the "Storage" tab, followed by opening the dropdown that says Cookies and selecting the site.

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FAQ

I want to delete my account and all my data.

This is possible in part. You can delete your account, and this will remove your username and various pieces of information from the board. Your posts will be anonymised, as will any PMs you sent. All other information on you will be removed.

To delete your account, send an ?administrator a message asking for deletion of your account by:

• Sending an email using the email address associated with your account.
• Sending a message through the contact form while logged in.
• Sending a message to an administrator while logged in.

We will ask to confirm your deletion request. If you are sure, respond to confirm the request and we will remove your account.

I want to anonymise my email address. How can I do this?

You have to send a message to an administrator stating that you wish to anonymise your email address. After confirmation that you understand the below stated risk, we will nullify your email address and remove any record of it from our site.

In doing this, you will be unable to recover your account if you lose access. You should be certain of your decision before you ask for anonymisation of email.

Other questions.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to ask. We would rather you understand the privacy policy than to sit in uncertainty not knowing what we do.