Privacy Policy

Who We Are

Town Heritage is a community platform dedicated to preserving and sharing local history. We are run by volunteers and independent heritage enthusiasts.

What Information We Collect & Why

Things You Give Us

• Your name & email: to manage your account and keep you updated — never shared or sold.
• Your profile details: your photo, bio, and home town — shown only as you choose.
• Your contributions: photos, stories, posts — these become part of our public heritage record.
• Messages between members: kept private — only visible to those involved.

Things We Collect Automatically

• Your home town preference: to show you relevant local content first.
• Technical data: browser type, approximate location — to keep the site working well.
• Logs: secure records of activity — deleted after 30 days.

How We Use Your Information

We only use your data to:

• Provide and improve the service
• Keep the community safe and respectful (including AI-assisted content moderation)
• Show you content from your chosen town
• Send essential account notices — never spam

We never sell your data. We never share it with third parties for marketing.

Content Moderation

To keep our community safe and respectful, text you submit (posts, comments, messages, profile details) and photos you upload are sent to OpenAI, a third-party AI service, to be checked automatically against our community guidelines. The words inside plain-text and Word-style documents you send in messages are checked in the same way.

Content that the check is unsure about stays visible marked “Under moderation” and is reviewed by a human moderator. Private messages that are held for review like that can be seen by the site administrator. PDF files and voice notes are not sent for checking.

Where Your Content Lives

Photos, posts, files, and stories you share may be seen by others. If you contribute something to a public group or site, it becomes part of our shared heritage record and may remain visible even if you leave — just as a book in a library stays there. You can delete your own contributions at any time.

Your Rights

You can at any time:

• Update or correct your personal details
• Download everything you've shared
• Delete your account entirely — we remove your personal data within 30 days

Cookies

We use essential cookies only — to keep you logged in and remember your town preference. No tracking cookies, no advertising cookies.

Contact Us

Questions about privacy? Write to us at privacy@townheritage.com