Who we are
We are/I am Brenda Dayne, and this page explains how my site works.
Brand Policy
Everything on the site has been created by me, except where noted. If you reference Brenda Dayne, and/or use images, writing, or audio from this website, please be so kind as a credit my work. Better still, use the Contact page to get in touch and ask permission. I’m likely to say yes. So ask. Asking is cool!
From time to time I may be asked to use and review products, or create content featuring products, in return for compensation. Any such content will be clearly annotated as having been sponsored. Sometimes the sponsorship results in gifted product, and sometimes the transaction involves actual Coin of the Realm. Either way, I’ll always let you know that I’ve been compensated.
You should also know that I will never promote a product, or brand solely to reap compensatory rewards. Sometimes I wish I could shill, but I just don’t have it in me. I must genuinely like something in order to recommend it. If I find I can’t support a product or brand, for whatever reason, I simply won’t review or use the product. I’ll let the sponsor know why, and I’ll return any and all compensation.
What personal data we collect and why
Comments
When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.
An anonymised string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service Privacy Policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
Cookies
If you leave a comment on our site you may opt in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.
If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.
If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.
Embedded content from other websites
Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.
These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
Analytics
Who we share your data with
I use Google Analytics on this site, which helps me understand how the site is being used, and what types of content are most popular with my visitors.
If, for instance, I write post entitled, “How to Become a Swan”, and it goes viral, I may deduce from this that swan transitioning could warrant another blog post, or maybe even a podcast. I’d go all-in on swan research, and I’d look for a fully transitioned swan to interview. I’d come up with a list of hard-hitting questions, like, “Can you really break a man’s arm?” and “Do you feel different, now that you’re the property of the Queen?” The resulting podcast… WOULD. BE. EPIC.
Conversely, if very few people were interested in the swan post, I’d assume that swans are a bit of a niche market, and I’d let the whole thing go.
(Sorry for the little levity break there. Data protection is a bit dry. If you made it this far, well done you.)
Anyway, that’s how I use analytics. Google uses them in a completely different way.
How Google uses your analytics
(Sadly, there are no swans in this part.)
To help understand your interests, Google will track your behaviour on this website and on other websites across the Internet using cookies.
A cookie is a file containing an identifier (a string of letters and numbers) that is sent by a web server to a web browser and is stored by the browser. The identifier is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server. Cookies may be either “persistent” cookies or “session” cookies: a persistent cookie will be stored by a web browser and will remain valid until its set expiry date, unless deleted by the user before the expiry date; a session cookie, on the other hand, will expire at the end of the user session, when the web browser is closed. Cookies do not typically contain any information that personally identifies a user, but personal information that we store about you may be linked to the information stored in and obtained from cookies.
Who I share your data with, other than Google
Absolutely no one.
How long we retain your data
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognise and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.
What rights you have over your data
If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
Where we send your data
Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.
Thanks for reading this far. Here is a picture of a swan.
