Privacy Policy
Last Updated: June 8, 2024
This Privacy Policy outlines how Haystacks & Hell uses and protects any information provided by visitors through our website, online forms, email, and other platforms.
We care about your privacy and ours, too. As a former Adventist, I know the fear of old friends, church members, and family discovering details that you don’t want them to know. If you choose to share your story with us, we'll honor your privacy.
—Santiago, founder and host
We will electronically store the information you voluntarily choose to provide to us. For example, we may store your information if you choose to:
- Submit your story through our online form
- Send us a direct message on social media
- Send a payment through Ko-Fi or Patreon
- Leave a voicemail on our call-in number
- Send us an email
Information voluntarily shared with us could include:
- Your name (real or fake)
- Your contact information (e.g. email address or phone number)
- Your billing information (e.g. real name, billing address, email address)
- Recorded Interviews or Stories about your experiences in the Seventh-day Adventist church or other fundamentalist denominations and religions
Summary:
When you contact us, we electronically store the information you choose to share with us.
Information Submitted in Good Faith
We will treat stories and personal information sent to us in good faith as strictly private and confidential and will only share your story if you explicitly give us permission to. When submitting a story through our online form, call-in number, or email, we ask that you specify:
- May we include your name (real or fake) and story in our podcast and social media posts?
If you share information with us in good faith, we will never publicly disclose the email address or phone number used to contact us. We will rely on your instructions in the voicemail or message to determine how we can use the information you share. If you do not leave clear instructions, we may contact you to clarify your intentions.
Sharing your story with us does not mean you are obligated to have it shared publicly; we will honor your choice of whether to keep it private or allow us to share it publicly. We reserve the right not to publish any information shared with us for any reason, including if we believe the content is objectionable or violates the privacy of others.
Payment Information
We always keep private payer and billing information strictly confidential (e.g. real name, billing address, email) and it is used strictly for processing and recording payments.
Information Collection and Storage
We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your personally identifiable information except for the following trusted third party platforms, strictly for the purposes of collecting and securely storing information:
- Webflow for website hosting (Privacy Policy)
- Airtable for web forms and data storage (Privacy Policy)
- Google for email, file storage, and voicemail (Privacy Policy)
- Stripe for card and bank payment processing (Privacy Policy)
- Patreon for recurring podcast payments with perks (Privacy Policy)
- Ko-Fi for one-time and recurring podcast payments (Privacy Policy)
Special Circumstances
In very limited circumstances, such as legal government requests for data, we may confidentially release your information when we believe such release is necessary to comply with the law, protect property or safety, protect our rights and legal liabilities, or the rights of third parties.
Releases of information sent to us in good faith will always be handled in a confidential manner and will never be shared publicly by Haystacks & Hell. However, threatening or objectional messages that are not sent in good faith (e.g. spam, fraud, or harassment) may not be treated as private information and may be released publicly at our discretion for our safety and the safety of others.
Summary:
Information you share with us in good faith will always be treated carefully. It is your choice whether to have your story shared publicly. Payment information is always kept private and confidential. We do not sell your information and only use third parties to securely store data. Some limited exceptions may exist, e.g. if we are required by law to provide information.
Information shared with us privately through social media (e.g. direct messages, private story reactions, etc.) will be treated the same as described in Sections 1 and 2 above.
Information shared publicly through social media (e.g. public comments, public reposts, TikTok Stitch, etc.) constitute publicly available information and may be referenced in our podcast, website, and social media posts at our discretion, with or without prior notice.
Summary:
Information shared privately on social media (e.g. through direct messages) is treated as described in Sections 1 and 2. Information shared publicly (e.g. comments) is treated as public information, and we may use it in our podcast, website, and social media.
Our third party platforms all use SSL and encrypt data. Our accounts on these platforms use strong passwords and multi-factor authentication, where possible, to prevent unauthorized access. That said, no one can guarantee 100% safety and security of electronically stored data.
If you want to share your story with us but have serious concerns around your privacy and safety, consider using a fake name and throwaway email address or phone number. Our phone number does support Signal for end-to-end encryption of messages: (301) 750-8648
Summary:
While we use secure platforms and strong security measures, we can't guarantee 100% safety and security of the information we store; no one can. If yo want to share you story but have serious concerns, use a fake name. You can also message us securely using Signal.
Google Analytics
Our website uses Google Analytics to analyze and report on website traffic and understand the countries, regions, and cities our visitors are in. We do not send your personally identifiable information to the Google Analytics platform, and Google Analytics does not send personally identifiable information to us.. First-party and third-party cookies may be used by Google Analytics to perform website traffic analysis and reporting. You can opt out of Google Analytics tracking by using Google’s official browser add-on: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout
Podcast Analytics
Our podcast host provides episode download and playthrough analytics from the web players embedded on this website in addition to analytics provided by third party podcast platforms (e.g. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc.). Depending on the platform, analytics data may include the countries, regions, and cities where our episodes were played. We do not send your personally identifiable information to any of these platforms, and they do not provide us with your personally identifiable information.
Third-party Links
Our website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins, and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and, when you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy policy of those third parties.
Affiliate Links
To support Haystacks & Hell and pay for our expenses, we may participate in affiliate programs and include affiliate links on this website. These links may enable our affiliate program sponsors to identify you as a visitor that came from our website and attribute purchases you make. Where applicable, we will provide affiliate disclosures. Our participation in affiliate programs will never have any influence over editorial coverage or how we rate products.
Summary:
We use Google Analytics on our website, and our podcast has analytics to track downloads. No personally identifiable information is tracked through Google Analytics or our podcast analytics. We don't control third-party sites or their privacy policies. We might have affiliate links on the site and will disclose those links where needed.
The Haystacks & Hell website and podcast are not marketed to children or anyone under the age of majority in their respective jurisdiction (e.g. 18 in most of the United States). Where possible on third-party podcast platforms, the podcast is marked as containing explicit content due to the use of curse words and discussion of mature topics.
We do not collect information from anyone under the age of 13. If you are a parent or guardian and are aware that your child has provided us with personally identifiable information, please contact us and we will delete it. If we become aware that we have collected personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13 without verification of parental consent, we will delete it.
Summary:
We don't market to children or anyone underage. Where possible, we mark our podcast as explicit. We don't collect information from anyone under 13. If we find out a child under 13 gave us information without a parent's permission, we'll delete it.
We may update Our Privacy Policy from time to time and without notice. You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page. If you have any questions about our privacy policy or practices, you may email us at haystacksnhell [at] [gmail] . [com].
Summary:
We can update our Privacy Policy whenever, so check for updates. Email us with any questions.