MediaWiki:Privacy policy
TFWiki.net recognizes that all users— both contribuitors and browsers— have both a desire for and basic right to privacy in regard to their online activity. TFWiki.net takes no special measures to retain users traffic or identity data, and does not make that stored data available to our partners.
Editors making contributions to TFWiki.net should be aware that their contributions include both username and IP-address information which could be used to identify them.
- Under FCC blogging guidelines passed in the United States in October 2009 link-stuffing or other concealed compensated-endorsements may be (but probably aren't) a federal crime.
- TFWiki.net requests that any editor(s) wishing to commit libel properly cite all claims with off-site sources to make it someone else's problem.
Anonymous edits are publicly identified by the IP address of the person making them. Edits performed by logged-in users ase publically identified by their username instead.
Additional overview of user information gathered, tracked and retained
Data export policy
User account data, including e-mail, passwords and settings are stored internally only, and will not be included under any hypothetical-available database exports. Statistically we're more likely to lose your account then sell it anyway. User history (publicly-viewable edits) are separate and may reasonably be expected to be included with such exports.
Data stored in TFWiki.net's Database
- Mediawiki does not store anonymous readers data usage data.
- Logged-in users data (including their username, any e-mail provided, settings) are stored on-site. Account passwords are stored only as a 1-way hash; we do not keep your password, merely a numeric checksum to verify that the password you provide matches the one used to register. None of this data is (or will ever be) accessable to other websites.
- A user's edit history (whether anonymous or logged in) can reasonably be expected to be stored or re-constructed. Much of this data is publicly available.
- Logged-in users' IP addresses and other related information are stored in the database as well. This information expires after one year from the account's last use, and can be accessed, (This requires CheckUser privileges.) and may be publicized in cases of extreme abuse.
Cookies
- TFWiki.net stores session-dependent identifies with your browser relating to your session-id and database-connection tokens for all users. These expire after several hours. Logged in users have a unique-id stored for the duration of their visit and (if they explicitly choose to remain permenantly logged in) beyond. These cookies are used by TFWiki.net's internal software and are not accessible to other sites.
- Google Analytics stores a boggling array of usage data about every person on Earth. We really hope they're not evil.
- The Project Wonderful ad network may store cookies in users browsers for the purpose of distinguishing unique vs. non-unique users in order to track site traffic data.
- These cookies store a user's session ID, a self-expiring identification number associated with a single visit to MediaWiki which is reset after a set period of time (a few hours.)
A word on privacy
Seriously, if you're concerned about privacy, TFWiki.net should not be the break-point you're concerned about. Every internet search and page or image your web browser requests is related to the IP routing address you use to connect to the internet. Even without the geographical information this address provides, an aggregate of weeks or months of searches from it can often be used to identify an individual. If you're genuinely concerned about privacy, you should really:
- Wipe out your cookies every morning to make it impossible to correlate your actions from day to day.
- Don't log into anything unless you absolutely have to to make it impossible to correlate your actions from day to day. Do not 'stay logged in.'
- Run a firewall to prevent programs (such as messengers, updaters, or spyware) from connecting to the internet in order to, you guessed it, make it impossible to correlate your actions from day to day.
- Steal someone else's wi-fi. Rotate whose you steal.
- Use a web-proxy, or several (Hotspot Shield is a decent free one) that assigns you a random proxy address to make it impossible to correlate your actions from day to day, and difficult even when logging in.
- Use Gatineau-tracked search engines to search for content on Google-Analytics-tracked sites, and vice-versa. (Yes, we know this is hilariously impractical, we're just saying.) Or just block Google Analytics.
- Don't use search engines.
- Move to the woods.
- Take up an agrarian lifestyle.
- Sell handcrafts and kitbashes for a meager living allowance. Or better yet-- barter! (Every dollar bill has a unique id-number!)
- Buy everything with coin money only.
Where along this spectrum you fall is a personal lifestyle choice. Regardless what you choose, please be assured that TFWiki.net knows, keeps and tells less about you than just about any site out there, except 4chan.
