Privacy policy

Voting needs no account and no email address. When you vote, a random identifier is stored in your browser in a cookie called bc_voter, and the following is recorded against it:

• Which side you picked, in which battle, and when.
• Your IP address, both in full and as a salted one-way hash. The hash is what enforces the limit on votes per address; the full address is kept so abuse can be investigated when a battle looks manipulated.
• Your browser user agent and the page that referred you.

The identifier exists for one reason: it is what stops the same browser voting twice in the same battle. It is not linked to your name, and on its own it does not identify you.

If you choose to enter the draw after voting, we store the email address you give us, which side you backed, and the same hashed IP and user agent as above. That address is used to tell you if you win, and for nothing else. It is not sold, and it is not passed to advertisers.

No email is sent from this site today. When that changes, every message will include a one-click unsubscribe.

The public pages use Google Analytics 4 to count visits and see which links bring people here. It sets its own cookies and Google receives your approximate location, derived from your IP address, along with the pages you view. Google acts as a data processor on our behalf and their own terms apply to what they do with it.

The admin area is deliberately excluded from analytics. If you block trackers, the site works normally and your vote still counts.

• bc_voter — the anonymous voting identifier. Roughly 13 months. Strictly functional: without it the site cannot tell whether you have already voted.
• bc_admin — a staff sign-in session. 14 days. Only ever set for people with an admin account.
• Google Analytics cookies, set by Google, with their own lifetimes.

The site runs on Amazon Web Services in the United States, and the database sits on the same machine. Google receives analytics data as described above. Nobody else receives your data, and none of it is sold.

Votes are kept indefinitely, because they are the result of a battle and removing them would change a published outcome. The IP address recorded against a vote is kept for abuse investigation and is removed on request. Giveaway entries are kept while the giveaway is running and for as long as needed to deliver a prize, and are deleted on request at any time.

You can ask what we hold about you, ask for it to be corrected, or ask for it to be deleted. Send us a message and we will act on it. If you are in the UK or the EU you also have the right to complain to your data protection regulator.

To clear the anonymous voting identifier yourself, delete this site's cookies in your browser.

This site is not intended for children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect anything from them. If you believe a child has entered the giveaway, email us and the entry will be removed.

If this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it. Material changes will be announced on the site rather than made quietly.