What we collect

Three buckets of data show up in our systems:

• Analytics data collected automatically when you visit: pages viewed, referrer, approximate location (country/region), device type, browser, and timestamps. Most of this is via Google Analytics 4 through Google Site Kit.
• Newsletter signups: your email address, and optionally a name, when you subscribe to the Weekly Memo. Provided by you directly.
• Comments and contact form submissions: name, email, IP address, user-agent string, and the content of what you wrote. Standard WordPress behaviour.

Cookies and similar tech

We set a small number of first-party cookies (WordPress session, comment preferences, cache identifiers). Third-party cookies and tracking pixels arrive via:

• Google Analytics 4 (audience and behaviour analytics)
• Google Site Kit (attaches and configures Google services)
• Affiliate networks we link to (Cloudways, Hetzner, Railway, Fly.io, Modal, Vercel, DigitalOcean, NameHero, and others). These set cookies only after you click the affiliate link, not just from loading a page.

You can disable cookies in your browser. The site will still work, but some features (comments, analytics opt-ins) may behave oddly.

How we use the data

• To understand what content is useful (which posts get read, where readers come from, what devices they use)
• To send you the newsletter you signed up for, and to measure whether issues are landing
• To moderate comments and respond to contact form messages
• To detect and block abuse (brute-force login attempts, spam, scrapers) via the site’s security plugin
• To attribute affiliate-link clicks so partners can pay correct commissions

We don’t sell personal data. We don’t run retargeting pixels for unrelated advertisers. We don’t share newsletter lists.

Third parties that touch your data

• Google (Site Kit, Analytics, Search Console) — audience analytics and search performance.
• Newsletter provider (currently MailPoet or our chosen ESP at the time you signed up) — stores your subscriber profile and handles sends.
• Affiliate networks — Cloudways, Hetzner, Railway, Fly.io, Modal, Vercel, DigitalOcean, NameHero, and similar. When you click an outbound affiliate link, that network will see your IP, browser, and the referring page.
• Wordfence (or equivalent security plugin) — logs IPs and request patterns to detect malicious activity. Logs are kept locally on the site.
• NameHero — our web host; server access logs are written as standard.

Your rights

If you’re in the EU/UK (GDPR), California (CCPA), or any jurisdiction that grants similar rights, you can ask us to:

• Confirm what data we hold on you
• Provide a copy of that data
• Correct anything that’s wrong
• Delete the data (“right to be forgotten”) — subject to legal obligations like tax records
• Unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time (one click in any email footer)

Email hello@hostingpundit.com with the request and we’ll respond within 30 days.

Data retention

• Comments are retained indefinitely so the conversation thread stays intact (you can ask for yours to be deleted).
• Contact form submissions are retained for 24 months, then deleted.
• Newsletter subscriber records are retained while you’re subscribed, plus 12 months after unsubscribe (for unsubscribe-suppression — so we don’t accidentally re-add you).
• Analytics data lives in Google’s systems under their retention policy (default: 14 months).

Children

HostingPundit is written for adult developers and engineers. We don’t knowingly collect data from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has submitted personal information, email us and we’ll delete it.