Privacy

Last updated 18 September 2026.

Pole Community is free and there is no account to create. Nothing personal about you is stored unless you choose to fill in a form. Page views are counted, and that is described further down.

What the forms store

Joining the mailing list stores your email address, when you first signed up and when you last did, and whether you have confirmed. Nothing is sent until you click the confirmation link, and every email carries an unsubscribe link that works on its own.

Writing to us through the contact or contribute form stores what you typed: the studio, the state, the kind of message and the message itself, together with your email address so we can answer.

Submitting a retreat, or correcting one, stores the retreat details you gave and your email address.

Every form also stores how you arrived: the page that linked you here, anything after the question mark in the address of the page you sent it from, and the description your browser sends about itself. It is kept so a real message can be told apart from a flood of spam.

Where it is kept

All of it is stored in managed storage run by the same provider that hosts this site. There is no other database holding anything about you, there is no advertising network, and nothing is sold or passed to anyone else. The emails themselves, the confirmation and our reply, are sent through a dedicated email delivery service.

Counting visits, and cookies

Page views are counted with Cloudflare Web Analytics, a small script that reports which page was opened, which page linked to it, and details of the browser such as its type, its operating system and the country it is in. Cloudflare states that it uses no cookies, stores nothing in your browser, and does not identify visitors by IP address or browser details. Since 2026 the same page views are also counted a second time by Google Analytics, which does use cookies; the next section says what that means and why there is still no banner. We see totals, never one visitor. If your browser or an ad blocker stops either script, the site works exactly the same.

Cloudflare still receives your IP address in the course of serving the page, as any web host does. Their privacy policy is at cloudflare.com/privacypolicy.

Google Analytics stores a little data in your browser, in cookies, so it can tell a repeat visit from a first one. They hold a randomly generated number. They hold nothing you typed and nothing that names you, and only this domain can read them. They clear themselves after two years, or sooner if you clear your browsing data. Because they count visits rather than target advertising, and because this site is written for readers in the United States, there is no consent banner. If you would rather not be counted at all, an ad blocker or a browser that blocks trackers will stop the script, and every page works exactly the same without it. Choosing light or dark is remembered by your own browser and never leaves it, and the typefaces are served from this domain, so reading a page fetches no type from anyone else. The remaining cookie on the site belongs to the sign-in page we use to run it, which readers never see.

One other thing is stored. When a form is submitted a short-lived record of the sender's internet address is kept, so that one sender cannot flood the queue. It expires on its own, holds nothing else about you, and is no part of the message you sent.

Asking for a copy, or for it to be removed

You can leave the mailing list at any time with the link at the bottom of any email we send. For anything else, including a copy of what is stored about you or its deletion, write to hello@polecommunity.com.

This page describes what this site actually does today. It is information, not legal advice.