Your privacy matters here.

We built the Commons to keep membership information separate from public participation. Joining does not put your name, contact details or home address in a public member directory. Listing a place or sharing a sighting is a separate action. Other optional messages remain a separate choice.

We check submitted photos on our own server, without sending them to an outside image-classification service. We remove embedded location and other metadata from the public version. These choices limit outside processing and keep private account information out of public listings. A photo can still reveal details visible in the image itself, so choose what you share with care.

Some information is needed to run the site: maintain an account, check membership, publish a place you choose to list, save your participation or deliver a message you request. We use your name, checked address and membership decision to maintain your relationship with the Commons. Your account can also hold message choices, saved walks, participation and requests.

Technical records help protect accounts, prevent automated abuse, investigate submission problems and review suspected vote manipulation. Public contributions are checked before they appear. Some can be published after an automated check; uncertain results and failed checks go to a human. Supported appeals also receive human review. A failed check does not mean automatic approval.

Information used to understand and improve the website has a different purpose from information needed to sign in or publish a contribution. Google Analytics and our temporary journey counts are described below.

A place you list can show the public name, address and unit you preview, visiting details, host-reported information, and approved photos or descriptions. Contest entries and results show their published entry information.

A BixbyBoo sighting can show the reported street address or cross streets, photo, caption and observed time. It reports decorations; it does not mean the host joined or registered the place. Reporter names and emails are not displayed with the sighting.

The original photo upload is not published. It is held for processing and review. The approved display version appears with the contribution. As with anything published on the web, someone else may save or share it. Removal from the Commons cannot remove copies held elsewhere.

You can report BixbyBoo without joining. The form asks for your name and email. These stay out of the public report and do not create an account, verify your identity or sign you up for updates. The report does not send an email confirmation.

Keep the sighting receipt on your device. It lets you check the report’s status or withdraw it, and helps verify a request about its data. Without the receipt, a Commons steward needs to verify the request another way.

We do not sell your personal information. We have worked to limit reliance on outside services, including keeping photo classification on the Commons server. Some outside services still help provide particular functions; information goes to them for those functions.

Cloudflare helps protect the site and check for automated abuse. Google is involved if you choose Google sign-in. When enabled, SMTP2GO delivers email, MailerLite handles email-list delivery and Twilio delivers texts. Outside services have their own privacy and retention practices, which can differ from the Commons records described here.

We use Google Analytics on selected public pages to understand which pages people visit and where the website needs improvement. Google receives page-use and device or browser information and may use cookies or similar identifiers. This is separate from the information needed to maintain your membership or publish a listing.

On selected public pages, we measure page visits, how far the page is scrolled, sections that appear on screen and selected link or button clicks. These are not heatmaps or recordings. We do not send form answers, account details, receipt links, full search terms or precise device location to Analytics. Our tracking excludes account, sign-in, join, survey, receipt and private operator routes, and pauses around private forms on public pages. Google’s automatic tracking of forms, searches, clicks and navigation changes is turned off; the public interactions we measure are selected in our own website code. Advertising personalization and Google signals are disabled in our website tag.

We count the steps people reach while joining, signing in or taking part, so we can find a confusing screen or a form that is hard to finish. A temporary random label connects the steps of one attempt in one browser tab. These are counts of attempts, not a count of individual neighbors.

The label stops connecting steps after 30 minutes without a new recorded step, and always within two hours of starting. We turn the steps into daily totals without the label. The linked records are due for removal 24 hours after the attempt starts; the daily totals are due for removal after 30 days. Scheduled cleanup removes them, so deletion is not instantaneous at the cutoff. These measurement records are excluded from our application-data backups, and expired records are removed before a restored application starts.

These records contain the type of activity, general steps reached, broad error categories and whether an action finished. They do not contain names, contact details, addresses, form answers, account or submission identifiers, IP addresses, browser details, full page addresses, screenshots or recordings. The site briefly uses an IP address in memory to limit automated measurement requests; it is not saved in these records. Other account, submission and security records described in this policy remain separate.

This measurement stays on the Commons server. Private form activity is not sent to Google Analytics. If measurement is unavailable, you can still sign in, join or submit your contribution. A missing finish in these counts does not prove that your action failed: an expired label, a blocked request or an interrupted measurement can leave a gap. The counts help us improve the website; they are not the record of your membership or contribution.

The map uses your device location when your browser permission allows it. Address suggestions can use an already-permitted location to rank nearby matches. Join does not request new location permission or quietly choose your home address, and precise device location is not stored as your home address.

Cookies and sessions keep sign-in working. Anonymous contest voting uses a browser cookie to keep track of that browser’s vote on an entry. You do not need an account to vote, but a vote still leaves a record; removed votes can remain as inactive history.

The installed map can keep public place information and a chosen route packet on your device. Drafts, sighting receipts and data-request status details may also be stored there so you can return to them. Clearing local data removes those device records, including receipts you may need later. It does not delete records held by the Commons. Offline map information can be out of date. Browser settings let you manage cookies; blocking them can affect sign-in or other features.

When you join Bixby Knolls Commons, you’ll also receive our newsletter, The Porchlight and neighborhood updates by email. You can unsubscribe without ending your membership. Signing in alone, reporting a sighting or entering a contest does not add you to the newsletter. Other optional message choices are available in My Commons.

A choice applies to the particular email address or phone number and purpose selected. Changing your contact details does not carry that permission over. You can withdraw a choice in My Commons. Sign-in codes and other account or action messages are separate from optional updates. When text service is available, replying STOP suppresses further delivery to that number.

Records serve different purposes, including operating accounts, recording permission and reviewing abuse. They do not all have the same retention period.

An explicit address check leaves a private record of the entered address and result, even if you do not join. Suggestions and automatic re-checks do not create that record. Address-check records carry an 18-month retention date, but automatic removal is not yet running.

BixbyBoo reports retain the private reporter name and email, the IP address received through the trusted connection, and a record of the submission checks. These help investigate abuse and submission problems and are not displayed publicly. They currently have no automatic expiry and are kept unless handled through an explicit deletion request.

Sign-in sessions also record technical information such as IP address and browser information. Retention periods for other categories, including address evidence, message records and review notes, still need final decisions. These limits are disclosed here so you know what a request can and cannot change.

You can ask us to correct information, provide a copy, close your account or delete information. Signed-in neighbors can use Your data and follow the request’s status. Reporters without an account can use Your sighting data. A saved receipt verifies a request for that report; without it, a steward needs to verify the request. A name or email alone does not prove which records are yours.

Closing an account ends access and relationships. Deleting information is a separate request. Some records can remain, including address and consent evidence, sent messages and review notes. A partly completed deletion shows what remains outstanding.

A copy explains what it includes and any limits. Large categories may be cut short, internal notes may need review, and outside-service records need separate handling. A no-account sighting copy is handled by a steward rather than offered as a direct download.

Removing files, applying deletion after a backup restore and requesting erasure from outside services are separate tracked steps. Removal from files, backups or outside services is not necessarily immediate.

If something here is unclear, or you need help with a request, use Contact. Tell us which page or request you mean. Keep sign-in codes and private receipt secrets to yourself.