Privacy Policy

1. PRIVACY OVERVIEW

We will never share your personal information or email address with a third party, and we will not send you spam.  We do not sell our mailing list.

We send out an opt-in newsletter by email once or twice per month.  The newsletter emails contain a simple link to click to permanently unsubscribe or you may simply reply to the email to be unsubscribed and you'll never hear from us again.

The reason we encourage people to sign up at our forum is because we hope it will make it easier for them to participate in the discussions on our forum and be part of our community.  We also hope that people will choose to receive our newsletter and eventually decide that our site is something worth supporting after they see what we are all about.

Your forum/signup/license email address is never disclosed to anyone.

---

2. OUR SOFTWARE

We pledge that our software will do no harm.

• None of our software contains spyware, adware, or bundled toolbars of any kind.
• None of our programs "phone home" to keep track of who is using them.
• Our license keys are not internet-based and are not tied to a specific computer.
• None of our software modifies the system files on your computer; all of our programs can easily be uninstalled.

---

3. OTHER INFORMATION COLLECTED

It's ok if you are paranoid about your privacy -- in today's day and age there is good reason to be.  There are a few other places on our site where information about you may be gathered or requested and this section will discuss them in order to put your mind at ease.

We have a small member kit package that we like to send out for free to supporting members who request it. This is a gesture of our appreciation for joining us and a way to welcome you to our community.  We also occasionally send out items such as DonationCoder coffee mugs on special occasions.  Obviously, for those who would like these gifts, we need a shipping address at the time of mailing.  Your shipping address is not kept on file and we will not use it for any other purpose than to send you your gift.

Like every other site on the internet our web server collects statistics about the number of visitors on our site, which pages they view, how many files on our server is downloaded, etc.  We also use Google Analytics sometimes which does the same thing.  This data helps us see where people tend to spend time on our site and helps us figure out what goes wrong when the server overloads.  We do not share this information with anyone and don't do anything with it besides look at it and thank the stars that we have the money to afford a big enough server to handle all the traffic.

The forum on our website uses a "cookie" to remember your login information on the forum.  It serves no other purpose, is not used on other areas of our site, and is not shared with any 3rd party.

We sometimes run giveaways of software on our site -- in such cases you may be asked to provide your name and email to the company giving away the prize so that they can send it to you.  We have no control over what the other company does with this information so if you are concerned you should contact them directly.  We do not do anything with this information nor retain it.

The DonationCoder.com server is located in the United States and we are subjected to US and international laws.  Although it's hard to imagine what information on our server would be of interest to to any legal authorities, if we receive a valid legal request to turn over information from a court of law we will be obligated to turn it over.

---

4. DONATIONS AND PAYMENT PROCESSING

The primary way to donate to our site is by using Paypal.  Regardless of what method you use to donate, when you donate we are told your name, your email, and the amount you have donated.  We do not have access to any of your billing information, and we do not store your name or email other than to send you a single thank you for your donation.  The same holds true for the other alternative payment processors we support (amazon, kagi, plimus, shareit).  You can sign up at our website using another email and name if you like.

You can also donate by sending us homemade cakes, diamonds, hand knitted cat socks, etc.  (note that donations to our site are not tax deductible).  If you ever become dissatisfied with the site we will happily issue a full refund at any time for any reason (note that cat socks may be returned worn and dirty).

---

5. HOW TO DISAPPEAR YOURSELF FROM OUR SITE

If you sign up at our forum but then decide for some reason that you wish to have your forum account and any associated personal information deleted and wiped from our server just contact us using the link below and we will do so with no questions asked.

---

6. COMPLIANCE WITH ADVERTISING PRIVACY

Although it's not something we have done regularly -- we may occasionally run ads on our website. When we do, we comply with Google's advertising policies to protect user privacy and avoid abuse.

---

7. FOR MORE INFORMATION

We are absolutely committed to maintaining the highest privacy for our users and supporters.  If you still have concerns after reading this page, we want to know.

• Contact us directly if you have any concerns or questions.
  
• Discuss this privacy policy in our public forum.
• Learn more about the history of DonationCoder.com.

---

8. PRIVACY PAGE REVISION HISTORY

• Feb 4, 2013 - Added note about advertising privacy
• July 13, 2008 - First version of this page posted.