Effective date: September 8, 2026
This policy explains what information thecatfishcompass.com collects, why, and what you can do about it. It’s written to be readable rather than lawyerly.
The short version
I don’t sell your data, I don’t run a mailing list, and I don’t ask you for personal information. The site collects anonymous traffic statistics, and third parties — Google, Amazon, advertisers — set cookies the way they do on essentially every site on the internet. Details below.
Who runs this site
The Catfish Compass is an independent site operated by a single individual. Contact is through the contact page.
Information collected automatically
Like almost all websites, this site’s host records standard server log data when you visit: IP address, browser type and version, operating system, referring page, pages visited, and the date and time. This is used for security and for diagnosing technical problems. It isn’t used to identify you personally.
Analytics
This site uses Google Analytics to understand how visitors use it — which pages get read, how people arrive, roughly where in the world they are. This tells me what to write more of.
Google Analytics sets cookies and processes data on Google’s servers. IP addresses are handled by Google in accordance with their own policies. I see aggregate reports, not individual people.
You can opt out of Google Analytics entirely using Google’s official browser add-on, which works across every site that uses it.
This site also uses Google Search Console, which reports on how the site appears in search results. It doesn’t collect data about you as a visitor.
Cookies
A cookie is a small text file a site stores in your browser. This site and the third parties it works with use them for:
- Analytics — anonymous statistics about site usage, as described above.
- Affiliate tracking — if you click an affiliate link, the retailer sets a cookie so they know the referral came from here. This is how the site earns its keep. See the affiliate disclosure.
- Advertising — if and when this site carries display advertising, ad networks set cookies to select which ads you see and to limit how often you see the same one.
- Basic site function — for example, remembering details you entered in a comment form so you don’t have to retype them.
You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. Blocking them will not stop you reading anything here, though it may affect how some third-party features behave.
Affiliate links
Posts on this site contain affiliate links. When you click one, the destination retailer — Amazon among others — may set a cookie identifying this site as the referrer, and may collect information about your visit and any purchase according to their own privacy policies, not this one. I receive commission reports showing that a sale happened. I do not receive your name, address, payment details, or any other personal information about you.
Advertising
This site may display advertising served by third-party ad networks. Those networks and their partners may use cookies and similar technologies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this and other websites.
You can opt out of personalized advertising from participating companies at optout.aboutads.info and youradchoices.ca, or adjust Google’s ad settings at adssettings.google.com.
Comments
If comments are enabled on a post and you leave one, the name, email address and comment text you submit are stored in this site’s database. Your email address is not published and is not used to contact you for anything other than replying about your comment. Comment data may be checked against an automated spam filtering service.
This site does not currently operate a mailing list and does not collect email addresses for marketing. If that changes, this policy will be updated before any collection begins, and any sign-up will be explicit opt-in with a working unsubscribe link on every message.
If you email me through the contact form, your address is used solely to reply to you.
Children
This site is intended for a general adult audience and is not directed at children under 13. I don’t knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided information here, contact me and I’ll delete it.
Your rights
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to request access to the personal data held about you, request its correction or deletion, object to its processing, or opt out of its sale. This site does not sell personal data.
Because this site collects so little — no accounts, no mailing list, no personal profiles — there is usually very little to request. If you’d like to make a request anyway, use the contact page and I’ll respond within a reasonable period.
For data held by third parties described above, those requests go to the third party directly, since I have no access to their records.
External links
This site links to other websites. Once you leave, this policy no longer applies. I’d encourage reading the privacy policy of any site you land on, particularly before buying anything.
Security
Reasonable measures are taken to protect this site, including serving all pages over HTTPS. No site can guarantee absolute security, and no method of transmission over the internet is completely secure.
Governing law
This site is operated from the United States, in the State of Kansas. By using it you consent to your information being processed in the United States.
Changes to this policy
This policy may be updated as the site changes — most likely when display advertising or a newsletter is added. The effective date at the top will change when it does. Material changes will be noted on this page.
Contact
Questions about this policy: contact page.
This policy is provided in good faith and describes this site’s actual practices. It is not legal advice, and it hasn’t been reviewed by an attorney. If your circumstances require certainty — particularly around GDPR or state privacy laws — have a lawyer review it.