Privacy policy

1. Scope and who is responsible

This policy applies to personal information handled through pocketpickleguides.com and the Pocket Pickle Guides services described here. “Pocket Pickle Guides,” “we,” and “us” refer to the operator of this website. It does not control the privacy practices of external websites, payment companies, parks departments, retailers, or other services linked from the site.

2. Information we collect

We collect only the information needed for the feature you choose to use:

• Free guide and tool access: email address, consent time, signup source, access count, and the most recently requested guide, when applicable.
• Optional newsletter: email address, request and confirmation times, signup source, consent wording version and hash, subscription state, delivery-provider identifiers and status, and unsubscribe or delivery-failure state. Leaving the optional newsletter box unchecked does not prevent access.
• Reader messages: name, email address, topic, message, and consent time.
• Future store and account services: contact, billing, account, order, transaction, refund, and customer-service information only if those services are enabled and you choose to use them.
• Technical and security data: IP address, browser and device details, timestamps, referring page, requested URL, cookie identifiers, and diagnostic or abuse signals processed in server logs or essential site systems.
• Reviews or submissions: the content you submit and related moderation and timestamp information.

Please do not submit medical records, government identifiers, full payment-card numbers, or other sensitive information through a form on this site.

3. Free tools, downloads, and browser access

The drill planner, paddle finder, rules card, warmup timer, court planner, scorekeeper, and skill-focus estimator run in your browser. Your selections, scores, timer state, and generated results are not sent to or saved in the Pocket Pickle Guides WordPress database. The access form sends only the access information described above.

After a successful access request, the site places a signed ppg_access cookie in your browser for 30 days. The cookie contains an expiration time and random signed value; it does not contain your email address. It lets the server recognize that the browser may use the tools and protected downloads without asking for the email again during that period. This is immediate access, not an account and not email-address verification.

Protected PDF links are generated only after the server confirms this cookie. Direct public access to the stored PDF files is blocked. Clearing browser data or using another browser may require a new access request.

4. How information is used

• Provide the requested free tool or PDF access and remember that access for 30 days.
• Send a requested confirmation message, and send Pocket Pickle Weekly only after the separate newsletter choice and signed email confirmation are both completed.
• Record consent and honor unsubscribe, suppression, correction, deletion, and access requests.
• Respond to messages, corrections, privacy requests, accessibility requests, and support questions.
• Secure, troubleshoot, measure, and improve the site.
• Process future orders and keep legally required business records only if commerce is enabled.
• Moderate submissions, prevent abuse, comply with law, and protect readers, the site, and legal rights.

We do not use health-page visits or tool answers to diagnose a reader or create a health profile.

5. When information is disclosed

Information may be disclosed to hosting, security, email, payment, accounting, customer-support, analytics, or other service providers that perform work for the site. Providers receive only the information reasonably needed for their role and operate under their own contracts and legal obligations.

Information may also be disclosed when reasonably necessary to comply with law, respond to valid legal process, investigate fraud or security incidents, protect rights or safety, or complete a merger, financing, sale, or transfer of the site. If ownership changes, this policy or an updated notice will continue to describe the information involved.

6. Sale, sharing, advertising, and affiliate links

Pocket Pickle Guides does not sell personal information and does not currently share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. The site does not require advertising cookies. If those practices change, we will update this policy and provide any notice, consent, or opt-out control required by applicable law.

An affiliate link may tell a retailer that a visit or purchase came from Pocket Pickle Guides. The disclosure near that link and the affiliate disclosure explain the commercial relationship. The retailer’s privacy policy controls information it collects after you leave this site.

7. Cookies and similar technologies

The site uses the essential 30-day access cookie described above. WordPress, WooCommerce, the hosting platform, and security systems may also use essential cookies or browser storage to maintain sessions, secure forms, prevent abuse, and operate a requested account or checkout if those services are enabled. Optional analytics is controlled separately. See the cookie policy for categories and browser choices.

8. Retention and security

Free-access records are kept until you ask for deletion, the access program is retired, or they are no longer reasonably needed to document consent and operate the service. Unconfirmed newsletter requests are removed after 30 days. Confirmed newsletter information is kept until you unsubscribe, ask for deletion, or the list is retired. Completed delivery-queue records are generally removed after 30 days and failed operational records after 90 days.

When an address unsubscribes, complains, hard-bounces, or is erased, we may retain a non-reversible keyed hash of the normalized address and a reason/date on a do-not-contact list. The raw address and unrelated profile data are not stored in that list. This minimal suppression record is retained so a later import or form submission cannot silently restore marketing; a user-driven unsubscribe or erasure can be replaced only by a fresh signed confirmation, while complaint, hard-bounce, and administrator suppressions require review.

Reader messages are generally kept for up to 24 months after the last related interaction unless a longer period is reasonably needed for a correction, dispute, security issue, or legal obligation. Future order, refund, accounting, fraud, and tax records may be kept for the period required by applicable law and legitimate business needs.

We use access controls, private WordPress record types, HTTPS, signed cookies and email-action tokens, security headers, rate limits, bounded retries, software updates, and other reasonable safeguards. No internet transmission or storage system can be guaranteed completely secure.

9. Your privacy choices and rights

You may decline the optional newsletter and still use the tools and downloads. A newsletter request remains pending until its signed confirmation is completed. Every marketing message must include a visible unsubscribe link and standards-based one-click unsubscribe. An unsubscribe is applied to the local suppression list immediately and queued for the connected provider. You may also use the contact page and choose “Privacy or unsubscribe request.”

Depending on where you live and whether a privacy law applies, you may have rights to request access, correction, deletion, portability, or information about disclosures; to opt out of certain sale, sharing, targeted advertising, or profiling; to limit certain sensitive-data uses; or to appeal a denied request. Pocket Pickle Guides will also consider reasonable access, correction, and deletion requests even when a specific state law does not apply.

We may need to verify that you control the email address involved. An authorized agent may submit a request where applicable, but we may request proof of authority and direct identity confirmation. A minimal do-not-contact hash may be retained after other information is erased for the sole purpose of honoring the marketing objection. We will not discriminate against you for exercising a privacy right.

10. Children

The site is intended for a general audience age 13 and older and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from a child under 13. A parent or guardian who believes a child submitted information should contact us so it can be reviewed and deleted.

11. External services and international processing

External sites and services control their own privacy practices. Information handled for the site may be processed in the United States or another country where a service provider operates. Privacy protections may differ from those in your location.

12. Changes and contact

We may update this policy when services, providers, or legal requirements change. The review date above identifies the current version. Material changes will receive additional notice when appropriate.

For a privacy question or request, use the contact form and select “Privacy or unsubscribe request.” Do not send sensitive identity documents in the first message.