Privacy

Ancient Herald is published by Huneform in the Netherlands. This page says what we store about you, which is very little.

Reading the site

We use no analytics, no advertising and no tracking. Fonts and maps are served from our own server. Only when you click a map to explore it does your browser load map tiles from OpenStreetMap (openstreetmap.org) (see the OpenStreetMap privacy policy). Like every web server, ours keeps a short technical log of requests (IP address, page, time) for security; our hosting provider deletes it after a few weeks. When you open a story from a post on X, we add one to a count for that story and day, so we know which posts readers find useful. That count holds nothing about you.

Cookies

We set no cookies for tracking or advertising, so we do not ask for consent. The only cookies are the two that keep you signed in (below). Your browser also remembers a few choices on your own device: light or dark mode, and that you closed the house rules. That stays in your browser and never reaches us.

Your account

An account is your e-mail address and when you created it and last signed in. Signing in sets two cookies that are needed for it to work: a session cookie that ends when you close the browser, and, if you tick "keep me signed in", a cookie that lasts 30 days. We store a one-time sign-in code and link only as a hash, for 15 minutes. When you upvote a story or a comment we store what you upvoted. You can delete your account on your account page at any time; this deletes all of it at once.

Comments

When you comment, we store your comment, the story it belongs to and when you wrote it. Your comments are public, with the display name you chose (not your e-mail address), and are listed on your reader page. If you report a comment, we store that you reported it and mail the editor. You can delete your own comments at any time; the editor can hide comments that break the rules. Deleting your account deletes your comments too.

The newsletter

When you subscribe we store your e-mail address, a random code for the confirm and unsubscribe links, and when you signed up and confirmed. We use the address only to send the weekly newsletter. If you do not confirm within a week, we delete the address; when you unsubscribe, we delete it at once.

Where and why

All of this stays on our server with our Dutch hosting provider. We never share, sell or use it for anything else. The legal basis is the agreement with you (account, comments and membership), your consent (newsletter, which you can withdraw with the link in every issue) and the legal duty to keep bookkeeping (payments).

Your rights

You can ask what we store about you, or ask us to delete it, at editor@ancientherald.com. You can also complain to the Dutch data protection authority, the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens.