Privacy

Who we are

Never Was is an online alternate-history magazine, edited by Nick Ottens.

Visit the About page to learn more.

What personal data we collect and why we collect it

Whenever you visit Never Was, certain information about you and your device is collected for statistical purposes.

This information is collected in a way that does not identify you. We make no attempt to find out the identities of our readers.

We also uses cookies to remember your interactions with the website.

Analytics

For analytical purposes, Automattic collects your IP address, WordPress.com user ID (if logged in), WordPress.com username (if logged in), user agent, visiting URL, referring URL, timestamp of event, browser language and country code.

Never Was does not have access to all this information. We can see the total number of views of a story, but we cannot see which users read which story. We can see that a user was referred to us from another website, but not which user.

Stats logs — containing visitor IP addresses and WordPress.com usernames (if available) — are retained by Automattic for 28 days, and are used for the sole purpose of powering this feature.

Automattic’s privacy policy is available here.

Comments

When you post a comment on a story, we collect:

  1. The data shown in the comments form (name, email address, website); and
  2. Your IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

Your name, email address and IP address are shared with Akismet (by Automattic), an anti-spam service. Automattic’s privacy policy is available here.

An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. Gravatar’s privacy policy is available here.

After approval of your comment, your profile picture will be visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Cookies

If you post a comment, you may opt in to saving your name, email address and website. This will place cookies on your device. Your name, email address and website will be remembered when you post another comment. These cookies expire after one year.

Embedded content from other websites

Stories may include embedded content from other website, for example, a video from YouTube. Embedded content behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracing your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Who we share your data with

  • Your IP address, WordPress.com user ID (if logged in), WordPress.com username (if logged in), user agent, visiting URL, referring URL, timestamp of event, browser language and country code are shared with Automattic. Automattic also collects your name and email address when you post a comment. Automattic’s privacy policy is available here.
  • An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service when you post a comment. Gravatar’s privacy policy is available here.

How long we retain your data

If you post a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users who register on our website, we store the personal information they provide in their profile. Users can see, edit or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

What rights you have over your data

If you have an account on this website, or have posted comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us.

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.

Contact information

You can reach us at info@neverwasmag.com. Consult the contact information page for details.

Also read the website’s User Agreement.

(Last updated July 15, 2021.)