Who we are
This privacy policy explains how we handle your information when you visit our website address: https://thrillofthegather.com.
Thrill of the Gather is a digital strategy studio, based in Liverpool, New York. We help small businesses and nonprofits improve their online presence through websites, branded email, and tech support. We are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring transparency about how your information is collected, used, and safeguarded.
Comments
When visitors leave comments on our blog, we collect the data shown in the comment form, along with the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help detect spam.
If you use a Gravatar account, an anonymized string (also called a hash) may be created from your email address and provided to the Gravatar service to display your profile image. You can review their privacy policy at: https://automattic.com/privacy.
Media
If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location information from public images on the site.
Cookies
We use cookies to analyze traffic, support social features, and improve your browsing experience. These may include anonymized data collected through tools like Google Analytics, Meta Pixel, and Zoho.
- Technical cookies: Some technical cookies may be placed by our website theme (Kadence) or plugins to ensure the site functions correctly. These do not track personal data for advertising purposes.
- Hosting cookies: Because our website is hosted through GoDaddy, certain GoDaddy service cookies may also appear. These are technical/operational cookies, not marketing trackers.
- Consent behavior: We use the Complianz Cookie Consent tool to manage your cookie preferences and ensure compliance with privacy regulations (GDPR/CCPA). This tool records your consent choices and ensures that only the cookies you allow are activated. If you close (X) the cookie banner without making a selection, functional cookies may remain and cookies already placed are not removed. You can revisit or change your preferences at any time using the Opt-Out Preferences link in the site footer.
- Convenience cookies: If you leave a comment, you may opt in to saving your name, email, and website in cookies for convenience. These cookies last for one year.
Complianz may collect limited technical data (such as your IP address and browser details) strictly for compliance and functionality purposes. For more details, you can review the Complianz privacy policy at https://complianz.io.
Embedded content from other websites
Pages and blog posts on this site may include embedded content (e.g., videos, forms, social posts). Embedded content from other websites behaves as if the visitor has visited the source site directly. These third-party websites may collect data, use cookies, and track your interaction — especially if you’re logged in to those services.
Who we share your data with
We do not sell or rent your personal data.
We may use trusted third-party services such as Google Analytics, Meta, and Zoho to help us run our site and marketing efforts. These tools follow strict data handling standards.
Third-Party Tools and Services
We use third-party providers such as Google, Meta, Zoho, and Complianz to help us operate our website and improve your experience. Each of these providers handles data in line with their own privacy policies. We encourage you to review those policies to understand how your information may be processed.
How long we retain your data
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely to support follow-up moderation.
If you sign up for email or submit a contact form, we may retain your information to continue communication or monitor usage trends. You may request to have this data removed at any time.
What rights you have over your data
If you have submitted information via forms or comments, you can request an exported file of the data we hold about you. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold, excluding any data we’re obliged to keep for legal or administrative purposes.
Please email contact@thrillofthegather.com for any privacy-related requests.
Where your data is sent
Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service. Form submissions and usage tracking may be processed by third-party services such as Google Analytics, Meta Pixel, and Zoho Campaigns.