Reader privacy

We count article views without building visitor profiles.

Public Rot records daily totals by page and broad traffic source, such as search, Bluesky or a direct visit. Our readership counter does not store IP addresses, full referrer addresses, cookies or visitor identifiers. It respects the browser’s Do Not Track setting. Counts describe browser events, not unique people. When a new view is recorded, aggregate records older than 90 days are removed.

The site and its hosting provider process network requests to serve pages and protect the service. Hosting logs are separate from our aggregate readership counter. Publication fonts are served from Public Rot.

Publisher sign-in and signed-in correction reports use the hosting service’s authentication. A correction report contains the information you submit and stays in the private newsroom. Email subscriptions store your address, confirmation and delivery status, and a broad signup source in private storage. We send the weekly briefing only after confirmation. Every email includes an unsubscribe link; we do not use tracking pixels. Purelymail processes delivery. Unconfirmed addresses and opt-outs are removed after 30 days during sender runs. We do not collect payment information.

Email sent to our public contact addresses is stored in the newsroom mailbox hosted by Purelymail. Messages include the sender address, message contents and any attachments. We use them to handle inquiries, evaluate leads and investigate corrections. The addresses share one inbox; emailing the publisher does not create a separate confidential channel.

Links and share buttons open other services, which have their own privacy practices. RSS subscriptions let you follow the newsroom through a reader of your choice.