Privacy Policy for SimFoundry

Last Updated: [Saturday 14th Februsary]

1. Introduction

Welcome to SimFoundry ("we," "our," or "us"). We are committed to protecting your personal data and respecting your privacy.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and share information about you when you visit our website

• Functional Cookies: Essential for Memberstack to keep you logged in and remember your preferences.

(the "Site") and use our services as a sim racing mod directory.

For the purposes of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, the Data Controller is Steven Worrell (Sole Trader), based in the United Kingdom.

2. The Data We Collect About You

We collect different types of personal data to provide and improve our service. This includes:

A. Identity and Contact Data

When you create an account via our account management system Memberstack, we collect:

• Name
• Email Address
• Date of Sign Up
• Last Login Date
• Plan Type (e.g., Free, Patron tier)

B. Usage and Profile Data

We collect data on how you interact with the Site to improve your experience:

• Liked Mods: We store a list of mods you have 'liked' to display them on your user profile.
• Site Usage: Information about how you navigate the site, pages visited, and time spent.
• Behavioral Data: We use tools to visualise user behavior (e.g., heatmaps) to understand how the site is being used.

3. How We Collect Your Data

We use different methods to collect data from and about you:

• Direct Interactions: You provide your identity and contact data by filling in forms or by creating an account.
• Automated Technologies: As you interact with our website, we automatically collect Technical Data about your browswer type, browsing actions, and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies and similar technologies.
• Third Parties: We may receive data about you from third parties, specifically:
  • Patreon: If you subscribe to a paid plan, we manually cross-reference your email address with your Patreon status to unlock features on SimFoundry. Note: We do not process or store your financial/credit card information directly; this is handled entirely by Patreon.

4. How We Use Your Data

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

• To register you as a new user and manage your account:
  • Type of Data: Identity & Contact
  • Lawful Basis: Performance of a contract
• To manage your membership plan (linking to Patreon):
  • Type of Data: Identity & Contact
  • Lawful Basis: Performance of a contract
• To enable site features (e.g., saving 'Liked' mods):
  • Type of Data: Profile Data
  • Lawful Basis: Performance of a contract
• To improve our website (using Analytics & Hotjar):
  • Type of Data: Usage Data
  • Lawful Basis: Legitimate interests (to keep our website updated and relevant)
• To send you marketing emails and updates (The Value Exchange):
  • Type of Data: Identity & Contact
  • Lawful Basis: Performance of a contract (Terms of Service)

Marketing Communications & The Value Exchange

SimFoundry operates on a "Value Exchange" model. By registering for a Free Plan on our Site, you agree that your email address will be subscribed to our marketing database (managed via ConvertKit). You acknowledge that this subscription is the consideration provided in exchange for free access to our services.

Opting Out: While subscription is required upon sign-up, you retain the right to unsubscribe at any time. You can ask us to stop sending you marketing messages by following the "unsubscribe" link on any marketing message sent to you.

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5. Disclosures of Your Data

We use trusted third-party services to help us operate SimFoundry. We share your data with the following providers solely for operational purposes:

• Memberstack: To manage user accounts, authentication, and secure login.
• Google Analytics: To track website traffic and usage statistics.
• Hotjar: To analyse user behavior (heatmaps, scroll maps) to improve site usability.
• ConvertKit: To manage our email database and send newsletters.
• Patreon: To verify subscription status for premium features.

No Sale of Data:

We allow you to use our site in exchange for your email address for our own marketing purposes. We will never sell, rent, or trade your personal data or email lists to any third parties for their independent marketing purposes.

6. Data Retention

We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

If you delete your account, your personal profile data (such as liked mods) will be removed from our active databases.

7. Your Legal Rights

Under the UK GDPR, you have rights regarding your personal data, including the right to:

• Request access to your personal data.
• Request correction of your personal data.
• Request erasure of your personal data (Right to be Forgotten).
• Object to processing of your personal data.
• Request restriction of processing your personal data.
• Withdraw consent at any time.

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us.

8. Cookies

Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site.

• Analytical Cookies: We use Google Analytics and Hotjar to understand how visitors interact with the website.

• Functional Cookies: Essential for Memberstack to keep you logged in and remember your preferences.

You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this website (such as logging in) may become inaccessible or not function properly.

9. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or our privacy practices, please contact the Data Controller:

Name: Steven Worrell

Email: steven@stevenworrell.com

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