How we count visits

Our own analytics

• Optional analytics use your consent. Your choice lasts 180 days. Withdraw with Analytics preferences to stop collection and request deletion of this browser’s analytics.
• The operator collects statistics using Vercel hosting and a Neon database in Frankfurt, Germany. These providers process data on our behalf. Their processing agreements describe subprocessors and safeguards for transfers outside the EEA. Hosting also processes network requests to deliver and secure the site.
• We use no tracking cookies. Only after consent, your browser stores a random analytics token in local storage. Our database stores hashes, never the token itself. A fixed-value cookie remembers an explicit testing opt-out; it does not identify your browser.
• There is no advertising tracking and no cross-site tracking. The statistics are never used for advertising or to follow you to other websites.
• When you open the story, we record which parts of it you reach, the answer you choose to the question near the end, and whether the support section was shown or its Ko-fi button pressed. Nothing you type is recorded.

What happens to your request

• The random token is independent of your IP address and browser details. If the token cannot be stored, we do not collect analytics; there is no IP-based fallback.
• Your IP address and User-Agent are discarded after this calculation. They are never written to our database.
• Daily hashes change at midnight UTC. Older daily and session hashes are re-scrambled. Separate private hashes support unique-browser counts and deletion during the retention period; they are never shared with other websites.
• The country your request comes from is stored at country level only, never your city, region or exact location. We also store the kind of device (phone, tablet or computer).
• Because these codes are derived from your request, we treat this data as pseudonymous, not anonymous, and keep it to the minimum.

Public statistics

• The impact page shows totals and shares only: visits, estimated unique visitors, countries, how far people read, answers and support clicks. It never shows individual visits or codes.
• Countries and devices with fewer than 10 daily unique counts across recorded days are combined into Other. Answers are shown only after enough sessions have submitted them. These are estimates, not a count of distinct people.
• Detailed statistics show only consenting visits within the last 180 days. Deletion can reduce these totals. Separate aggregate page-request counts include traffic without consent.

Your data and rights

Contact us to request access, correction, erasure, restriction or portability where applicable. You may complain to a data protection authority, including in the country where you live or work. We do not make automated decisions about you.

We process necessary hosting and security requests to provide and protect the website, based on our legitimate interests. You may object to this processing by contacting us.

Consent evidence and analytics are excluded from statistics after 180 days and deleted by the next daily cleanup. Withdrawing requests deletion of records linked to this browser. Clearing storage first can prevent us from identifying them. Counts can decrease after deletion. Neon recovery history may retain deleted data for up to six hours; any restored database must reapply deletion before use.

Vercel · Neon