Privacy policy

Last updated: 7 November 2026

This policy explains what personal information AccringtonWeb (www.accringtonweb.com) collects, why, where it is kept, who else sees it and the choices you have. We have tried to write it in plain English. If anything is unclear, please contact us.

Who we are

AccringtonWeb is run by FirmEdge Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 07801488), registered office Unit 6 Lodge Court, Alan Ramsbottom Way, Great Harwood, Blackburn, Lancashire, BB6 7FB, United Kingdom. FirmEdge Ltd is the "data controller" for the personal information described here. FirmEdge Ltd also runs LandyZone (landyzone.co.uk), under the same policy.

Questions about this policy or your information: use our contact form or email [email protected].

The short version

  • We collect what you give us (your account, profile and posts) and some technical information (such as your IP address) needed to run and protect the forum.
  • Your posts and profile are public: anyone on the internet can read them, and search engines index them.
  • We never sell your personal information.
  • We use Google Analytics to understand how the site is used and Google AdSense to show adverts that pay for the site. Both use cookies. If you're in the UK, the EU or Switzerland, we only set those cookies if you agree.
  • The forum runs on our own server in a data centre in Germany. Backups are kept on our own equipment in the United Kingdom.
  • You can see, correct, download or delete your information. See "Your rights" below.

What we collect

Information you give us

  • Your account: username, email address and password (stored only in a scrambled, one-way form we cannot read back).
  • Your profile: anything you choose to add, such as an avatar, location, website, signature, "about you" text or custom fields.
  • What you post: threads, replies, profile posts, photos and other uploads, reactions, polls and votes.
  • Private conversations with other members. They are private between the people in them, but they are not end-to-end encrypted: our staff can read them if one is reported to us, or where we need to for safety or legal reasons.
  • Messages to us through the contact form or by email.
  • Your preferences: notification and email settings, the threads and forums you watch, and members you follow or ignore.

Information collected automatically

  • IP address. We record your IP address when you register, log in, post or take certain other actions. It is never shown publicly. We use it to fight spam and abuse and to keep accounts safe.
  • Server logs. Like every website, our web server records each request: IP address, the page asked for, the time, the referring page and your browser's description of itself.
  • Usage of the forum: such as what you have read, when you were last active and which threads are new to you, so the forum can work as you expect.
  • Cookies and similar technologies. See "Cookies" below and our cookie page.

We do not ask for, and ask you not to post, "special category" information such as health, religion or political opinions about yourself or anyone else. Whatever you post publicly is your choice to publish.

Why we use it, and our lawful basis

UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018) requires us to have a lawful basis for each use:

  • To provide the forum to you: your account, posting, conversations, notifications and the emails you choose to receive. Basis: contract (our terms, which you accept when you register).
  • To keep the forum safe and working: preventing spam, fraud and abuse, moderation, security, server logs, backups and fixing faults. Basis: legitimate interests (ours and our members' interest in a safe, working forum).
  • To understand how the site is used (Google Analytics). Basis: consent. No analytics cookies are set unless you agree.
  • To show adverts (Google AdSense), which pay for running the site. Personalised adverts, and the advertising cookies behind them, need your consent. If you don't give consent, Google may still show non-personalised adverts, which are based on the page you are reading rather than on you.
  • Occasional announcements or newsletters by email. Basis: consent: you can switch them off at any time in your account's preferences, or through the link in each email.
  • To meet legal obligations, for example responding to a lawful request from the police or a court. Basis: legal obligation.

Who we share it with

We never sell your personal information. We use a small number of trusted service providers ("processors"). They handle information only on our instructions and under contracts that protect it:

  • Hetzner Online GmbH (Germany): the data centre where our own server, and so the forum and its database, runs.
  • Cloudflare, Inc.: sits in front of the site to deliver pages quickly and protect it from attacks and spam robots. Every visit passes through Cloudflare, which sees your IP address and the pages you request. When you register, Cloudflare Turnstile checks that you are a person and not a robot.
  • Amazon Web Services (Amazon SES), Sweden (EU): sends the forum's emails, such as account confirmations, password resets and notifications. It handles your email address and the email itself.
  • Google Workspace: our own email, which receives your messages when you contact us.
  • Google Analytics (if you consent): measures how the site is used, such as pages viewed, how long visits last, rough location (country or city) and device type. Google Analytics does not log or store full IP addresses. We keep this data in Google Analytics for 14 months.
  • Google AdSense: shows adverts. Google acts as an independent controller for its advertising and uses cookies to show and measure adverts, and to personalise them if you consent. See how Google uses information from sites that use its services.

