Read All The Things!: Privacy Policy

The Fun Version (With Pictures)

Last updated: October 17, 2023

Read All The Things! is run by me, Aj Sterkel. Read All The Things! is powered by Blogger, which is owned by Google.

Visitors to Read All The Things! may have their personal information (such as their name, address, and/or email address) collected by myself or a third party. The information collected by this blog is used to personalize your experience, effectively run giveaways, and improve the site. Personal information is only collected with your consent (such as when you enter a giveaway or leave a comment). I have no shady ways of collecting personal information. I can only see it if you give it to me. I will ask for your name, address, or email address if you win a giveaway.

If you do not agree to the following policy, please do not use this site. Using the site means that you agree to the following.

Visitors from EU countries: Welcome! When you first access Read All The Things! you will see a big, ugly banner with links that explain Google’s cookie use and what information Google collects and stores. To learn more about cookies, please click the Learn More link in the banner or click here.

Comments: The comment system on Read All The Things! is hosted by Blogger. If you click the drop-down arrow in the “Comment As” section, you can choose which profile you want to use to post your comment. Your user name and profile picture (if you have one) is displayed publicly. No other information is publicly displayed. Feel free to leave anonymous comments, but be aware that I delete comments that are offensive, hateful, irrelevant, or trying to sell something. Please don’t abuse your “anonymous” privileges. Blogger does not share any personal information about commenters with me.

If you want to delete your comment(s), you can delete them yourself by clicking the “delete” button at the bottom of the comment, or you can contact me.

If you want an emailed reply to your comment, remember to check the “notify me” box before you post your comment. Blogger does not share your email address with me. If you check the box, you're consenting to Blogger having access to your email address.

Affiliate links: You may come across affiliate links on Read All The Things! Affiliate links are a way for me to earn money from the books I blather about on this blog. If you click the link, you will be taken to Amazon or another legitimate book selling website. As an Amazon Associate, I earn money from qualifying purchases. The books are not more expensive for you. If you buy something from my links, Amazon tosses a few pennies my way to thank me for sending you to their site.

Ads: You may come across ads on Read All The Things! These ads are owned by Google AdSense. Ad revenue is used to fund giveaways on Read All The Things! When an ad appears on your screen, I make a tiny amount of money. (Seriously, it's a fraction of a cent.) If you notice an ad that is offensive or idiotic, please email me so I can kill it with fire.

Google may place cookies on your browser in order to show you ads that are relevant to your interests. You can learn more or opt out of interest-based advertising by visiting aboutads.info. Google AdSense shares some very basic (non-personal) information about Read All The Things! visitors with me. I can see if any ads have been clicked, where in the world visitors are coming from, what blog posts they are visiting, and what platform they use. Google AdSense does not share information about individual visitors with me. Here’s an example of what I see in Read All The Things! AdSense account:

Donations: The “Tip Jar” button in the sidebar is hosted by Ko-fi. All tips are used to fund giveaways on Read All The Things! Ko-fi is partnered with PayPal to keep your donations secure. Ko-fi does not track or store donations. If you use your PayPal account to donate, I may be able to see your full name and email address. It depends on how you have your PayPal account set up. The names and email addresses of donors are not saved by Read All The Things! Ko-fi and PayPal do not allow me to access credit card numbers or bank account information.

Giveaways: I use Rafflecopter to manage giveaway entries and to randomly pick winners. Rafflecopter does collect and store the email address of everyone who enters the giveaway. If you do not enter the giveaway, Rafflecopter will not collect your email address. I need access to the email addresses of people who enter the giveaway so that I can email the winner(s) and let them know they’ve won. Email addresses are never displayed publicly. If you enter the giveaway, you are consenting to Rafflecopter collecting and storing your email address.

If you win a giveaway on Read All The Things!, congratulations! I will email you within one (1) day of the giveaway closing and inform you that you’ve won. I will ask for a physical mailing address. PO Boxes are fine. Your mom's house is fine. I just need an address so that I can send you the prize. Your prize will be sent within one (1) day of me receiving the email with your address. After that, your address will be deleted. Read All The Things! does not save physical addresses.

In the interest of transparency, the user name of the giveaway winner(s) will be displayed on Read All The Things! The name that is displayed depends on which account you use to log in to Rafflecopter. You can choose what name is displayed when you log in to enter the giveaway. Feel free to use an alias. Only the winner(s)’ user names will be displayed.

If you enter a giveaway and later want to withdraw your entries, please email me. I will remove your entries and your email address from Rafflecopter.

Bloglovin’ followers: It is possible to follow Read All The Things! with a website called Bloglovin’. If you have a Bloglovin’ account, you can follow Read All The Things! by clicking here and pushing the “follow” button. New posts from Read All The Things! will then appear in your Bloglovin’ feed. If you follow, you are consenting to seeing new posts in your feed. You can unfollow at any time by clicking the “Unfollow” button. Bloglovin’ does share some basic data with me. I can see which accounts are following Read All The Things! and which posts are being clicked. I use this information to follow back book bloggers and to see which types of posts readers enjoy. Here’s an example of the analytics in the Read All The Things! Bloglovin’ account:

Review requests: I currently do not accept book review requests from authors. Review request emails are deleted immediately. Email addresses are not saved by Read All The Things!

