MechaBay:Privacy policy
This policy outlines the information MechaBay collects, how we use that information, and how you can control how your information is shared. This policy was last updated on February 1, 2009.
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General information
If you only wish to browse the pages on MechaBay, you do not need to register for an account. You would need to create an account if you want to create and edit pages. Only your username, password and email address are required to sign up for a MechaBay account.
This information is only stored for the purpose of identifying the individuals who made the changes to a page. The community would be able to recognise and thank users who make significant contribution to MechaBay. Any disagreement with the changes made can then be brought to the attention of the editor. Vandalism can be tracked to the user responsible to allow the site administrator to deal with them.
Data retention
IP and other technical information
When a visitor requests or reads a page, or sends email to MechaBay, no more information is collected than is typically collected by web sites. The MechaBay may keep raw logs of such transactions, but these will not be published or used to track legitimate users.
When a user edits a page, the server confidentially stores related IP information for a limited period of time. This information is automatically deleted after a set period.
Cookies
MechaBay sets a temporary session cookie in your web browser when you visit a MechaBay page. Readers who do not intend to log in or edit may deny this cookie. It will be deleted at the end of the browser's session. Most web browsers allow you to disable cookies. More cookies may be set when you log in to your account on MechaBay. If you choose for the site to remember your username and password, the information will be saved for up to 30 days, and this information will be resent to the server on every visit. Contributors using a public machine who do not wish to show their username to future users of the machine should clear these cookies after use.
Page history
Edits to pages, user pages and talk pages are generally retained forever. Removing text from a project does not permanently delete it. Normally, in projects, anyone can look at a previous version of an article and see what was there. Even if an article is "deleted", a user entrusted with higher level of access may still see what was removed from public view.
User contribution
User contributions are also aggregated and publicly available. User contributions are aggregated according to their registration and login status. Data on user contributions, such as the times at which users edited and the number of edits they have made, are publicly available via user contributions lists, change logs and in aggregated forms published by other users.
Reading projects
No more information on users and other visitors reading pages is collected than is typically collected in server logs by web sites. Aside from the above raw log data collected for general purposes, page visits do not expose a visitor's identity publicly. Sampled raw log data may include the IP address of any user, but it is not reproduced publicly.
Editing projects
Edits to Project pages are identified with the username or network IP address of the editor, and editing history is aggregated by author in a contribution list. Such information will be available permanently on the projects.
A user's IP address is stored on the server for a period of time, during which it can be seen by server administrators and by users who have been granted CheckUser access. IP address information, and its connection to any usernames that share it, may be released under certain circumstances (see below).
Discussions
On discussion pages: Any editable page can theoretically be the location of a discussion. In general, discussions occur on user talk pages (associated with particular users), or on article talk pages (associated with particular articles). Privacy expectations apply to discussion pages in the same way as they do elsewhere.
Via email: Users are not required to list an email address when registering. Users who provide a valid email address can enable other users to send email to them through MechaBay. When receiving an email from other users through this system, one's email address is not revealed to them. When choosing to send an email to other users, one's email is displayed as the sender.
The email address put into one's user preferences may be used by the site administrator for communication. Users whose accounts do not have a valid email address will not be able to reset their password if it is lost. In such a situation, however, users may be able to contact the site administrator to enter a new e-mail address. A user can remove the account's email address from his preferences at any time to prevent it from being used. Private correspondence between users may be saved at those users' discretion and is not subject to MechaBay policy.
Release: Policy on Release of Data
It is the policy of MechaBay that personally identifiable data collected in the server logs, or through records in the database via the CheckUser feature, or through other non-publicly-available methods, may be released by in any of the following situations:
- In response to a valid subpoena or other compulsory request from law enforcement,
- With permission of the affected user,
- When necessary for investigation of abuse complaints,
- Where the information pertains to page views generated by a spider or bot and its dissemination is necessary to illustrate or resolve technical issues,
- Where the user has been vandalising articles or persistently behaving in a disruptive way, data may be released to a service provider, carrier, or other third-party entity to assist in the targeting of IP blocks, or to assist in the formulation of a complaint to relevant Internet Service Providers,
- Where it is reasonably necessary to protect the rights, property or safety of the MechaBay, its users or the public.
Except as described above, MechaBay policy does not permit distribution of personally identifiable information under any circumstances.
