Your privacy should be understandable.

Optional reader accounts

Where reader accounts are enabled, we use Clerk to provide sign-up, sign-in, verification emails, and account management. Clerk processes information such as your email address, selected profile details, sign-in method, and technical security information. If you choose Google sign-in, Google and Clerk process the information needed to authenticate you. See Clerk’s Privacy Policy for its practices.

Account services use cookies and similar storage needed to maintain and secure your sign-in session. Reading our articles does not require an account. Email updates are optional and controlled by the signup checkbox described below. Creating an account does not start monthly support or authorize a payment.

Your chosen public display name is separate from your private email address. Article comments show your display name, not your email. Please do not put private information in your public display name.

You can manage your account through My account. For help accessing or deleting account information, contact faithfulheartbeat@gmail.com.

Public profile pictures

You can choose a public photo in My account by uploading an image through Clerk or selecting your existing account photo. Google photos are not automatically made public. Your selected photo appears beside your comments and chat messages. Clerk hosts and delivers the image; our hosting service stores its reference, your private account association, and photo moderation information. Public image references do not include your email address. Images are public and may be copied by visitors.

You can replace or remove your public photo in My account. This changes its display across discussions, including older comments; open pages may need a refresh and cached images may take about a minute to update. Removing a public photo does not delete your separate Clerk account photo. Moderators can remove inappropriate public photos. We retain limited references to removed images to prevent their automatic republication. Contact faithfulheartbeat@gmail.com for photo or account deletion requests.

Article comments

Comments and replies are public and normally appear immediately. Signed-in readers use a chosen display name; guests receive an automatic anonymous name. Your account email is not displayed with comments. A signed, essential guest cookie lasts up to 180 days and links your browser to its guest name and abuse-prevention history. Clearing cookies or using another browser may give you a different guest identity.

We store comment text, article and reply references, display names, timestamps, private account or guest identifiers, reports, and moderation records on our hosting service. For spam prevention we use a keyed, pseudonymous representation of the connection’s IP address, not a raw IP address in comment records. Anonymous means anonymous to other readers; it is not a guarantee that technical activity cannot be linked. Rate-limit records are periodically cleaned up, and temporary restrictions expire automatically.

You can report a comment for our review. Reports do not automatically remove comments. Moderators may hide, restore, delete comment text, or temporarily restrict posting. Guest restrictions may also affect other people sharing that connection. Comment and moderation records are retained while needed to operate discussions and prevent abuse. Contact faithfulheartbeat@gmail.com for removal, access, or privacy requests. Do not post private information about yourself or anyone else.

Community chat

When enabled, community chat is a public, text-only room operated through Cloudflare. Messages appear immediately and are not reviewed before posting. Account display names or automatic guest names appear with messages; account emails and private technical identifiers are not displayed. Chat uses the essential guest cookie described above when you participate without an account. A guest name is not a guarantee of untraceability.

Chat stores messages, display names, timestamps, reports, and keyed pseudonymous account, guest, and network identifiers for abuse prevention. It does not store raw IP addresses in chat records, although Cloudflare may process connection information to operate and secure its services. See Cloudflare’s Privacy Policy. The chat service does not receive your account email.

Chat history is limited to the most recent 1,000 messages and messages from the past 7 days. Older stored records and associated reports are removed during periodic cleanup, normally within an additional hour; they are not shown in chat history after expiry. Deleted message text is removed immediately, while limited technical records may remain within the retention period to prevent duplicate posting. Posting restrictions expire after 24 hours or 7 days; temporary rate-limit records are cleaned up periodically. Guest restrictions may affect other people sharing the same internet connection.

Moderators can remove messages, restrict posting, and pause the room. Reports do not automatically remove messages, and the room is not monitored continuously. Do not post sensitive information about yourself or anyone else. For privacy requests or help with a restriction, contact faithfulheartbeat@gmail.com.

