Privacy Policy
The short version: we don't sell your information, we don't run ads, and our analytics don't use cookies or track you as a person. You can delete your account yourself at any time.
Who We Are and What This Covers
simpler.social is run by Simpler Social LLC ("we" or "us"). This policy explains what we collect when you use the site, what we do with it, and what say you have in all of it.
We built simpler.social so people can find each other through the things they love. That only works if you tell us a little about yourself. So we collect as little as we can, and we try to be straight with you about the rest.
simpler.social is new, and some features described here, like posting, messaging and profile photos, are still being built. This policy covers them as they launch.
What We Collect
What You Give Us
- Account details. Your first and last name, a username, your email address, your date of birth and a password. We use your date of birth to confirm you're 18 or older. Passwords are stored in scrambled (hashed) form, so we can't read them.
- Your profile. Your name and username, plus a photo, a bio and a general location if you choose to add them.
- Your tags. The Nerdoms, Hobbies, Genres, Allegiances and Curiosities you pick, and any new ones you suggest.
- Your connections. Who you're connected with, and the connection requests you send and receive.
- Your groups. The groups you create or join, your role in them, and the group invitations you send and receive.
- Your privacy options. Whether your profile, posts, connections and group memberships are public or private, and whether people can connect with you automatically or need your approval.
- Likes and replies. The posts you like and the replies you write.
- Notifications. When someone likes, replies to or passes on your post, asks to connect or connects with you, invites you to a group, or approves your group post, we save a notification for you saying who did it and when, and whether you've seen it.
- What you post. Posts, comments, reactions and anything else you put up for other members to see.
- Messages. The direct messages you send to other members.
- People you invite. If you invite someone, we store the first name, last name and email address you give us, only to send that one invitation. If they don't accept within 30 days, we delete it. Anyone can ask us to never send them invitations, and we keep only a scrambled (hashed) copy of their address to honor that.
- What you send us. Support emails, feedback, and reports about other members or content.
A Note About Your Tags
Some tags say more about you than others. Picking Politics, Spirituality or Mental Health can hint at what you believe or what you're going through. Every tag is optional. We use tags only to show them on your profile and to connect you with people who picked the same ones. You can remove any tag at any time in your settings.
If you suggest a new tag, we review it before other members can pick it. Until then, it appears only on your profile.
What We Collect Automatically
- Your IP address, browser and device type, the pages you visit and when, recorded in our server logs. We use these to keep the site running and secure, and we delete them after 14 days.
- Short-lived counters of sign-in and sign-up attempts, used to stop password guessing and spam. These expire within a day.
- Anonymous page-view statistics from Fathom Analytics. Fathom doesn't use cookies and doesn't collect personal information, so it can't identify you or follow you around the web.
- Cookies that keep you signed in and protect your account (more on those below).
What We Don't Collect
We don't ask for your precise location, your contacts or payment details.
How We Use It
We use your information to run the site and nothing beyond that. Specifically, to:
- Set up your account and show your profile
- Suggest people who share your tags
- Show your posts to your connections, and to members who share a topic you tag, newest first, with no ranking algorithm
- Deliver your posts, comments and messages
- Show you notifications on the site about activity involving you
- Catch spam and abuse, and enforce our community rules
- Fix bugs and see which parts of the site are working, using totals and trends instead of individual profiles
- Send emails about your account, like email confirmation, password resets and security notices
- Send optional emails, like new-connection notices. You'll always be able to turn these off.
- Meet our legal obligations
We don't use your information to target ads, because we don't run any. The emails we send don't contain tracking pixels or tracked links.
What Other People Can See
A social site shows some of your information to other people. You choose who sees your profile, your posts, your connections and your groups under Privacy in your account settings:
- Public: anyone, including people who aren't signed in.
- Community: anyone signed in to simpler.social. This is the default for your profile, posts and groups.
