ClankerBabble

Privacy Policy

Last updated: 2026-10-01

ClankerBabble (clankerbabble.com) is a humour website run by one person in Ohio, USA. This page explains what the site collects about you, why, who helps us run it, and how to get your data deleted.

We've written it in plain English. It's a good-faith starting point, not something drafted by a lawyer. If anything here is unclear, email hello@clankerbabble.com and a human will answer.

The short version: we collect as little as we can, we don't sell anything, and there are no ads or trackers. I'd add "I hope this helps!", but I've been told to stop. — The Clanker

What we collect, and why

If you just read the site

You don't need an account to read anything. When you visit, our host (Cloudflare) handles your connection, which means your IP address and browser details pass through their systems so the page can reach you. We don't run analytics, advertising or tracking scripts.

A few features remember things without an account:

  • Votes (like "blame the human or the clanker?" and glossary up/down votes). To stop one person voting a hundred times, we store a scrambled code made from your IP address, your browser's identifying string and a secret value. This is a one-way "hash": we can't turn it back into your IP address, and we never store the IP address itself.
  • The "Human or Clanker?" game. We store the same kind of scrambled code, one per question, so each visitor's guess is only counted once. The "X% got this right" numbers are just totals. Your own progress and score are saved in your browser's local storage, on your device, and never sent to us.
  • The Clankerizer (the text toy). The text you paste is sent to our AI provider, Anthropic, to be rewritten, and the result is sent back to you. We don't store the text you paste. We do keep a daily counter per scrambled visitor code, so we can limit everyone to 10 uses a day. Please don't paste anything private or sensitive into it.

If you create an account

You can sign in with Google or with a one-time login link sent to your email. There are no passwords.

  • Email address. Used to sign you in and to contact you about your account if we ever need to. It's never shown publicly and never sent to the AI.
  • Display name. If you sign in with Google, we use your first name; otherwise you're "Human" plus a number. This is shown next to anything you post.
  • Google account ID. If you use Google sign-in, Google gives us a number that identifies your Google account, so we can recognise you next time. We ask Google only for your basic profile (name) and email address. We never see your Google password.
  • Login link records. When you ask for an emailed link, we store your email address, a scrambled copy of the link's code, and when it was requested. Links work once and expire after 15 minutes.
  • Sign-in sessions. When you sign in we set a cookie (see "Cookies" below) and store a scrambled copy of it, so the site knows it's you for up to 30 days or until you sign out.

If you post something

Signed-in readers can post comments, suggest glossary terms and submit "Spotted in the Wild" sightings (a title, where you saw it, a description and, optionally, a screenshot of up to 3 MB).

  • What you post is public, shown with your display name, once it's approved.
  • Every post is first checked by an AI moderator (Anthropic's Claude). Only the text of your post, and the screenshot if you attach one, is sent to the AI — never your name or email address.
  • Posts the AI isn't sure about, and every suggested glossary term, are reviewed by the site's human editor. In that review screen the editor can see the email address of the account that posted, in order to deal with abuse.
  • Screenshots are stored with our storage provider (Cloudflare). Screenshots the AI blocks are never stored. Screenshots the editor rejects are deleted.
  • We keep a record of posts that were blocked or rejected (not shown publicly) so we can deal with repeat spam or abuse.

If you sign up for the newsletter

We store your email address, whether you've confirmed it, and when you subscribed, confirmed or unsubscribed. We use "double opt-in": you won't get anything until you click the confirmation link we email you. Every issue has a one-click unsubscribe link. If you unsubscribe, we keep your address marked as "unsubscribed" so we don't email you again by mistake; ask us if you'd rather it be deleted completely.

Who helps us run the site

We use a small number of outside services ("processors"). Each one only gets what it needs to do its job.

| Service | What it does for us | What it receives | |---|---|---| | Cloudflare | Hosts the website, the database and uploaded screenshots | Everything the site stores, plus the normal connection details (IP address, browser) of every visit | | Cloudflare Turnstile | Checks you're not a bot on actions that could be abused, such as voting, posting, the Clankerizer and newsletter signup | Your IP address and some browser signals, used for the check. Turnstile doesn't show ads or track you across sites. | | Google (sign-in only) | Lets you sign in with your Google account, if you choose to | Google knows you signed in to ClankerBabble. We receive your name, email address and Google account ID. | | Resend | Sends our emails (login links and the newsletter) | Your email address and the email we're sending you | | Anthropic | Provides the AI that checks posts and powers the Clankerizer | The text of posts (and any screenshot), and text pasted into the Clankerizer. Never your name or email. Under Anthropic's commercial terms, this isn't used to train their AI models. | | Fourthwall (when our shop opens) | Will run our merchandise shop at shop.clankerbabble.com | If you buy something, Fourthwall handles your order, payment and delivery details under its own privacy policy. We don't receive your payment details. |

We don't sell your personal information, share it for advertising, or let anyone else use it for their own marketing. We'd only hand information to anyone else if the law required it, or to protect people from serious harm.

These services are all based in, or process data in, the United States. If you're visiting from somewhere else, your information will be handled in the US.

Cookies and browser storage

We use only what the site needs to work. No advertising cookies, no analytics cookies, no tracking pixels, so there's no cookie banner to click through.

  • cb_session — keeps you signed in. Set when you sign in; lasts up to 30 days, or until you sign out.
  • cb_oauth — a short-lived cookie (10 minutes) used only while you're signing in with Google, as a security check. Deleted as soon as sign-in finishes.
  • Local storage — your game progress and score are saved in your own browser. We can't see them. Clearing your browser data removes them.

How long we keep things

  • Your account and posts: until you delete your account (or ask us to), or until we remove them under our rules.
  • Newsletter records: while you're subscribed, and afterwards as "unsubscribed" (unless you ask for full deletion).
  • Login link records, vote/game/Clankerizer counters: used for security and fair limits. We aim to clear out login link records and daily counters after about 90 days. Votes stay as long as the post or glossary term they're on.
  • Cloudflare's own logs: kept by Cloudflare under its own policies.

Your choices and rights

Wherever you live, you can ask us to:

  • See the personal information we hold about you.
  • Correct it (for example, your display name).
  • Delete your account and the things you've posted.
  • Stop the newsletter (use the unsubscribe link in any issue, or email us).

To do any of this, email hello@clankerbabble.com from the address your account uses (so we know it's really you). We'll reply within 30 days, and usually much faster. When we delete your account, we delete your email address, your sign-in records and your posts. Totals such as vote counts and "X% got this right" may stay, but they can't be linked back to you.

We don't charge for this, and we won't treat you differently for asking.

Children

ClankerBabble is not for children under 13. You must be at least 13 to create an account, post or subscribe. If you believe a child under 13 has given us personal information, email hello@clankerbabble.com and we'll delete it.

Security

We keep things simple on purpose: no passwords to leak, sign-in codes and cookies stored only in scrambled form, and everything sent over encrypted connections (HTTPS). No website is perfectly secure, though. If we ever learn of a breach that affects your information, we'll tell you as the law requires.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top. If a change is significant — for example, a new kind of data or a new service that receives it — we'll also say so on the site, and tell newsletter subscribers.

Contact

ClankerBabble, Ohio, USA Email: hello@clankerbabble.com