Privacy Policy

Public Contributions

When you make a contribution to TrainsDepot.org, including on user or discussion pages, you are creating a permanent, public record of every piece of content added, removed, or altered by you.

Unless this Policy says otherwise, you should assume that information that you actively contribute to TrainsDepot.org, including personal information, is publicly visible and can be found by search engines. Like most things on the Internet, anything you share may be copied and redistributed throughout the Internet by other people. Please do not contribute any information that you are uncomfortable making permanently public, like revealing your real name or location in your contributions.

Information We Receive Automatically

Because of how browsers work and similar to other websites, we receive some information automatically when you visit the TrainsDepot.org website. This information includes the type of device you are using, the type and version of your browser, your browser's language preference, the type and version of your device's operating system, in some cases the name of your internet service provider or mobile carrier, the website that referred you to the TrainsDepot.org website, which pages you request and visit, and the date and time of each request you make to the TrainsDepot.org website.

Put simply, we use this information to enhance your experience with TrainsDepot.org. For example, we use this information to administer the sites, provide greater security, and fight vandalism; customise content and set language preferences, test features to see what works, and improve performance; understand how users interact with TrainsDepot.org, track and study use of various features, gain understanding about the demographics and analyse trends.

Information We Collect

We actively collect some types of information with a variety of commonly-used technologies. These generally include tracking pixels, JavaScript, and a variety of "locally stored data" technologies, such as cookies and local storage.

Depending on which technology we use, locally stored data can be anything from text, pictures, and whole articles (as we explain further below) to personal information (like your IP address) and information about your use of TrainsDepot.org (like your username or the time of your visit).

We use this information to make your experience with TrainsDepot.org safer and better, to gain a greater understanding of user preferences and their interaction with TrainsDepot.org, and to generally improve our services.

Locally stored data, JavaScript, and tracking pixels help us do things like:

- Provide you with a personalised experience, such as using cookies to know your language preference, to remember the user preferences you set so we can provide you with the customised look and feel that you want, and to tell you about interesting TrainsDepot.org issues and events in your area.
- Deliver more relevant content to you faster. For example, we may use local storage to store your most recently read articles directly on your device, so they can be retrieved quickly. Also, we may use cookies to learn about the topics searched so that we can optimise the search results we deliver to you.
- Understand how you use the TrainsDepot.org, so that we know what works and what is useful. For example, we might use cookies to learn about the list of articles you are following on your watchlist so that we can recommend similar articles that you may be interested in.
- Understand how you use TrainsDepot.org across different devices, so that we can make our website more efficient and effective for you.
- Make TrainsDepot.org more convenient to use, such as by using cookies to maintain your session when you log in or to remember your username in the login field.

We believe this data collection helps improve your user experience, but you may remove or disable some or all locally stored data through your browser settings, depending on your browser. While locally stored data may not be necessary to use our sites, some features may not function properly if you disable locally stored data.

While the examples above concerning information about you collected through the use of data collection tools are kept confidential in accordance with this Policy, please note that some information about the actions taken by your username is made publicly available through public logs alongside actions taken by other users. For example, a public log may include the date your account was created on TrainsDepot.org along with the dates that other accounts were created on TrainsDepot.org.

Emails

You must provide an email address at the time of registration or in later interactions with the TrainsDepot.org website. If you do so, your email address is kept confidential, except as provided in this Policy. We do not sell, rent, or use your email address to advertise third-party products or services to you.

We use your email address to let you know about things that are happening or related with TrainsDepot.org, such as telling you important information about your account, letting you know if something is changing about the TrainsDepot.org website or policies, and alerting you when there has been a change to an article that you have decided to follow. Please note that if you email us, we may keep your message, email address, and any other information you provide us, so that we can process and respond to your request.

You can choose to limit some of these kinds of notifications, like those alerting you if an article changes. Others, such as those containing critical information that all users need to know to participate successfully in TrainsDepot.org website, you may not be able to opt out of. You can manage what kinds of notifications you receive and how often you receive them by going to your account settings.

