This document covers how Across The Veil has handled and continues to handle data related to its users and visitors. It was written in 2011 and last updated February 2014. The forum is now read-only, which changes some of what's written here in practical terms — I'll note where that applies.
Last updated: February 2014 | Administrator: VeilKeeper
Account registration. Username, email address, and password (hashed, never stored in plaintext). Optional: location, website URL, a short biography. Nothing was required beyond username, email, and password.
Posts and threads. Everything you posted on the forum was and remains publicly visible. If you posted it here, assume it is permanent. Even if a thread is locked or restricted, the data exists in the archive. I cannot guarantee deletion.
IP addresses. Standard forum software logs the IP address associated with each post. This was used for spam prevention and to enforce bans. These logs were not shared with third parties. They were not used for tracking beyond the forum context.
Private messages. The forum had a private message system. Those messages were stored server-side. They were not read by administration except in cases of reported abuse, and even then only by me personally. No third party had access.
No advertising. This forum has never run ads. No advertiser has ever had access to user data. That isn't going to change.
No analytics services. No Google Analytics, no tracking pixels, no third-party behavioral data collection. The forum logs what forum software logs. That's it.
No data sales. User data has never been sold, leased, or transferred to a third party for commercial purposes. This includes the archive in its current state.
Legal requests. If I had received a valid legal request for user data during the forum's active years, I would have complied with it. I'm telling you that now, in the past tense, because I think you should know. I did not receive such requests. The forum is now read-only and I am no longer in a position to be served with one in a meaningful sense, but I cannot legally commit to noncompliance with a hypothetical future order.
The forum used session cookies to keep users logged in. That's the extent of it. No tracking cookies. No cross-site behavioral data. No fingerprinting.
The archive in its current read-only state does not set login cookies because there's no login to maintain. Standard browser behavior applies — your browser may cache pages locally, which is your browser's business, not ours.
If you had an account on this forum and want your data removed, you can request that through the contact page. I can't promise a timeline or guarantee complete deletion from all backup states, but I will make a reasonable effort.
Posts you made on the forum are public content associated with your username. Removing your account does not automatically remove your posts. If you want posts removed specifically, say so in your request and I'll consider it on a case-by-case basis.
I won't remove posts that are directly relevant to ongoing threads or that other users have replied to in ways that depend on the context of your post. The forum is a record. Editing the record has limits.
This policy will not be updated. The forum is read-only and the situation is static. If something material changes — if the archive is transferred, if a legal situation develops, if I take the site down entirely — I'll make a reasonable effort to post notice somewhere accessible before it happens.
If I disappear without notice, this archive should be treated as abandoned. Whatever that means legally in your jurisdiction is beyond the scope of what I can address here.
— VK, February 2014