Privacy and comment rules
BothSides Review is run by one person, Leonard Dalenberg, in Niles, Michigan. This page says what the site keeps about you and what is expected of people who comment. Questions go to [email protected].
Privacy
If you only read
You do not need an account to read anything except the Editor's Notebook. The site does not use advertising, visitor tracking or analytics, and it does not sell or share information about readers. Its three front pages keep a simple running count of visits, with nothing recorded about who visited.
Three things happen for every visitor:
- One cookie. The site sets a single cookie that keeps you signed in and protects its forms. It is deleted when you close your browser. There are no advertising or tracking cookies.
- Server records. Like every website, the company that hosts this one (Network Solutions) keeps routine logs of requests, which include your internet address and the pages requested.
- Fonts. The typefaces are loaded from Google Fonts, so your browser contacts Google to fetch them.
If you ask for an account
The site keeps what you enter on the request form:
- Your name, which is shown publicly beside your comments.
- Your e-mail address, which is your sign-in and is never shown publicly.
- Your password, stored only in a scrambled form that cannot be read back, even by the editor.
- The note you wrote when asking to join, if any, which only the editor sees.
It also records the date of your last sign-in and, to guard against password guessing, each sign-in attempt with the e-mail address tried and the internet address it came from.
What it is used for
This information is used to run your account, to show your name with your comments, and to reach you about your account or a comment. It is not sold, rented or given to anyone else. It would be disclosed only if the law required it.
Your comments
Comments you send are kept with your account. Published comments are public and stay on the page they belong to. Comments the editor declines are not shown.
Tips
Tips for the book are handled by Ko-fi and its payment companies. This site never sees or stores your card or bank details.
Changing or removing your information
To correct your name, change your e-mail address, close your account, or have your comments removed, write to [email protected]. Requests are handled by hand, usually within a few days.
Age
Accounts are for adults aged 18 or over.
Comment rules
Comments are here so that readers can test what a page says. Every comment is read by the editor before it appears.
- Use your real name. Accounts are approved by the editor and comments appear under the name on the account.
- Argue the issue, not the person. Disagree as strongly as you like with a position. Do not insult, mock or speculate about the motives of other commenters, the editor, or people on the other side.
- No threats, harassment or slurs. This includes attacks on people for their race, religion, sex, nationality, disability or orientation.
- Back up factual claims. If you say a fact on the page is wrong, say where your information comes from. A link or a citation is best.
- Stay on the page's subject. Say which part you are answering: one of the sides, the other views, the factual review, or the editor's comments.
- No advertising or copied material. Write in your own words. Short quotations with their source are fine.
The editor decides whether a comment meets these rules. A comment may be declined, or removed later, and an account that keeps breaking the rules may be suspended. Holding a view the editor disagrees with is never a reason for declining a comment.
Comments are the views of the people who wrote them. By sending a comment you agree that it may be shown on this site under your name.