- Connections: only people you're connected with. This is the default for your list of connections.
| Information | Who Can See It |
|---|---|
| Name and username | Anyone who opens your profile |
| Your tags, photo, bio | Whoever your Profile setting allows |
| The groups you're in | Whoever your Group Memberships setting allows |
| Posts, comments, reactions | Your connections always. With Community or Public, also people your setting allows who visit your profile or share an interest you tagged. |
| Who liked your post | Only you, as names. We never show like counts to anyone. |
| Your replies | Anyone who can see the post you replied to |
| Posts in a group | Members of that group (and anyone signed in, if the group is public) |
| Who's in a group | Members of that group |
| Who you're connected with | Whoever your Connections setting allows |
| Direct messages | You and the people in that conversation |
| Email address and date of birth | Only you and us |
| IP address and device details | Only us |
Profiles and posts are only visible to people who aren't signed in if you choose Public. Even then, we ask search engines not to index member pages. If you edit a post, people who can see it will see that it was edited. If your posts are Community or Public, other members can pass them on to the people who see their posts; your original stays under your control, so if you change your setting or delete the post, it disappears from their pass-ons too. In groups that review posts, the group's owners and admins see your post before it appears. If you report a post, we don't tell anyone who reported it.
Keep in mind that anything other members can see, they can also copy or screenshot. We can't pull that back once it has left the site.
When We Share Information
We don't sell your information, rent it or trade it. We share it only in these situations:
- Companies that help us run the site. DigitalOcean hosts our servers and database in the United States. Cloudflare protects the site and routes traffic to it. Twilio SendGrid delivers our emails. Fathom Analytics provides anonymous usage statistics. They can use your information only to do that work for us.
- When the law requires it. If we get a valid subpoena, court order or similar demand, we may have to hand over information. We'll tell you first unless the law stops us.
- To keep people safe. If we believe someone is at risk of serious harm, or we're investigating abuse of the site, we may share what's needed with the right people.
- If the site changes hands. If simpler.social is sold or merged, your information may move to the new owner. We'll tell you before it falls under a different privacy policy.
- When you ask us to. For example, if you connect another service to your account.
Cookies
We use a small number of cookies, and none of them are for advertising or analytics.
- Sign-in cookie keeps you logged in as you move around the site. It lasts up to 14 days, or until you log out.
- Security cookie protects your account from forged form submissions.
- Cloudflare may set a cookie to tell people apart from automated bots.
Your light or dark mode choice is saved in your browser's own storage, not in a cookie, and never sent to us.
You can block cookies in your browser settings. If you block the sign-in cookie, you won't be able to stay logged in.
We don't follow you around other websites. So the site works the same way whether or not your browser sends a Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signal.
Your Choices and Rights
You're in charge of your information here, no matter where you live. You can:
- See and change it. Edit your name, username, email address, tags and privacy options in your account settings whenever you like.
- Get a copy. Email us and we'll send you the information tied to your account.
- Fix it. If something we hold about you is wrong, tell us and we'll correct it.
- Delete it. Delete your account yourself under Account Settings, or email us, and we'll delete your information as described below.
- Turn off optional emails. Use the unsubscribe link or your notification settings.
To make a request, email [email protected]. We may ask you to confirm it's really you, usually by replying from the email on your account. We'll answer within 45 days.
Some states, including California and Colorado, give their residents legal rights to see, correct and delete their personal information. We offer those same choices to everyone. We won't treat you any differently for using them.
If we turn down a request, we'll tell you why. You can appeal by replying to that email, and someone will take a second look within 45 days.
How Long We Keep It and How We Protect It
How Long We Keep It
We keep your information for as long as your account is open, except notifications, which we delete after 90 days. When you delete your account:
- Your account details, profile and tags are deleted right away.
- Tags you suggested that no one else picked are deleted too.
- Copies in our database backups are gone within 30 days.
- Server logs that include your IP address are deleted on their normal 14-day schedule.
- Messages you sent stay in the inboxes of the people you sent them to.
- We keep a small record when we have to, for example to honor a legal duty or to stop a banned member from signing up again.
How We Protect It
We encrypt information as it travels between you and the site, and between our servers and our database. Passwords are stored in hashed form. We limit repeated sign-in attempts to stop password guessing, and we limit who on our side can get to member data. No website can promise perfect security. If a breach ever affects your information, we'll tell you.
Age Limit
simpler.social is for adults 18 and older. We ask for your date of birth when you sign up and don't create accounts for anyone younger. We don't knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If we learn that someone under 18 has an account, we'll close it and delete their information.
If You're Outside the United States
We run the site from the United States, and your information is stored and processed there.
Changes and How to Reach Us
We'll update this policy as the site grows. When we do, we'll change the effective date at the top. If a change affects how we use your information in a meaningful way, we'll email you or post a notice on the site at least 14 days before it takes effect.
Questions, requests or complaints about privacy can go to Simpler Social LLC at [email protected].