FFXIclopedia talk:Privacy Policy

Summary
If you only read the FFXIclopedia, no more information is collected than is typically collected in server logs by web sites in general.

If you contribute to the FFXIclopedia, you are publishing every word you post publicly. If you write something, assume that it will be retained forever. This includes articles, user pages and talk pages. Some limited exceptions are described below.

Publishing on the wiki and public data
Simply visiting the web site does not expose your identity publicly (but see private logging below).

When you edit any page in the wiki, you are publishing a document. This is a public act, and you are identified publicly with that edit as its author.

Identification of an author
When you publish or edit a page or image in the wiki, you must be logged in.

If you are logged in, you will be identified by your username. This may be your real name if you so choose, or you may choose to publish under a pseudonym, whatever username you selected when you created your account.

When using a pseudonym, your IP address will not be available to the public. In all cases, your IP address will be stored on the wiki servers and can be seen by Wikia staff in cases of abuse. Your IP address, and its connection to any usernames that share it may be used by staff in certain circumstances (see below).

Remember to log out or disconnect yourself after each session using a pseudonym on a shared computer, to avoid allowing others to use your identity.

Cookies
The wiki will set a temporary session cookie (PHPSESSID) whenever you visit the site. If you do not intend to ever log in, you may deny this cookie, but you cannot login without it. It will be deleted when you close your browser session.

More cookies may be set when you log in, to avoid typing in your username (or optionally password) on your next visit. These last up to 30 days. You may clear these cookies after use if you are using a public machine and don't wish to expose your username to future users of the machine. (If so, clear the browser cache as well.)

Passwords
Many aspects of the FFXIclopedia's community interactions depend on the reputation and respect that is built up through a history of valued contributions. User passwords are the only guarantee of the integrity of a user's edit history. All users are encouraged to select strong alphanumeric passwords that contain symbols with varied casing and to never share them. Passwords are stored in the database via an md5 hash and can never be released.

Private logging
Every time you visit a web page, you send a lot of information to the web server. Most web servers routinely maintain access logs with a portion of this information, which can be used to get an overall picture of what pages are popular, what other sites link to this one, and what web browsers people are using.

These logs are used to produce the site statistics pages; the raw log data is not made public, and is normally discarded after about two weeks.

Log data may be examined by developers in the course of solving technical problems and in tracking down badly-behaved web spiders that overwhelm the site. IP addresses of users, derived either from those logs, from records in the database, or via Check user are infrequently used to correlate usernames and network addresses of edits in investigating abuse of the wiki, including the suspected use of malicious "sockpuppets" (duplicate accounts), vandalism, harassment of other users, or disruption of the wiki.

Policy on release of data derived from page logs
It is the policy of FFXIclopedia that personally identifiable data collected in the server logs, or through records in the database via the CheckUser feature, may be released by Wikia staff or users with CheckUser access, in the following situations:


 * 1) In response to a valid subpoena or other compulsory request from law enforcement
 * 2) With permission of the affected user (case-by-case basis)
 * 3) Where the information pertains to page views generated by a spider or bot and its dissemination is necessary to illustrate or resolve technical issues.
 * 4) Where the user has been vandalizing articles or persistently behaving in a disruptive way, data may be released to assist in the targeting of IP blocks, or to assist in the formulation of a complaint to relevant Internet Service Providers
 * 5) Where it is reasonably necessary to protect the rights, property or safety of Wikia or FFIXclopedia, its users or the public.

FFXIclopedia policy does not permit public distribution of such information under any circumstances, except as described above.

Sharing information with third parties
Except where otherwise specified, all text added to FFXIclopedia is available for reuse under the terms of the GFDL.

FFXIclopedia will not sell or share private information, such as email addresses, with third parties, unless it is required by law to release the information.

Security of information
FFXIclopedia makes no guarantee against unauthorized access to any information you provide. This information may be available to anyone with access to the servers.

E-mail
You may provide your e-mail address in your Preferences and enable other logged-in users to send email to you through the wiki. Your address will not be revealed to them unless you respond, or possibly if the email bounces. The email address may be used by FFXIclopedia to communicate with users on a wider scale.

If you do not provide an email address, you will not be able to reset your password if you forget it. However, you may contact Wikia staff to enter a new mail address in your preferences.

You can remove your email address from your preferences at any time to prevent it being used.

IRC
IRC channels are not officially part of FFXIclopedia proper. By participating in an IRC channel, your IP address may be exposed to other participants. Different channels have different policies on whether logs may be published. Hostname cloaks are available to all users who wish to mask their IP address, users with at least 50 mainspace edits may get a Wikia cloak to associate themselves with the project.

User data
Data on users, such as the times at which they edited and the number of edits they have made are publicly available via "user contributions" lists, edit count tables and in aggregated forms published by other users.

Removal of user accounts
Once created, user accounts will not be removed. In rare cases, it may be possible for a username to be changed or merged. FFXIclopedia does not guarantee that a name will be changed on request.

Deletion of content
Removing text from FFXIclopedia projects does not permanently delete it. In normal articles, anyone can look at a previous version and see what was there. If an article is "deleted", any user with "administrator" access on the wiki, meaning almost anyone trusted not to abuse the deletion capability, can see what was deleted. Information can be permanently hidden at the discretion of certain individuals, but there is no guarantee this will happen except in response to legal action.