Third-Party Components

This site contains components from the following third-party sites:

• cdnjs.cloudflare.com (Intending to replace)
  • Used to serve javascript for:
    • Fancybox
    • Font-awesome
    • highlight.js
    • jquery
• - www.gravitar.com (removed)
  • - Power icon for “About” page
• storage.ko-fi.com
  • Used for the “Support Me” Overlay Widget
• fonts.gstatic.com (Intending to replace)
  • Used for the main font
• www.disqus.com (Intending to replace)
  • Used to provide comment functionality to posts
  • While I’m not happy to have to use Disqus for the commenting system, that was basically the only option for a static site when I started this blog. Things have changed since then so one of the things I intend to do is convert to something like Staticman. That will allow me to keep all the comments local instead of relying on a third-party service that inserts their own tracking links, etc.

If any third-party site is not listed above it is an error/oversight on my part.

Metrics

• A tracking link to metrics.techbit.ca is included on every page, and is used to determine visitor metrics for this site
  • This is not a third-party tracker. The tracking link connects to a tracking server that I run for my own websites.
    • DoNotTrack settings in browsers are respected
    • Ad-blockers (such as Ublock Origin) or other privacy extensions (Privacy Badger) will likely block the tracking as well
  • I intend on tracking the bare minimum required to make metrics worthwhile. This includes but is not necessarily limited to:
    • IP Address (first two octets only: x.x.0.0)
      • Note: The full IP Address of those accessing this site will be saved in the local servers access/error log files
    • Country
    • Browser Version
    • User Agent
    • Platform (ie: desktop, laptop, mobile, etc.)
    • Visit Time
    • Pages visited
      • Entry Page
      • Exit page
    • Referrer (i.e. Google, DuckDuckGo, etc.)

Monetization

First and foremost, I want to make it clear that there will never be advertising on this site, nor will there be any form of exploiting visitors data (selling visitor information). I don’t like advertising, invasive web tracking, or my data being bought and sold by data brokers so that is something that I will never subject my readers too.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate links may be used in articles that when clicked through to the third-party site and followed by a sale will provide me with a percentage of the items sales.

Any web tracking/data harvesting/selling that may occur from those sitess are all outside the scope of this privacy notice and all subject to the privacy policies of those third-party sites.

Affiliate programs currently in use will be listed in the below section

• Current affiliate programs in use:
  • None

In addition, on every page where an affiliate link is used, a disclaimer will appear on the page informing the reader that the article contains affiliate links to the products discussed therein.

Sponsorships

If this site every becomes big enough for “Sponsors” to reach out, the following “Sponsorship” options may be used:

• A locally hosted, static sponsorship banner may be displayed at the top of the site
• A locally hosted, static sponsorship banner may be displayed at the top of a specific article
• An article may be sponsored such that the content of the article is influenced by the sponsorship.
  • Note that even in this case, I will not accept a sponsorship that would require me to give a false interpretation or give a biased opinion of the sponsoring brand.
  • Sponsors will only be accepted if I can provide my honest thoughts, feelings, and unbiased opinions about the sponsoring products, items, or brands.

Donations

One-off donations are greatly appreciated and accepted through Ko-Fi, either through the “Support Me” widget, or through my Ko-Fi page directly.

The minimum donation amount is $5.

Ko-Fi can also be used for ongoing subscriptions, commissions, sales, etc. While these are not features I am currently using I may explore some of these options in the future.