Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 16, 2026

This policy explains what What’s On Durham (WOD) collects when you use whatsondurham.com, why, and what you can do about it. WOD is an independent project run by Chris in Durham, NC. We don’t sell personal information for money and you don’t need an account to use the site.

What we collect and which services are involved

• Hosting and network (Cloudflare). The site and our API run on Cloudflare. Cloudflare processes your IP address and request details to deliver pages, block abuse, and apply rate limits. We also keep a coarse location (for example, city-level) derived at the edge, and hashed IP data for caching and abuse prevention. Cloudflare Web Analytics may measure page loads without cookies when it is enabled.
• Bot protection (Cloudflare Turnstile). Forms that accept submissions (events, places, deals, and similar) use Turnstile to tell people from bots. Turnstile runs a short check in your browser and returns a token that our server verifies.
• Anonymous visitor and session IDs. We store random IDs in your browser so visits and engagement can be counted without an account. They are not your name or email.
• Session analytics (Microsoft Clarity). In production, Microsoft Clarity may record how pages are used (clicks, scrolling, and similar). It loads only after you accept non-essential cookies. Clarity is operated by Microsoft under its own privacy terms.
• Durham Passport (on your device). Passport stamps, badges, and progress are stored in your browser’s localStorage. If you tap check-in, we receive a distance and accuracy reading and coordinates rounded to about 100 m so we can verify the visit. We do not keep a movement trail. Clearing your browser data clears local progress unless you saved a recovery key.
• Chat assistant. If you use the assistant, the text you type and basic context (such as the page you are on) are sent to our API and to a third-party AI model provider to generate an answer. Please don’t enter sensitive personal information. Answers are drawn from WOD listings and can be wrong; confirm details with the venue.
• Submissions you send us. Events, places, suggested edits, and story pitches go through our moderation workflow (stored in our content system). If you give an email address, we use it to follow up about your submission.
• Optional reminders and notifications. If you ask for an event reminder we store your email briefly to send it. If you turn on push notifications, we store the subscription your browser provides until you unsubscribe or it expires.
• Advertising (Google AdSense) — currently off. The site is built to support AdSense but it is switched off. If we turn it on, ads will load only as described in the cookie banner, and we will update this page first.
• Your preferences. Cookie choices, accessibility toolbar settings, saved events, and day plans are stored in your browser.

Cookies and consent

Essential, first-party signals keep the site working and help us notice errors and slow pages. Analytics that depends on third-party scripts (such as Clarity) and any advertising wait for your consent. You can reject non-essential cookies, change your choice from Cookie preferences in the footer, or turn on Global Privacy Control in your browser, which we treat as a rejection of non-essential cookies.

How we use information

• To run the site, secure it, and prevent abuse.
• To understand which pages and features are useful, in aggregate.
• To moderate and publish submissions.
• To provide features you ask for (Passport, reminders, notifications, the assistant).

Retention

• Analytics signals and sessions: about 60 days when archiving is enabled.
• Idle anonymous visitor records: about 90 days without activity (Passport check-ins can extend this).
• Reminder emails: about 30 days.
• Push subscriptions: until you unsubscribe or the endpoint expires.

Children

WOD is not directed to children under 13. See Children’s Privacy.

Your choices and requests

You can ask us to access or delete information we hold about you. Email [email protected] and include approximate visit dates so we can find your anonymous records. California residents can also use Do Not Sell or Share.

Changes

We’ll update this page and its “Last updated” date when our practices change. Related: Terms of Use.