Privacy Policy

1. About this policy

This policy applies to the AquaFolks website and services. We don't sell your personal information, and we don't show advertising.

2. Information we collect

Information you give us

• Account details: your email address, username, display name and password (we store a scrambled “hash” of your password, never the password itself).
• Profile details you choose to add: profile photo, bio, the year you started the hobby, and your location (city, state, country, and map coordinates if you provide them).
• Content you post: tanks and their photos, descriptions, dimensions, livestock, plants and equipment; water parameter readings; care logs (water changes, fertilizer doses, filter cleaning and similar upkeep); projects, milestones and updates with their photos, videos and video links; comments, likes and follows.
• Messages you send to other members, including any images you attach.
• Reports you submit about content or members, and the details you include with them.
• Your notification and email preferences, and anything you send us when you contact us.

Information from Google

If you sign up or log in with Google, we receive your name, email address and profile picture from them, as allowed by your settings with that service.

Information collected automatically

• Basic technical data when you use the site, such as your IP address, browser type, the pages or features requested and the time of the request. This is recorded in our server logs to run and secure the service.
• Usage statistics collected by Google Analytics, such as the pages you view, roughly where you are (country and city, worked out from your IP address), your device and browser type, and how you arrived at the site. These are tied to a cookie only if you accept analytics cookies. See “Cookies and similar technologies”.
• The time you last logged in.
• A login token stored in your browser so you stay signed in (see “Cookies and similar technologies”).

3. How we use your information

• To provide AquaFolks: create your account, show your tanks, projects and updates, build your feed from the people you follow, deliver messages and let you like and comment.
• To send you emails you need, such as password resets, and notifications you have turned on (for example comments, likes, follows and project updates). You can change these in Settings.
• To keep the community safe: review reports, moderate content, enforce our terms, and prevent spam, fraud and abuse.
• To maintain and improve the service, fix problems and keep it secure, including measuring how the site is used so we know what to improve.
• To comply with the law and respond to valid legal requests.

4. What other people can see

• Public: your username, display name, profile photo, bio, hobby start year, city, state and country (if you set them), your tanks, public projects and updates, water readings and livestock lists on your tanks, your comments, and the fact that you liked or followed something. Anyone can see these, including people without an account and search engines.
• Not shown to other members: your email address, your password, your exact map coordinates, your login history and your notification settings.
• Private: private projects are visible only to you. Messages are visible only to the people in the conversation, although anyone you message can copy or share them. We only look at messages when it is needed to handle a report, keep people safe, or comply with the law.

Please don't post information you want to keep private, such as your home address, in public content.

5. Who we share it with

We share personal information only in these situations:

• Service providers that help us run AquaFolks — for example hosting, database and file storage, and email delivery. They may use your information only to provide their services to us.
• Google, which provides the analytics we use to measure how the site is used (Google Analytics). Google processes this data on our behalf under its own terms.
• Google, if you choose to sign in with it.
• Cloudflare, which runs the bot check on our sign-up, login and password-reset forms.
• Other members and the public, as described in “What other people can see”.
• Authorities or other parties when we believe in good faith that the law requires it, or that it is necessary to protect the safety of people or the service.
• A successor, if AquaFolks is merged, acquired or sold, in which case we will let you know if your information becomes subject to a different policy.

6. Cookies and similar technologies

• We don’t use advertising cookies or trackers.
• We store your answer to the cookie banner in your browser’s local storage so we don’t ask again on every visit.
• We use Google Analytics to understand how the site is used. Its script loads with every page, so Google receives your IP address, browser details and the page you are viewing. Until you accept cookies it runs without them and can't tell one visit from another. If you accept, it sets cookies in your browser (such as _ga) so that it can. We don't send it your name, email address or the content of your messages. You can change your answer at any time with “Cookie settings” at the bottom of every page, and you can block Google Analytics entirely with Google's opt-out browser add-on.
• When you log in, we store a login token and a copy of your basic profile in your browser’s local storage so you stay signed in. It is removed when you log out.
• Our pages load fonts and icons from Google Fonts, so Google receives your IP address and browser details when a page loads.
• The sign-up, login and password-reset forms use Cloudflare Turnstile to tell people from bots. When the check runs, Cloudflare receives your IP address and some browser details, and it may set a cookie of its own, under its own privacy policy.
• Videos from services like YouTube or Vimeo may be embedded in updates. Those services can set their own cookies and collect data when you play a video, under their own policies.

7. How long we keep it

• We keep your account and content while your account is open.
• Water parameter readings are deleted automatically after one year.
• When you delete content or we delete your account, we remove it from the live service. Copies may remain in backups for a limited period before they are overwritten.
• Some information may be kept longer where needed for safety, to enforce our terms (for example, to stop a banned person rejoining) or to meet legal obligations.

8. Your choices and rights

• You can view and edit your profile and choose which notifications you receive in Settings, and you can delete your own tanks, projects, updates and comments.
• To ask for a copy of your information, to correct it, or to have your account and its content deleted, email [email protected]. We'll respond within 30 days.
• Depending on where you live (for example the EU, UK or California), you may also have the right to object to or restrict certain processing, to receive your data in a portable format, and to complain to your local data protection authority. We won’t treat you differently for using these rights.

9. Security

We use reasonable measures to protect your information, including hashing passwords and using encrypted connections. No service can be completely secure, so please choose a strong, unique password and tell us straight away if you think your account has been compromised.

10. Children

AquaFolks is not meant for children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect their information. If you believe a child under 13 has created an account, contact us and we will delete it.

11. International users

Our service providers may process information in countries other than yours. By using AquaFolks you understand that your information may be transferred to, stored and handled in those countries, which may have different data protection rules than your own.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as AquaFolks changes. We'll update the date at the top and, for important changes, tell you on the site or by email.

13. Contact us

Questions or requests about your privacy? Email us at [email protected].