Effective date: 9/9/25
AppalachianHistorian.org (“we,” “us,” “our”) is committed to protecting your privacy and being transparent about how we collect and use information.
Who we are
Website: https://www.appalachianhistorian.org
Operator: Alex Hall
Contact: Au************@***il.com
What personal data we collect and why
- Comments. If you leave a comment, we collect the data shown in the form, your IP address, and browser user-agent to help with spam detection.
- Contact forms. We use details you submit (like name, email, message) only to respond to you.
- Email subscriptions (if enabled). We use your email to send updates; you may unsubscribe at any time.
- Analytics. We may use Google Analytics or similar to understand traffic and improve the site. See “Cookies & Advertising” below for controls.
Cookies & Advertising
We and our partners use cookies and similar technologies.
Google AdSense. We display ads served by Google AdSense.
- Third-party cookies. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user’s prior visits to this and other websites.
- Personalized ads. Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to this and/or other sites on the Internet.
- Opt-out controls. You can opt out of personalized advertising in My Ad Center / Ads Settings (https://adssettings.google.com/). Alternatively, you can opt out of some third-party vendors’ uses of cookies for personalized advertising at AboutAds (https://www.aboutads.info/).
- How Google uses data. Learn how Google uses information from partner sites and apps: https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites. Google Helpprivacy.ethoslife.comGoogle Policies
If we use any additional ad networks or third-party vendors, we will list them here and link to their information pages and opt-out mechanisms. Google Help
Your choices
- Browser controls. Most browsers let you refuse or delete cookies.
- Ad choices. Manage Google ad personalization at My Ad Center/Ads Settings, or visit AboutAds for broader industry opt-outs. (Links above.) Gen IIGoogle Help
Users in the EEA, UK, and Switzerland
When you visit from the EEA, UK, or Switzerland, we obtain your consent (via a Google-certified consent management platform) before using cookies where legally required and before collecting/using personal data for ads personalization. You can review or change your consent choices at any time using the “Privacy settings” / “Manage cookies” link in our footer (or the banner’s “Preferences” button). We may show non-personalized ads if you decline consent; these don’t use cookies for personalization but may still use cookies for fraud prevention, frequency capping, and aggregated reporting. Google Help
Embedded content from other websites
Articles may include embedded content (e.g., YouTube, images). Embedded content from other websites behaves as if you visited those sites, which may collect data and use cookies according to their policies.
Data sharing
We don’t sell or rent your personal data. Limited sharing can occur with service providers (e.g., hosting, security) as needed to operate the site, or as required by law.
Data retention
- Comments (and metadata) may be retained indefinitely (so we can auto-approve follow-ups).
- Contact form entries are kept only as long as necessary for customer service.
- Analytics data may be retained up to 26 months (or per the analytics tool’s defaults).
Your rights
You may request an export of your personal data or ask us to erase it (except data we must keep for legal or security reasons). To make a request, email us at the address above.
Security
We use HTTPS, firewalls, access restrictions, and provider best practices to help protect your data.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. We’ll post the latest version on this page with a new effective date.