Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

Browsing BookList4u requires no account and no personal information. We only collect data when you choose to sign in or contribute:

• Account (Google Sign-In): To contribute reviews, reading times, likes, or community posts, you sign in with your Google account. We receive your name, email address, and profile picture from Google and store them to identify you and attribute your contributions. We do not receive your Google password. You can delete your account and all associated data at any time from your profile page.
• Book Reviews & Community Posts: When you submit a review, comment, community article, or like, we store its content along with a reference to your account so it can be displayed and managed.
• Community Reading Times: When you submit a reading time estimate, we store the time and optional age group you select, linked to your account. Reading times are displayed only as anonymous aggregate averages.
• Contact Form: When you reach out via our contact form, we collect the information you provide (name, email, message) solely to respond to your inquiry. This data is processed through a third-party form submission service.
• Newsletter: If you opt in to our newsletter, we store your email address for the purpose of sending updates. You can unsubscribe at any time.

2. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use the following cookies and similar technologies:

• Theme Preference: A cookie (booklist_theme) stores your light/dark mode preference so it persists between visits.
• Cookie Consent: A cookie records whether you have accepted our cookie notice.
• Authentication Session: When you sign in with Google, a secure session cookie keeps you logged in. It contains no personal data beyond an encrypted session token and is cleared when you sign out.
• Google AdSense: We use Google AdSense to display advertisements. Google and its partners may use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website and other websites. You can opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google's Ads Settings.
• Google Analytics / Tag Manager: We use Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics to understand how visitors use our site. These services may collect information such as your IP address, browser type, pages visited, and time spent on the site. This data is aggregated and anonymized.

3. How We Use Your Information

• To display your book reviews and reading time contributions on the site
• To respond to your contact form inquiries
• To send newsletter updates (only if you subscribed)
• To improve site functionality and user experience
• To serve relevant advertisements through Google AdSense
• To analyze site traffic and usage patterns

4. Third-Party Services

We share information with the following third-party services:

• Google AdSense: Serves advertisements and may use cookies for ad personalization.
• Google Analytics / Tag Manager: Tracks site usage for analytics purposes.
• Google Sign-In:We use Google's OAuth service to let you sign in. Google shares your name, email, and profile picture with us when you authorize it, in accordance with Google's privacy policy.
• Amazon Associates: We participate in the Amazon Associates affiliate program. When you click an Amazon link and make a purchase, Amazon may collect information in accordance with their own privacy policy. We earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
• Cloudflare: Our site is served through Cloudflare, which provides TLS encryption and protection against malicious traffic. Cloudflare may process limited connection metadata (such as your IP address) to deliver these protections.

BookList4u is independently self-hosted. Your reviews, reading times, posts, and account information are stored in our own PostgreSQL database that we operate directly — not in a third-party hosting platform.

5. Data Retention

• Account: Retained until you delete your account from your profile page. Deleting your account permanently removes your reviews, reading times, community posts, comments, and likes — this is immediate and cannot be undone.
• Reviews & Community Posts: Retained until you delete them or delete your account, or until we remove them for policy reasons.
• Reading Times: Retained as anonymous aggregate data until you delete your account.
• Contact Form Submissions: Retained only as long as necessary to respond to your inquiry.
• Newsletter Subscriptions: Retained until you unsubscribe.
• Analytics: Aggregated, pseudonymous usage statistics are retained by Google Analytics for up to 14 months, then deleted automatically.

6. Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Delete individual reviews, posts, or comments at any time from your account
• Delete your entire account and all associated data instantly from your profile page
• Unsubscribe from our newsletter at any time
• Disable cookies in your browser settings (some site features may not work as expected)
• Opt out of personalized Google ads via Google's Ads Settings
• Request deletion of your personal data by contacting us

7. Children's Privacy

BookList4u is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us so we can promptly remove it.

8. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated revision date. Continued use of the site after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the revised policy.

9. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your data, please contact us.