Privacy Policy
Last updated: 2 October 2026
Who we are
Common Strangers is a community platform for publishing and sharing creative work. This page explains what personal data we collect, why, and what you can do about it. We have tried to write it in plain language rather than legal boilerplate.Who is responsible
The controller of your personal data is Common Strangers, Chiou 27, Athens, 10436, Greece. For anything on this page — questions, requests, complaints — write to find@commonstrangers.gr.What we collect
When you create an account
- Username — required. It is public: it appears on everything you publish and on your profile.
- Email address — optional. If you give one, it is used only to send you account emails, such as a password reset link. It is never shown publicly.
- Password — stored only as a cryptographic hash. Nobody, including us, can read it.
When you use the site
- What you publish — text, images, audio, video links, and the theme and title you file them under.
- Your profile — photo, biography, links and favourites, if you choose to fill them in. All of it is public.
- Comments — the text, and the IP address and browser identifier recorded with them. This is standard for the software the site runs on and is used to deal with abuse.
- Server logs — our hosting provider records IP addresses and requests for security and troubleshooting.
What we do not do
There is no analytics, no advertising, no tracking pixels, no profiling and no automated decision-making. We do not sell or rent personal data to anyone, and we never will.Why we are allowed to hold it
- To provide your account and publish your work — this is our contract with you (GDPR Article 6(1)(b)).
- To moderate content, prevent abuse and keep the site secure — our legitimate interest in running a usable community (Article 6(1)(f)).
- To meet legal obligations where one applies (Article 6(1)(c)).
Cookies and local storage
This site sets only what it needs to work. There are no advertising or analytics cookies.- Session cookies — set when you sign in, so the site remembers you between pages. They are removed when you log out.
- Consent notice — a single value stored in your browser so the cookie notice does not reappear on every page.
- Open windows — on the desktop version, which windows you have open and where you dragged them is kept in your browser for the length of the visit, so the page survives a reload. It never leaves your device.
Embedded video
Some publications embed video from YouTube or Vimeo. When you open a page containing one, your browser contacts those services directly, and they receive your IP address and may set their own cookies. We use YouTube’s no-cookie player, which reduces but does not eliminate this. Their handling of your data is governed by their own privacy policies, not this one. Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website. These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.Comments
When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection. An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.Who else sees your data
We do not share personal data except with the providers we need to run the site, who process it on our instructions:- Hosting — Hostinger International Ltd (Lithuania, EU).
- Email delivery — a transactional email provider, used only to send account emails.
How long we keep it
- Account data — until you ask us to delete it.
- Published work and comments — for as long as they are on the site. Deleting your account does not automatically delete work already published; tell us if you want it removed too, and we will.
- Server logs — a short period set by our hosting provider, typically a few weeks.
Your rights
Under the GDPR you can ask us to:- give you a copy of the data we hold about you;
- correct anything inaccurate;
- delete your data;
- restrict or object to how we use it;
- hand it over in a portable format.