Privacy Policy

Last Updated: 4/9/2025, 6:44:06 AM

1. Introduction

Welcome to the Alan Becker Wiki ("AB Wiki", "Wiki", "we", "us", or "our"). This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit and use our website. We are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your data with the utmost care. By accessing or using our website, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy.

2. Information We Collect

We collect information in a few different ways:

a. Account Registration

When you register for an account, you provide us with:

Username
Email Address
Password

b. Optional Profile Details

After registering, you may choose to provide additional, optional information to customize your profile, including:

Profile Picture
Display Name
Bio
Social Media Handles (e.g., Twitter, YouTube, Twitch, Tumblr, Instagram, GitHub, Spotify, or Reddit)

c. Website Usage Data

We use tools like Google Analytics to collect anonymized, aggregated data about how visitors interact with our website. This helps us understand user behavior and improve our content and services. For more details on what data Google collects and how it is used, please refer to Google’s Privacy Policy.

d. Wiki Suggestions

Our wiki suggestion system allows users to propose edits to pages via a suggestion feature. Here's how it works:

Users may submit suggestions whether logged in or not.
Logged-out users remain completely anonymous.
All suggestions are subject to review by a moderator, administrator, or developer before being published.

Any text entered into the suggestion field will be stored once the suggestion is submitted.

Please note that while anonymous suggestions do not link to any personal account, the content itself is retained for moderation and quality assurance purposes.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for various purposes, including:

Account Management: Creating and maintaining your user account.
Personalization: Customizing your experience on our website.
Website Improvement: Analyzing usage data to enhance content, functionality, and overall user experience.
Communication: Sending account-related updates, newsletters, or notifications. You may opt out of non-essential communications at any time.

4. Content Moderation via OpenAI Moderation API

To ensure a safe and respectful community, we employ automated content moderation tools provided by OpenAI. When you provide information such as your username, display name, bio, social media links, or avatar, this data is transmitted to OpenAI’s Moderation API for automated review. The purpose of this moderation is to detect and prevent content that may be harmful, abusive, or in violation of our community guidelines. This process is entirely automated, and no human review occurs unless the system flags your data for potential issues. The data sent for moderation is used solely for enforcing our content policies and is handled in accordance with this Privacy Policy and OpenAI’s privacy practices. By using our website, you consent to this processing of your data for content moderation purposes.

5. Data Security

We take the security of your data seriously and apply multiple layers of protection to ensure its confidentiality and integrity. Our measures include:

Encryption: Sensitive information is encrypted in transit and at rest to prevent unauthorized access.
Hashed Passwords: Passwords are stored using a cryptographic technique known as hashing. Hashing converts your password into a fixed-length string that cannot be reversed. Even the developer—despite having access to the database—cannot determine what your actual password is. This is by design, to ensure that your credentials remain secure, even in the unlikely event of a data breach.
Access Controls: Access to user data is strictly limited to personnel who require it for operational purposes.

Who Has Access and Why:

Moderators: Review user-generated content and respond to community reports. They do not have access to sensitive personal information such as email addresses or passwords.
Administrators: May assist with account management and recovery using carefully designed tools that avoid revealing sensitive data. They likewise do not have access to email addresses or passwords.
Developer: The developers are responsible for maintaining, updating, and securing the website infrastructure. As the database owner, the developers have full technical access to stored data, but hashed passwords remain unreadable and unrecoverable by design. Access is exercised responsibly and exclusively for legitimate technical or security-related purposes.
Regular Audits: We periodically review our data handling, access permissions, and storage practices to ensure they remain secure and compliant with best practices.

While no system is absolutely impervious, we employ industry-standard safeguards to protect your data from unauthorized access, misuse, or loss.

6. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use cookies and similar technologies to enhance your browsing experience, analyse site traffic, and understand user behaviour. Cookies help us:

Personalize Content: Remember your preferences and tailor content to you.
Improve Website Functionality: Ensure that features work as intended, such as sessions and website settings.
Track Analytics: Monitor how our website is used.

You can control cookie usage through your browser settings, though disabling cookies may affect the functionality of our website.

7. Third-Party Services

We may share certain anonymized or aggregated data with third-party service providers (such as Google Analytics) to better understand user behavior and improve our services. These third parties have their own privacy policies governing how they use such data. We do not sell or rent your personal information to any third parties.

8. Your Rights and Choices

You have rights regarding the personal information we hold about you. These include:

Access: You can review your personal data through your account settings.
Correction: You can update or correct your information at any time.
Deletion – Request the removal of your data, subject to applicable laws. Please note: Following a deletion request, we may retain your data for up to 90 days before it is permanently removed from our systems. This brief retention period allows us to ensure proper account closure, comply with any legal obligations, resolve disputes, and prevent accidental or malicious deletion.
Opt-Out: You may opt out of certain data collection or communications by adjusting your account settings or contacting us directly.

If you have any questions or wish to exercise these rights, please contact us using the information provided below.

9. Children's Privacy

We understand Alan Becker's audience is catered towards children; however, our website is not intended for children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 13. If you believe that we have inadvertently collected such data, please contact us immediately so that we can take appropriate steps to remove the information from our systems.

10. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. Any updates will be posted on this page with an updated "Last updated" date. Your continued use of our website after changes are made constitutes your acceptance of the revised policy.