This site is owned and operated by Wizardware. Your
privacy on the Internet is of the utmost importance to us. At Wizardware, we
want to make your experience online satisfying and safe.
Because we gather certain types of information about
our users, we feel you should fully understand our policy and the terms and
conditions surrounding the capture and use of that information. This privacy
statement discloses what information we gather and how we use it.
INFORMATION WIZARDWARE GATHERS AND TRACKS
Wizardware gathers two types of information
about users:
-
Information that users provide through optional,
voluntary submissions. These are voluntary submissions to receive our
electronic newsletters, to participate in our message boards or forums, to
email a friend, and from participation in polls and surveys:
-
Information Wizardware gathers through
aggregated tracking information derived mainly by tallying page views
throughout our sites. This information allows us to better tailor our content
to readers' needs and to help our advertisers and sponsors better understand
the demographics of our audience. Because Wizardware derives its revenue
mainly from sponsorships and advertising, providing such aggregated demographic
data is essential to keeping our service free to users. Under no circumstances
does Wizardware divulge any information about an individual user to a third
party.
Wizardware Gathers User Information In The Following
Processes:
Optional Voluntary Information
We offer the following free services, which require
some type of voluntary submission of personal information by users:
1. Electronic newsletters policy (Dispatches)
We will offer a free electronic newsletter to
users. Wizardware gathers the email addresses of users who voluntarily
subscribe. Users may remove themselves from this mailing list by following the
link provided in every newsletter that points users to the subscription
management page. Users can also subscribe to the newsletters at the time of
registration.
2. Message boards/forums policy
Users of the site's Message Boards and Forums must
register separately for these services (both are free of charge) in order to
post messages, although they needn't register to visit the site. During
registration the user is required to supply a username, password, and email
address.
3. Polling
We may offer interactive polls to users so they can
easily share their opinions with other users and see what our audience thinks
about important issues. Opinions or other responses to polls are aggregated and
are not identifiable to any particular user. Wizardware may use a system to
"tag" users after they have voted, so they can vote only once on a particular
question. This tag is not correlated with information about individual users.
4. Surveys
Wizardware may occasionally conduct user
surveys to better target our content to our audience. We sometimes share the
aggregated demographic information in these surveys with our sponsors,
advertisers and partners. We never share any of this information about specific
individuals with any third party.
Children
Consistent with the Federal Children's Online Privacy
Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA), we will never knowingly request personally
identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13 without requesting
parental consent.
Usage tracking
Wizardware tracks user traffic patterns
throughout all of our sites. However, we do not correlate this information with
data about individual users. Wizardware does break down overall usage
statistics according to a user's domain name, browser type, and MIME type by
reading this information from the browser string (information contained in
every user's browser).
Wizardware sometimes tracks and catalogs the search
terms that users enter in our Search function, but this tracking is never
associated with individual users. We use tracking information to determine
which areas of our sites users like and don't like based on traffic to those
areas. We do not track what individual users read, but rather how well each
page performs overall. This helps us continue to build a better service for
you.
Cookies
We may place a text file called a "cookie" in the
browser files of your computer. The cookie itself does not contain Personal
Information although it will enable us to relate your use of this site to
information that you have specifically and knowingly provided. But the only
personal information a cookie can contain is information you supply yourself. A
cookie can't read data off your hard disk or read cookie files created by other
sites. Wizardware uses cookies to track user traffic patterns (as described
above). Our advertising system delivers a one-time cookie to better track ad
impressions and click rates.
You can refuse cookies by turning them off in your
browser. If you've set your browser to warn you before accepting cookies, you
will receive the warning message with each cookie. You do not need to have
cookies turned on to use this site. However, you do need cookies to participate
actively in message boards, forums, polling and surveys.
USE OF INFORMATION
Wizardware uses any information voluntarily given by
our users to enhance their experience in our network of sites, whether to
provide interactive or personalized elements on the sites or to better prepare
future content based on the interests of our users.
As stated above, we use information that users
voluntarily provide in order to send out electronic newsletters and to enable
users to participate in polls, surveys, message boards, and forums. We send out
newsletters to subscribers on a regular schedule (depending on the newsletter),
and occasionally send out special editions when we think subscribers might be
particularly interested in something we are doing. Wizardware never shares
newsletter mailing lists with any third parties, including advertisers,
sponsors or partners.
When we use tracking information to determine which
areas of our sites users like and don't like based on traffic to those areas.
We do not track what individual users read, but rather how well each page
performs overall. This helps us continue to build a better service for you. We
track search terms entered in Search function as one of many measures of what
interests our users. But we don't track which terms a particular user enters.
Wizardware creates aggregate reports on user
demographics and traffic patterns for advertisers, sponsors and partners. This
allows our advertisers to advertise more effectively, and allows our users to
receive advertisements that are pertinent to their needs. Because we don't
track the usage patterns of individual users, an advertiser or sponsor will
never know that a specific user clicked their ad. We will not disclose any
information about any individual user except to comply with applicable law or
valid legal process or to protect the personal safety of our users or the
public.
SHARING OF THE INFORMATION
Wizardware uses the above-described information
to tailor our content to suit your needs and help our advertisers better
understand our audience's demographics. This is essential to keeping our
service free. We will not share information about individual users with any
third party, except to comply with applicable law or valid legal process or to
protect the personal safety of our users or the public.
SECURITY
Wizardware operates secure data networks protected by
industry standard firewall and password protection systems. Our security and
privacy policies are periodically reviewed and enhanced as necessary and only
authorized individuals have access to the information provided by our
customers.
OPT-OUT POLICY
We give users options wherever necessary and
practical. Such choices include:
-
Opting not to register to receive our electronic
newsletters.
-
Opting not to participate in certain interactive
areas, which completely alleviates the need to gather any personally
identifiable information from our users
YOUR CONSENT
By using this site, you consent to the collection and
use of this information by Wizardware. If we decide to change our privacy
policy, we will post those changes on this page so that you are always aware of
what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances we
disclose it.