Privacy policy

What we collect

Analytics

This site uses Google Analytics 4 to understand which pages get read and which recommendations get acted on. It records things like the pages visited, how you arrived, approximate location at city level, device type and browser, and when an affiliate link is clicked.

That data is aggregate and statistical. We use it to decide what to write next and which pages need work — not to build a profile of you. Google sets cookies to do this; Google's own handling of that data is governed by its privacy policy, and you can opt out site-wide with Google's browser add-on or by blocking analytics in your browser or an extension. Blocking it affects nothing on this site.

The contact form

If you use the contact form we receive your name, your email address and your message, and nothing else. It is emailed to us so we can reply, and that is the whole purpose. We do not add you to a mailing list — there is no mailing list.

The form also records when the page loaded and your IP address briefly, purely to block automated spam. The IP is not stored with your message and is not used for anything else.

Server logs

Our host keeps standard request logs (IP address, timestamp, URL, user agent) for operational and security purposes, as every web host does. We do not mine them.

What we do not collect

• No accounts. There is nothing to sign up for, so there are no passwords and no profiles.
• No mailing list. We do not send newsletters and do not collect addresses for one.
• No advertising networks. No display ads, no retargeting pixels, no data brokers.
• No payment information. Nothing is sold here. Purchases happen on the retailer's site, under their terms.
• No sale of data. We have never sold or shared personal information for money or for cross-context advertising, and we do not intend to.

Affiliate links

Product links on this site pass through a redirect on this domain and then to the retailer, carrying our affiliate tag. The retailer — Amazon — may set its own cookies and apply its own privacy policy once you arrive. We never receive your Amazon order details, your payment information or your identity; what we see is an aggregate count of commissions, with no customer data attached.

Our affiliate disclosure explains the commercial side of this.

Cookies

We set no advertising cookies and no cross-site tracking cookies of our own. Blocking cookies entirely does not break anything on this site.

Your choices

• Block analytics in your browser or with an extension. Nothing here stops working.
• Ask for deletion. Email us and we delete any contact-form message you have sent, and confirm it.
• Ask what we hold. Email us and we will tell you — for most readers the honest answer is "nothing, beyond aggregate analytics that are not linked to you".
• Opt out of a sale of your data. There is nothing to opt out of; we do not sell or share personal information.

All of those go to contact@garageandworkbench.com.

How long we keep things

• Contact-form emails: kept while a conversation is useful, deleted on request.
• Analytics: retained according to Google Analytics' own retention settings, in aggregate form.
• Server logs: short-term, per our host's standard retention.

Children

This site is written for adults setting up a garage and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect information from children. If you believe a child has sent us something through the contact form, email us and we will delete it.

Security

The site is served over HTTPS. Contact-form messages travel over an authenticated connection to our mail provider. We hold no payment data and no passwords, which is the most effective security measure available to a site like this one.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes materially, the date at the top of this page changes with it. We do not restamp it without a real change — the same rule the rest of the site follows.

Who to contact

Garage & Workbench is published by Iron Mako Media. For anything in this policy: contact@garageandworkbench.com.