What This Site Collects and Why
Stranger Than Fiction does not require you to create an account, provide your email address, or identify yourself in any way to read this site. That is by design.
The infrastructure that delivers these pages to your browser does, however, involve data collection at several levels — some by us, some by third parties whose services we use. This page documents what is collected, by whom, and what you can do about it.
We process the data described on this page on the basis of legitimate interest in operating, securing, and improving this site. Where consent is required — such as opting to save your details in comment cookies — we collect it at the point of action.
Who Operates This Site
Stranger Than Fiction is operated by Strangerthanfiction.org. For privacy-related inquiries, contact: webmaster [a_ t _] strangerthanfiction.org
Server Logs
Our web hosting provider automatically logs basic connection data when you visit any page on this site. This includes your IP address, browser type, referring URL, pages visited, and the date and time of access. These logs are used for security monitoring and basic traffic analysis. They are not sold, shared with advertisers, or used to build user profiles.
Cookies
WordPress sets a small number of cookies by default. If you leave a comment on the site, you may opt in to saving your name, email, and website in cookies for convenience on future comments. These are stored locally on your device and expire after approximately one year.
If you log into the site (which applies only to administrators, not readers), WordPress sets authentication cookies that persist for up to two weeks, depending on session settings. These manage login state and are not used for tracking.
This site does not use advertising cookies, tracking pixels, or third-party behavioral tracking scripts.
Embedded Content
Articles on this site may include embedded content from external platforms — primarily YouTube videos. Embedded content from other websites behaves exactly as if you had visited that website directly. These services may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with the embedded content.
We do not control what these platforms collect. YouTube is operated by Google; their data practices are described in Google’s Privacy Policy. If that concerns you — and a reasonable argument exists that it should — consider using a privacy-focused browser or extensions that block third-party trackers.
Analytics
If analytics tools are active on this site, they collect usage data such as pages viewed, time on site, general geographic region, and device type. Depending on the tool, this data may be pseudonymized rather than fully anonymized. It is used to understand which content reaches readers and how the site performs technically — not to identify or profile individual visitors.
Comments
If you submit a comment, the content of the comment along with the name, email address, and website URL you provide are stored in the site’s database. Your email address is not displayed publicly. Comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service such as Akismet, which may process the data described on Automattic’s privacy policy page.
International Data Transfers
This site is hosted in the United States. If you access it from outside the U.S. — including from the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom — your data may be transferred to and processed in the United States, where data protection laws differ from those in your jurisdiction.
Data Retention
Comments and their metadata are retained indefinitely unless you request their removal. Server logs are retained according to our hosting provider’s standard retention period, typically 30 to 90 days.
Your Rights
If you have left comments on this site, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
Residents of the European Economic Area have additional rights under the GDPR, including the right to access, rectification, restriction of processing, and the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. California residents may have rights under the CCPA depending on applicable thresholds. To exercise any of these rights, use the contact information above.
Contact
For any privacy-related requests, contact us at: webmaster [a_ t _] strangerthanfiction.org
Last updated: April 2026