We will never ask for your password by email (but may send you a temporary password via email if you have requested a password reset or instructions on how to reset your password). If you ever receive such an email, please let us know by sending it to privacy@trainsdepot.org, so we can investigate the source of the email.

Direct communications between users (such as messages sent through the "Email this user" feature), to the extent such communications are nonpublic and stored in or in transit through TrainsDepot.org systems, are kept confidential by us, except as provided in this Policy.

Surveys & Feedback

Participating in optional surveys or providing feedback helps us make TrainsDepot.org better. Because every survey and request for feedback may be used for various purposes, we will tell you, at the time we give you the survey or request for feedback, how we plan on using your answers and any personal information you provide. If you don't feel comfortable with how we plan on using the survey or feedback results, you are not obligated to take the survey or give feedback.

Metadata

Sometimes, we may automatically receive location data from the files you upload. For example, if you want to upload a photo on TrainsDepot.org, we may receive metadata, such as the place and time you took the photo, automatically. Please be aware that the default setting on your mobile device typically includes the metadata in your photo or video upload. If you do not want metadata sent to us and made public at the time of your upload, please change your settings on your device.

IP Addresses

When you visit TrainsDepot.org, we automatically receive the IP address of the device (or your proxy server) you are using to access the Internet, which could be used to infer your geographical location. We keep IP addresses confidential, except as provided in this Policy. We use IP addresses for research and analytics; to better personalise content, notices, and settings for you; to fight spam, identity theft, malware, and other kinds of abuse; and to provide better mobile and other applications.

When May We Share Your Information?

- With Your Permission

- For Legal Reasons

- To Protect You, Ourselves & Others

We, or particular users with certain administrative rights, may need to share your personal information if it is reasonably believed to be necessary to enforce or investigate potential violations of our Terms of Use, this Privacy Policy, or any other specific policy. We may also need to access and share information to investigate and defend ourselves against legal threats or actions.

We may also disclose your personal information if we reasonably believe it necessary to detect, prevent, or otherwise assess and address potential spam, malware, fraud, abuse, unlawful activity, and security or technical concerns.

- To Our Service Providers

Sometimes we use third-party service providers or contractors who help run or improve TrainsDepot.org for you and other users. We may give access to your personal information to these providers or contractors as needed to perform their services for us or to use their tools and services. We put requirements, such as confidentiality agreements, in place to help ensure that these service providers treat your information consistently with, and no less protective of your privacy than, the principles of this Policy.

- Because You Made It Public

Any information you post on TrainsDepot.org is just that – public. For example, if you put your mailing address in a post or article, that is public, and not protected by this Policy. Please think carefully about your desired level of anonymity before you disclose personal information on your user page or elsewhere.

How Do We Protect Your Data?

We strive to protect your information from unauthorised access, use, or disclosure. We use a variety of physical and technical measures, policies, and procedures (such as access control procedures, network firewalls, and physical security) designed to protect our systems and your personal information. Unfortunately, there's no such thing as completely secure data transmission or storage, so we can't guarantee that our security will not be breached (by technical measures or through violation of our policies and procedures).

How Long Do We Keep Your Data?

Once we receive personal information from you, we keep it for the shortest possible time that is consistent with the maintenance, understanding, and improvement of the TrainsDepot.org website, and our obligations under applicable European law. Non-personal information may be retained indefinitely.

Please remember that certain information is retained and displayed indefinitely, such as any public contributions to the TrainsDepot.org website.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

Because things naturally change over time and we want to ensure our Privacy Policy accurately reflects our practices and the law, it may be necessary to modify this Privacy Policy from time to time. We reserve the right to do so at any time.

We ask that you please review the most up-to-date version of our Privacy Policy. Your continued use of the TrainsDepot.org website after this Privacy Policy becomes effective constitutes acceptance of this Privacy Policy on your part. Your continued use of the TrainsDepot.org website after any subsequent version of this Privacy Policy becomes effective, constitutes acceptance of that version of the Privacy Policy on your part.

Contact Us

If you have questions or suggestions about this Privacy Policy, or the information collected under this Privacy Policy, please email us at privacy@trainsdepot.org.

These Terms of Use went into effect on January 1st, 2018.