Privacy policy

BuffHaven is a PC gaming blog run by BuffHaven Media. We collect the minimum data needed to publish the site, send an optional newsletter, and keep the lights on through advertising and affiliate links. This page explains what that means in plain English. It sits alongside our cookie policy, terms of use and affiliate disclosure.

What we collect

• Analytics data — we use privacy-respecting analytics that record page views, referrers, approximate location (country or region level) and device type in aggregate. This data is not used to build a profile of you, is not linked to your identity, and is not shared or matched across other websites.
• Newsletter sign-ups — if you subscribe, we store the email address you give us so we can send the weekly newsletter. That is the only reason we hold it.
• Messages you send us — if you email us or use a contact address, we keep that correspondence so we can respond and follow up on corrections.
• Server logs — our hosting provider processes standard request data (IP address, user agent, timestamp) transiently to deliver pages and protect against abuse.

There are no user accounts on BuffHaven, no user-generated content, and no payments are taken on the site. We do not ask for your name, address or any special-category data.

Cookies and similar technologies

We do not set first-party tracking cookies. The only thing BuffHaven itself stores in your browser is a single local-storage key, bh-theme, which remembers whether you prefer the light or dark colour scheme. It never leaves your device and is never sent to our servers. Third parties (advertising and affiliate partners) may set their own cookies or use device identifiers when their content loads. Full detail is in our cookie policy.

Advertising partners

BuffHaven carries display advertising. Third-party ad partners may serve ads, set their own cookies, and use device identifiers to measure and personalise advertising, subject to their own privacy policies rather than ours. Our partners may include Google (AdSense / Ad Exchange) and the advertising vendors they work with. You can read about how Google uses data from partner sites, and manage your preferences, at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites. We do not sell your personal information and we do not receive advertising data that identifies you individually.

Affiliate links

Some outbound links are affiliate links, marked with rel="sponsored nofollow". When you follow one, the destination retailer may record that the visit came from BuffHaven so any resulting commission is attributed to us. We do not receive your name, payment details or order contents. Programmes we take part in may include the Amazon Associates Programme and other retailer and game-publisher affiliate schemes. Commissions never affect our scores or what we choose to cover — see the affiliate disclosure.

Newsletter

The newsletter is opt-in. We store your email address only to send that newsletter, every email includes a one-click unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing removes your address from the sending list. We do not use the newsletter list for advertising or share it with third parties.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access the personal data we hold about you, to have it corrected or erased, to object to or restrict how we use it, and to receive a copy in a portable format. To exercise any of these, contact us or email [email protected] and we will respond within a reasonable time. If you are in the UK or EEA you also have the right to complain to your local data protection supervisory authority. If you are a California resident: we do not sell or share your personal information as those terms are defined under the CCPA/CPRA, and we will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights.

Data retention

Newsletter data is kept until you unsubscribe. Correspondence is kept for as long as needed to handle the matter and a reasonable period afterwards. Analytics data is retained indefinitely only in aggregate, non-identifying form. Server logs are short-lived.

International transfers

BuffHaven is hosted on Cloudflare's global edge network, and our newsletter and analytics providers may operate in other countries. This means your data may be processed on servers outside your own country, including countries whose data-protection laws differ from yours. Where required, we rely on appropriate safeguards for those transfers.

Children

BuffHaven is a general-audience site and is not directed at children under 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, contact us and we will delete it.

Changes

We may update this policy as the site or the law changes. When we make a material change we will update the "last updated" date at the top of this page. Continued use of the site after an update means you accept the revised policy.

Contact

Questions about your data or this policy: email [email protected] or use the details on our contact page.