How your data is handled

This page sets out how ASPNetWorld handles your information, because being a teacher means I can’t help explaining things – including the quieter corners of the site itself. I’ve tried to write this in plain language rather than legalese, but the commitments are just as firm. If a question ever pops up that isn’t covered here, you can always reach me at [email protected] and I’ll talk you through it.

When you just browse

If you arrive as a visitor, reading program pages and looking up version notes, the site doesn’t place any cookies on your machine at all. Think of it like browsing a library: you take down the book, you study the pages, and nobody follows you home. The server does keep basic log entries – the kind that record your IP address, the browser you used and which pages you requested – but only for the practical work of troubleshooting and fending off security problems. Those logs aren’t combined with anything that identifies you personally, and after a short while they roll away like old paperwork into a drawer that nobody opens again.

What an account holds

Creating a free account is entirely optional, and you can use the whole catalogue without one. If you do sign up, you choose a display name and give me an email address, and your password gets hashed so thoroughly that even I can’t read it. (Hashing is like mincing an onion into a million tiny pieces – you can compare the pieces to see if they came from the same onion, but you can’t rebuild the original from them.) The account stores your display name, that email address, the programs you’ve saved as favourites, any comments you’ve written, and the notification flags that tell you when a saved program has been updated. That’s the full list. There’s no hidden cupboard of extra fields.

Comments and moderation

I read every comment before it appears on the site, because a classroom works better when the teacher keeps an eye on the discussion. While a comment waits for approval, you’ll see it yourself with the note “awaiting moderation”, which I hope feels like putting your hand up and knowing you’ll be heard shortly. On my side, the moderation panel shows the comment text, your display name, the email address linked to your account, and which program page it was left on. I see that so I can spot patterns – for example, if someone is repeatedly posting useful installation notes across several Audio pages, I like to know it’s the same thoughtful contributor. Once a comment is approved, it appears publicly with just your display name and the text; your email is never shown to other readers and never will be.

Cookies, for those with an account

Signing in sets two cookies, and both are strictly functional. The first is a session cookie that keeps you logged in while you move between pages – it vanishes the moment you close your browser, like a backstage pass you hand in at the end of the night. The second is a small sign-in marker cookie that lives a little longer, simply so the site remembers you next time and doesn’t ask you to type your password again on the same device. There are no advertising cookies on ASPNetWorld, no tracking cookies from third parties, and no analytics scripts watching your movements. The site doesn’t even run a visitor counter that needs a cookie to function. If you ever want to clear the slate, signing out removes the session cookie, and your browser’s settings can take care of the sign-in marker.

What never happens

Your data is not for sale. I don’t hand it to advertisers, I don’t bundle it into a dataset for someone else’s research, and I don’t load third-party trackers onto the site – there are simply none to switch on or off. Because the site carries no outside advertising at all, the pressure that comes with ad-funded platforms doesn’t exist here. The server logs, the account details, the comments awaiting approval: they stay with me and are used only for running the site as you see it.

Children

ASPNetWorld is a catalogue of Mac software, and while plenty of the programs are creative tools that younger learners might use, the site is written for adults. If you are under the age of digital consent in your country, please ask a parent or guardian to set up an account with you, because an email address will be stored in the process. I have no way of verifying ages beyond trusting what you tell me, but if I ever learn that a child has signed up without the right permissions, I’ll close the account and remove any comments straight away.

Deleting your account and comments

If you ever want to leave, a short message to [email protected] is all it takes. Tell me you’d like your account removed, and I’ll delete the whole thing: display name, email, hashed password, favourites, comments and notification settings. Your comments won’t linger in the database afterwards; they’ll be gone along with everything else. If you’d rather keep your account but just remove a particular comment – perhaps you reread it and decided it didn’t quite capture what you meant – the same email address is the route for that too, and I’ll sort it promptly.

Changes to this page

If the way data is handled ever changes, I’ll update this policy and make that clear at the top of the page. Since the site doesn’t collect email addresses for mailing lists or marketing, I can’t email everyone a notice, so I trust you to glance back here occasionally. The core promise – no selling, no tracking, no hidden uses – isn’t something I expect to budge, because it’s simply the way I’d want a site to treat me.