We may also share information:

  • With other members and the public: your username, profile and posts are visible to everyone, as on any public forum.
  • If the law requires it, or to protect the safety of anyone, or to defend legal claims.
  • If the site changes hands, with the new owner, who would have to keep to this policy.

Where your information is kept

  • The forum (database, uploads and server logs): our own server at Hetzner in Germany, in the EU.
  • Backups: on our own backup equipment in the United Kingdom.
  • Emails we send pass through Amazon SES in Sweden. Emails you send us are held in Google Workspace.
  • Cloudflare and Google work worldwide, and some information may be handled in the United States.

The UK recognises the EU and EEA as giving adequate protection. Where information goes to the United States, it is protected by the UK–US "data bridge" (for providers certified under it) or by the UK's approved contract clauses (the International Data Transfer Agreement or Addendum).

How long we keep it

  • Your account and profile: until you close your account. Accounts that were never confirmed and never posted anything may be removed.
  • Your posts: a forum is a shared conversation, so posts normally stay after an account is closed and are shown under your old username. You can ask us to remove specific posts, or your name from them, and we will do so where we reasonably can (for example, unless removal would break a discussion other members rely on, or we must keep it for legal reasons).
  • IP addresses recorded with your actions: deleted automatically after 12 months.
  • Server logs: 14 days.
  • Backups: overwritten in rotation, so a deleted item is gone from all backups within about two months.
  • Archive of the old site: when we moved the forum to its new server we kept a secure archive copy of the old one, held in the UK. It is kept only to make sure nothing was lost in the move, and will be deleted within 12 months of the move.
  • Analytics: 14 months (see above).
  • Messages to us: as long as needed to deal with them, and then for up to two years in case they come up again.

Keeping it safe

The site is only reachable over encrypted connections (HTTPS). Passwords are stored as one-way hashes. Our servers are kept up to date, accept administrative logins only through private, key-based access, and keep each website separate from the others. Two-factor authentication is available for your account, and we recommend it. No system is perfectly secure; if a breach ever put your information at risk, we would tell you and the Information Commissioner's Office as the law requires.

Cookies

Cookies are small files a website stores in your browser. We use:

  • Essential cookies, which the forum needs to work: keeping you logged in, protecting forms against forgery, remembering your cookie choices, and Cloudflare's security checks. These are always on.
  • Optional cookies, which remember small preferences such as notices you've dismissed.
  • Analytics cookies (Google Analytics) and advertising cookies (Google AdSense). In the UK, the EU and Switzerland these are only set if you agree.
  • Embedded content (for example a YouTube video or a social media post that a member shares) can set cookies from that service when it loads or you play it.

If you visit from the UK, the EU or Switzerland, a consent message from Google (a Google-certified consent tool) asks on your first visit whether you accept analytics and advertising cookies. You can change your mind at any time with its privacy and cookie settings link, shown at the bottom of the page. Elsewhere, where local law doesn't require consent first, these cookies may be set without asking. Our cookie page lists the cookies and how long they last. You can also block or delete cookies in your browser, and turn off personalised Google adverts at Google's ad settings.

Your rights

You have the right to:

  • see the personal information we hold about you and get a copy (a "subject access request");
  • correct it if it's wrong (most of it you can edit yourself in your account);
  • delete it ("the right to be forgotten"), within the limits above for posts;
  • restrict or object to how we use it, including objecting at any time to anything based on legitimate interests;
  • move it: have the information you gave us in a common, machine-readable format;
  • withdraw consent at any time (cookies, emails), without affecting what was done before.

To use any of these rights, contact us or email [email protected]. We may need to check it's really you, usually by replying to the email address on your account. We'll answer within one month and there is normally no charge.

If you're unhappy with how we've handled your information, please tell us first so we can put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office, the UK regulator: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint, 0303 123 1113. If you live in the EU, you can contact your own country's data protection authority.

Children

You must be at least 13 to register. We don't knowingly collect information from younger children; if we learn that we have, we will close the account and delete the information.

Links to other sites

Members' posts and our adverts link to other websites. We are not responsible for how those sites handle information, so please read their own policies.

Changes to this policy

We will update this policy when what we do changes, and change the date at the top. If a change matters, we'll tell members on the forum and may ask you to accept the new version.

CAPTCHA privacy policy

This site is protected by hCaptcha and its privacy policy and terms of service apply.

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