Thumbs-up reactions

You can like and unlike article comments and chat messages. The total number of likes is public; we do not publish a list of who liked a message. We store each like against a private account or guest identifier to remember your choice and prevent duplicates. Guest choices rely on the essential guest cookie described above and may not follow you to another browser or a signed-in account. Comment likes remain until removed or no longer needed to operate discussions. Chat likes are removed when their message is deleted or cleaned up under the chat retention limits above. Reaction requests are rate-limited to reduce abuse.

Monthly reader support

Monthly support is optional and processed on Stripe-hosted checkout, not in a payment form on this website. Clicking a support amount takes you to Stripe. Stripe processes your checkout email, payment and billing information, subscription details, and technical information needed to process payments and prevent fraud. See Stripe’s Privacy Policy.

FaithfulHeartbeat can access payment and subscription records in its private Stripe dashboard, including your checkout email, amount, payment status, and limited payment-method details. Our website does not receive or store full card numbers or security codes. We use payment records for subscription administration, billing support, refunds, and accounting, and retain them as needed for those purposes and applicable recordkeeping requirements.

Reader accounts and Stripe billing are separate. We do not automatically link a payment to your public profile, display your support amount, or enroll your checkout email in a newsletter. For billing or privacy questions, contact faithfulheartbeat@gmail.com.

Optional email updates

The signup checkbox controls whether you receive FaithfulHeartbeat’s top stories and occasional updates. It is prechecked for visitors our hosting service identifies as being in the United States. Uncheck it before creating your account if you do not want these emails. It starts unchecked for other visitors and when location is unknown. The country estimate uses network information, not GPS, and can be affected by VPNs. We do not change existing account preferences based on location.

We save your preference with your account identifier, the date and time, the wording displayed, and whether it came from a U.S. default selection or an explicit choice. A default selection is not recorded as an affirmative opt-in. Your email remains with our account service; this preference record does not copy your email address, IP address, or precise location.

A temporary signup choice is held in your browser for up to one hour while you complete account creation. The saved preference is kept securely on our hosting service and is available across devices through My account. You may opt out there or contact faithfulheartbeat@gmail.com for help. Essential sign-in and security emails are separate.

Newsletters are not being sent yet, and no newsletter delivery provider is connected. Before sending begins, we will check the delivery provider’s permission requirements and update this notice with its role. Further opt-in confirmation may be required. Future newsletters will use your verified primary account email and include an unsubscribe link. We keep a limited preference history to document your choices and honor opt-outs; contact us with access or deletion requests.

Private subscriber administration

The website owner can securely view your primary account email and its verification status alongside your latest email preference, and export those records for subscriber administration. Email addresses are retrieved from Clerk when needed and are not copied into the website’s preference database. These records are not available to other readers. Exported files must be kept private and checked against current preferences before any future mailing.

Information collected now

FaithfulHeartbeat does not currently accept contact-form submissions or serve third-party advertising. Basic technical logs may be processed by the hosting service to operate and secure the website.

Planned advertising and privacy choices

We plan to apply for Google AdSense. Advertising is not currently active, and we do not currently load Google advertising tags or set Google advertising cookies on this website.

If Google advertising is introduced, Google and other advertising vendors may use cookies or similar technologies to serve and measure ads. Advertising cookies can enable Google and its partners to personalize ads using visits to this website and other websites. You can manage Google’s personalized-ad settings through My Ad Center, read how Google uses information from partner sites, and find participating vendors’ choices through YourAdChoices. Opting out of personalization does not necessarily stop all ads or all processing needed to serve them.

Before advertising begins, we will update this notice to describe the services actually enabled and provide applicable consent and opt-out controls. Where required, advertising storage or personalization will wait for consent. Visitors will be able to revisit the available choices through a privacy-options link. Those advertising controls are not active yet. Necessary account and community cookies remain separate from advertising choices.

Other services planned for later

We may add audience analytics, newsletter delivery, or contact submissions. We will explain any additional collection and applicable choices before those services begin.

External links

Articles may link to source material and other websites. Their privacy practices are controlled by those services, not FaithfulHeartbeat.

Your choices

You can manage your saved email preference and public photo through My account, use the billing portal to manage monthly support, or contact faithfulheartbeat@gmail.com with a privacy request. Advertising choices will be provided as described above if ads are introduced.