Privacy Policy
Effective date: October 12, 2026
Hollow & Headwater is an independent online journal based in the United States. We built this site to collect as little about you as we reasonably can. This policy explains what we do collect, why, and what you can ask us to do with it.
What we collect
When you use the contact form
If you write to us through the contact form, we receive the name, email address and message you enter. We use them to read and answer your message and to follow up on a correction or a story idea, and for nothing else. We don't add you to a mailing list, and we don't sell, rent or trade your details.
Server and security logs
Like almost every website, our server keeps standard logs of the requests it receives. A log entry typically includes your IP address, the date and time, the page requested, your browser's user-agent string and the referring page, if any. We use these logs to keep the site running, diagnose errors, and detect and block abuse such as spam, aggressive scraping and attempts to break into the site. IP addresses are also used to limit repeated failed sign-in attempts and repeated form submissions. Logs are kept for a limited period and then deleted, unless a specific record is needed longer to investigate a security problem.
Editors' sign-in
Our editors sign in to a private area to manage the site's content. When they do, the site sets one strictly necessary cookie to keep them signed in. Readers never receive this cookie. Our cookie notice has the details.
What we don't do
- No advertising networks, ad trackers or tracking pixels.
- No analytics cookies or third-party analytics scripts.
- No social media buttons or embedded widgets that follow you across sites.
- No selling or sharing of personal information for advertising.
Because we don't track visitors, browser signals such as Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control don't change anything here; you get the same treatment either way.
Cloudflare
We use Cloudflare as our content delivery network and security provider. Requests to this site pass through Cloudflare's network, which processes your IP address and request details in order to deliver pages quickly, filter malicious traffic and protect the site from attacks. Cloudflare may set strictly necessary security cookies for this purpose. Cloudflare handles that data under its own privacy policy, published on its website.
Where information is stored and who can see it
Contact messages and logs are stored on a server we rent in the United States. Only the small team that runs Hollow & Headwater can see them. We would disclose information to anyone else only if the law requires it, or where it's needed to protect the site, our writers or our readers from fraud or abuse.
How long we keep it
We keep contact messages for as long as we need them to deal with your message and any follow-up, then delete them. Server logs are rotated out on a rolling basis, as described above.
Your choices
You can ask us to tell you what we hold about you, to correct it, or to delete it. Send the request through the contact form, using the same email address you wrote from before so we can find your messages, and we'll respond within a reasonable time. Some laws give residents of particular states or countries specific privacy rights; we'll honor requests made under them wherever they apply.
Children
Hollow & Headwater is a general-audience publication and isn't directed at children under 13. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has sent us personal information through the contact form, let us know and we'll delete it.
Security
We protect the site with encrypted connections (HTTPS), limits on sign-in attempts, and access to stored information restricted to our editors. No system is perfectly secure, but keeping what we hold to a minimum also limits what could ever be exposed.
Changes to this policy
If we change how we handle information, we'll update this page and the effective date at the top. Significant changes will be noted clearly on this page.
Contact
Questions about this policy are welcome through the contact form.