Privacy policy

Privacy Policy – PNE Online

This website (“PNE Online”, “we”, “us”, “our”) is committed to protecting your personal data and respecting your privacy in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

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1. What Data We Collect

When you register, post, or interact with PNE Online, we may collect the following information:

• Your username and email address
• Your IP address and browser user agent
• Optional profile details you provide (e.g., location, avatar, preferences)
• Post and message content you submit
• Technical data such as cookies and session information

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2. How We Use Your Data

We use your data to:

• Maintain and manage your user account
• Enable forum features such as posting, messaging, and notifications
• Moderate content and enforce community guidelines
• Prevent spam, abuse, or misuse of the forum
• Improve site functionality and security

Your data will never be sold or used for direct marketing.

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3. Cookies

PNE Online uses cookies to:

• Keep you logged in across sessions
• Remember your forum preferences
• Track unread content and private messages

You can manage cookie settings in your browser. Disabling cookies may affect functionality.

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4. Third-Party Services

We may use third-party tools to manage spam, security, and technical performance. This may involve processing your IP address or basic device information. We only work with services that comply with data protection laws.

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5. Legal Basis for Processing

Our legal basis for processing your data is:

• Consent: When you register, post, or provide profile information voluntarily
• Legitimate Interest: To ensure the smooth operation, safety, and moderation of the community
• Legal Obligation: Where required to cooperate with law enforcement or comply with applicable UK laws

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6. Data Retention

Your account data and posts are stored until you request deletion or the forum is discontinued. Some content (such as posts or messages) may remain after account closure unless removal is specifically requested and deemed appropriate.

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7. Your Rights

Under the UK GDPR, you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you
• Request correction of inaccurate data
• Request deletion of your account and associated personal data
• Withdraw consent (where applicable)
• Lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)

To exercise these rights, please contact us.

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8. Patron Payments and Donations

Patronage and donations are handled securely via third-party payment processors (e.g., Stripe). PNE Online does not store your payment details. Please consult the relevant payment provider’s privacy policy for more information.

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9. Community Visibility

Forum content is visible to all users and may be indexed by search engines. You can adjust your privacy settings in your account preferences to control profile visibility and message permissions.CAPTCHA privacy policy

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

Analytics

We use the newest version of Google Analytics (Google Analytics 4), which is privacy-focused (things like IP addresses are not logged or stored and no personally identifiable information is used). This allows us to better understand how users use the site so we can improve their experience. To better utilize Google Analytics, we use an addon developed by a cookie search engine, I/O Labs.

PWA application

Our privacy policy also applies to our progressive web application (it's an installable app that users can choose to install). The PWA app was made better by the developers of the Wordpress plugin, App for Cloudflare®.