Wayward Googlers: There is a feature on Read All The Things! called Wayward Googlers. In this feature, I publicly share the amusing Google searches that led people to my blog. I share them because sometimes they're hilarious. These search terms are tracked and given to me by Blogger. Blogger does not give me any information about the person (or robot) who conducted the search. I have access to the search keywords only. Here’s an example of what Blogger gives me:

What does Blogger share with me? Blogger does not give me any information that can be used to identify individual visitors to Read All The Things! On the Stats page, I can see the total number of comments, pageviews, referring URLs, search keywords, pageviews by country, pageviews by browser, and pageviews by operating system. I use this data to judge which types of blog posts people enjoy. Here’s an example of what I see in my Blogger account:

If you would like to know more about your data, or if you would like your data (including comments) to be deleted, please email me.

The Sad Legal Version (With Sad Legal Bullet Points)

Last updated: October 17, 2023

Read All The Things! ("us", "we", or "our") operates the https://ajsterkel.blogspot.com/ website (the "Service").

This page informs you of our policies regarding the collection, use, and disclosure of personal data when you use our Service and the choices you have associated with that data. We use your data to provide and improve the Service. By using the Service, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy.

Information Collection And Use

We collect several different types of information for various purposes to provide and improve our Service to you.

Types of Data Collected

Personal Data

While using our Service, we may ask you to provide us with certain personally identifiable information that can be used to contact or identify you ("Personal Data"). Personally identifiable information may include, but is not limited to:

Email address
First name and last name
Address, State, Province, ZIP/Postal code, City
Cookies and Usage Data

Usage Data

We may also collect information how the Service is accessed and used ("Usage Data"). This Usage Data may include information such as your computer's Internet Protocol address (e.g. IP address), browser type, browser version, the pages of our Service that you visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

Tracking & Cookies Data

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on our Service and hold certain information.

Cookies are files with small amount of data which may include an anonymous unique identifier. Cookies are sent to your browser from a website and stored on your device. Tracking technologies also used are beacons, tags, and scripts to collect and track information and to improve and analyze our Service.

You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, if you do not accept cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of our Service.

Examples of Cookies we use:

Session Cookies. We use Session Cookies to operate our Service.
Preference Cookies. We use Preference Cookies to remember your preferences and various settings.
Security Cookies. We use Security Cookies for security purposes.

About AdSense Cookies

Third party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user’s prior visits to Read All The Things!
Google’s use of the DoubleClick cookie enables it and its partners to serve ads to users based on their visit to Read All The Things! and/or other sites on the internet
Users may opt out of the use of the DoubleClick cookie for interest-based advertising by visiting aboutads.info.

Use of Data

Read All The Things! uses the collected data for various purposes:

To provide and maintain the Service
To notify you about changes to our Service
To allow you to participate in interactive features of our Service when you choose to do so
To provide customer care and support
To provide analysis or valuable information so that we can improve the Service
To monitor the usage of the Service
To detect, prevent and address technical issues

Transfer Of Data

Your information, including Personal Data, may be transferred to—and maintained on—computers located outside of your state, province, country or other governmental jurisdiction where the data protection laws may differ than those from your jurisdiction.

If you are located outside United States and choose to provide information to us, please note that we transfer the data, including Personal Data, to United States and process it there.

Your consent to this Privacy Policy followed by your submission of such information represents your agreement to that transfer.

Read All The Things! will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy and no transfer of your Personal Data will take place to an organization or a country unless there are adequate controls in place including the security of your data and other personal information.

Disclosure Of Data

Legal Requirements

Read All The Things! may disclose your Personal Data in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to:

To comply with a legal obligation
To protect and defend the rights or property of Read All The Things!
To prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing in connection with the Service
To protect the personal safety of users of the Service or the public
To protect against legal liability

Security Of Data

The security of your data is important to us, but remember that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your Personal Data, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Service Providers

We may employ third party companies and individuals to facilitate our Service ("Service Providers"), to provide the Service on our behalf, to perform Service-related services or to assist us in analyzing how our Service is used.

These third parties have access to your Personal Data only to perform these tasks on our behalf and are obligated not to disclose or use it for any other purpose.

Links To Other Sites

Our Service may contain links to other sites that are not operated by us. If you click on a third party link, you will be directed to that third party's site. We strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy of every site you visit.

We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third party sites or services.

Children's Privacy

Our Service does not address anyone under the age of 18 ("Children").

We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 18. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your Children have provided us with Personal Data, please contact us. If we become aware that we have collected Personal Data from children without verification of parental consent, we take steps to remove that information from our servers.

Changes To This Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page.

We will let you know via email and/or a prominent notice on our Service, prior to the change becoming effective and update the "effective date" at the top of this Privacy Policy.

You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us by email at ajsterkel15@gmail.com.