Privacy policy

MossPaper is designed to know as little about you as it can and still work. This policy lists what we collect, why, and when it is deleted. It applies to everyone who reads, replies, writes or contacts us here.

In short

• Reading needs no account and sets no cookies.
• Replies ask only for a name and the reply itself.
• Contact messages are kept for 90 days, then deleted.
• We run no analytics, advertising, tracking pixels or third-party scripts.

When you read

Reading a publication or an issue does not require an account and does not place a cookie in your browser. Like almost every website, our web server keeps standard access logs: your IP address, the page you requested, your browser’s user agent and the time. We use these logs for security and to keep the service running, and they are rotated and deleted after about two weeks.

When you reply

A reply asks for two things: the name you want shown and the text of your reply. We do not ask for an email address. Replies from guests are held for review, and only approved replies are published under the issue, where anyone can read them. A reply that is never approved is deleted automatically after 30 days.

To slow down spam we look at the IP address of each request while it is being handled, to limit how many replies or messages can be sent in a short time. This happens in memory only. IP addresses are not stored in the MossPaper database alongside your reply.

When you contact us

The contact form collects your name, your email address, the topic you choose and your message. We use them only to read your message, handle your request and reply to you. Contact messages are deleted automatically 90 days after they arrive.

If you write here

A writer’s publication page shows what the writer chooses to publish: a display name, a portrait, a short bio, an optional website link, a pinned introduction and their issues. All of it is public and is also distributed through RSS feeds. Writers can ask us to remove an issue or their whole publication.

Cookies

Readers receive no cookies from MossPaper. The only cookie we use is a session cookie for the site’s administrators, set when they sign in to moderate replies and manage the site.

Third parties

We do not sell, rent or share personal information. Two outside services are involved when your browser loads our pages:

• Google Fonts (fonts.googleapis.com and fonts.gstatic.com) serves the typefaces used on every page.
• Unsplash (images.unsplash.com) serves the photographs on our home page.

When your browser fetches those files, the provider receives your IP address and browser information, as with any web request. Images inside issues are hosted on MossPaper itself. The site is served over HTTPS using certificates from Let’s Encrypt.

Your requests

You can ask us what we hold about you, or ask us to delete it, for example a reply you posted or a message you sent. Use the contact page and choose “A privacy or data request”. Tell us enough to find the record, such as the name you used and the page address, and we will act on it.

Changes to this policy

If the way MossPaper handles information changes, we will update this page and the date at the top. We will not start collecting more about readers quietly.