Privacy for website visitors | Wrong Train Support

This policy explains what Wrong Train and Google receive when you visit the landing page at wrongtrain.com or this help center at support.wrongtrain.com, and what Wrong Train receives when you email it through the landing page's invite link or the contact page.

At a glance

The landing page loads Google Analytics and Google Fonts, so your browser sends information to Google, and Google Analytics stores cookies in your browser. Its server keeps a standard access log for about two weeks and an error log that can be kept longer.
This help center has no analytics, serves its own fonts, and sets no cookies of its own. Its server keeps a shortened access log for about two weeks.
Email you send to Wrong Train is received by the provider that hosts wrongtrain.org mail and read by Wrong Train.
Neither site has accounts, sign-in, or payments.

The landing page (wrongtrain.com)

Google Analytics

The landing page loads Google Analytics, Google's measurement service. Its Google tag reports each visit to two Google Analytics properties, G-FKL66X0C06 and G-CSTRPWRJVP. When the page opens, your browser downloads Google's script and sends information about your visit to Google, including the page you viewed and details about your browser and device. The page does not ask for consent before loading it.

Google Analytics stores these cookies in your browser: _ga, _ga_FKL66X0C06, and _ga_CSTRPWRJVP. They are set for wrongtrain.com and all of its subdomains and can last about 13 months. The landing page's web server sets no cookies itself.

Google signals is turned on for these properties. With Google signals, Google can associate visit data with signed-in Google accounts whose owners have turned on ad personalization, and your browser also contacts Google's advertising domain, stats.g.doubleclick.net. Wrong Train keeps Google Analytics event data for two months in both properties.

Google Fonts

The landing page loads its typefaces from Google Fonts. Your browser requests the font files directly from Google, which, like any web request, shares your IP address.

Landing page server logs

The wrongtrain.com web server records each request in a standard nginx access log. Each entry includes:

your IP address
the date and time
the page or file requested, including anything after a question mark in its address
the response status and size
the page that linked you there, if your browser sends it
your browser's user agent (your browser and operating system)

Some failed requests, such as server errors, are also written to an error log with your IP address and the full request. The access log is rotated daily and 14 rotated files are kept, so an access log entry normally stays on the server for about two weeks. The error log is rotated only on days when it has new entries, and its 14 most recent files are kept, so an error log entry can stay for several months.

This help center (support.wrongtrain.com)

This help center loads no analytics, serves its own fonts rather than Google's, and sets no cookies of its own.

Search

Search runs in your browser, and the words you type are not sent anywhere. Your browser does download a search index file from the help center, as it does a page.

Help center server logs

The access log records a shortened entry for each request your browser makes here, including pages, fonts, and the search index:

your IP address with the last part removed (for an IPv4 address, the last of its four numbers; for an IPv6 address, everything after the first three groups)
the date and time
the request method and the page requested, without anything after a question mark
the response status and size

The access log leaves out the page that linked you here and your user agent. Server errors, but not requests for missing pages, are written to an error log that includes your IP address and the full request. The help center keeps its own logs: they are rotated daily, and any log file older than 14 days is deleted, so an entry stays on the server for about two weeks.

Cookies from wrongtrain.com

Because the Google Analytics cookies are set for every wrongtrain.com address, your browser also sends them to this help center. The help center does not read or record them.

Email

The Request an invite link on the landing page opens a draft in your own email app. Nothing is sent until you send it.

If you email Wrong Train at research@wrongtrain.org, through that link or the contact page, your message is received by the email provider that hosts wrongtrain.org mail and read by Wrong Train. It carries your email address, usually the name set in your email app, anything you write or attach, and standard email header details such as the date and the mail servers it passed through, which can include network addresses. Messages are kept while Wrong Train needs them to reply or to handle your request, and are deleted when you ask.

An invite request is used only to send you the one email the landing page describes when a seat opens: "One email when a seat opens. Nothing else."

Please do not send personal histories, information about other people, passwords, or private records. See what not to send.

Monitoring

Automated checks may request pages from either site to confirm they are available. These checks are not visitors and do not involve your data.

Server logs are used to run both sites, keep them secure, and fix problems.
Google Analytics is used to understand how many people visit the landing page and which parts they read.
Email is used to reply to you, to handle invite requests, and to respond to misuse under the acceptable use policy.

Both sites run on a server hosted by DigitalOcean. Google receives information directly from your browser on the landing page, as described above. An outside email provider hosts wrongtrain.org mail. Wrong Train may also share information when the law requires it, or report a message that appears to threaten someone unlawfully to the authorities, as described in the acceptable use policy. The address of a sender blocked for misuse may be kept on a block list. Wrong Train does not sell this information or share it with anyone else except as described here.

How long information is kept

Access logs: about two weeks on the server. Landing page error logs: up to several months, as described above. Help center error logs: about two weeks.
Server backups: DigitalOcean makes a weekly backup of the server and keeps the four most recent, so a log entry can remain in a backup for about four more weeks.
Google Analytics event data: two months.
Email: while it is needed to reply or handle your request, or until you ask for it to be deleted.

Your choices and requests

You can block cookies, scripts, or requests to Google in your browser settings or with a content blocker. This help center works without them, except search, which needs JavaScript; every article is also listed under all help articles.
To ask what Wrong Train holds about you, or to have an email you sent deleted, email research@wrongtrain.org with the subject "Privacy question". See privacy questions.

Children

Neither site is directed to children under 13. If you believe a child has emailed Wrong Train, send a privacy request as described above and the message will be deleted.

What this policy does not cover

This policy does not cover the Wrong Train iPhone app, the private workspace, or SESHAT, which are in closed preview and not offered through this website. It also does not describe how Google handles what it receives; see Google's privacy policy.

Changes to this policy

This is version 1.0 of this policy. When it changes, the new version is published on this page with a new version number and effective date.

Questions

For privacy questions, see privacy questions on the contact page.