Privacy and house rules
The short version: no cookies, no tracking, no advertising, nothing sold or shared, and nothing used for anything beyond running the site. Sign in with Google if you want to comment, like things or use the forum, pick a nickname, and you can delete the lot whenever you like.
What your data is used for
Only for running the site: showing your nickname next to what you write, keeping your likes and ratings attached to your account, telling you when someone replies, and counting how many times an episode has been played. That's the lot. Nothing is sold, shared, rented or handed to anyone else. There is no advertising, no advertising network, no analytics company, no tracking pixels, no profiling and no marketing. Nobody is followed around the internet from here, and nothing about you is used to train anything.
The site sets no cookies at all, of any kind. There is nothing to accept or decline, which is why you've never seen a cookie banner here.
Who runs this
The Unmade Season is a fan project run by one person. It isn't a company and it isn't connected to the BBC. For anything about your data, email the address in the site settings.
What we keep if you sign in
Signing in uses your Google account: Google's own sign-in window opens from this site, and Google's script loads only when you press Sign in. We don't keep your Google name or photo. We store the email address Google confirms, which identifies your account and is never shown on the site or shared with anyone; the person who runs the site can see it, to deal with problems and requests like the ones below. The only time it is used to write to you is if you press Notify me on an episode that isn't out yet: your address then sits on that episode's list until it's out, you get one email when it is, and the list is emptied. Those emails are sent by hand, one at a time, with everyone in the blind-copy box so no member sees another member's address. The site itself never sends anything, and you can take yourself off a list whenever you like by pressing the button again. We also store the nickname you choose, the picture you pick from the ones on offer, the comments and forum posts you write, your votes on the forum, the episodes you rate, the episodes and comments you like, anything you report, any reaction video links you send in, any stories, articles, scenes or music you send in, and which episodes you've asked to be told about. The forum is text only and only signed-in members can read it; your votes there are counted, never shown. Likes on comments work the same way: everyone sees the number, nobody sees who.
When someone replies to you, a note of it is kept with your account so it can show in the bell until you've seen it. If you turn on notifications for a device, that device's push address (a long link your browser makes, with no personal details in it) is stored with your account so replies can reach it; it's removed when you turn them off or sign out on that device, and the reply text is sent through your browser's own push service (Google's, Apple's or Mozilla's), which sees the message but not who you are. Your star ratings only ever appear as part of an episode's average; nobody can see how you rated. The home page shows how many members there are, and nothing else about them.
Nicknames are checked before they're accepted: no web addresses, nothing impersonating the site, nothing on the banned-words list, and no two people with the same one. You can change yours from the account menu.
If you send something in
Anyone signed in can write a story or an article, or send in a scene they've filmed or a piece of music they've made, up to two waiting at a time. What you write is stored with your account and read by the site's owner; nobody else can see it, and it appears nowhere on the site, until they say yes. Once it's up it's public, with your nickname on it as the person who made it. One that's been sent back to you can be changed and sent again. Once it's up, you can delete it yourself at any time, straight away and for good; changing the words is a request the owner reads first, and what people see stays as it is until they say yes. A change you've asked for is stored separately and can only be read by you and the owner, and you can take it back before they get to it. Your writing is stored as words with a few marks in it for bold and headings, never as web code, so nothing can hide inside a story.
If you apply to show your own films
Applying stores what you write on the form: the name of your series, the fandom, what you make, and the link you give. Only the site's owner reads it. Nobody else can see that you applied, or what you said, and a no isn't shown anywhere.
You choose whether you're asking for a series of films or one of audio dramas, and you can have two applications waiting at a time. If it's a yes you get a series page of your own. What you put on it is public, like the rest of the site: your episodes, their pictures and descriptions, and your nickname as the person who made them. Your email is still never shown. You can hide or delete comments under your own films and nothing else, and the site's owner can take anything down. Deleting your account takes your series and everything on it with it, as below.
Deleting your account
You can delete your account from the account menu, and when you do, everything held about you is deleted with it. The account itself, the email address, your nickname and your picture, your comments and forum posts, your forum votes, your likes on episodes and comments, your star ratings, anything you reported, any reaction links you sent in, your notifications, any devices you'd switched notifications on for, your place on any Notify me list, everything you sent in, and, if you're a creator here, your series page and every film and scene on it. All of it, straight away and for good.
Nothing is held back: no copy kept to one side, no anonymised leftovers, no note that the account ever existed. It can't be undone and there's nothing to ask us to finish off afterwards. The only exception is the database's own routine backups, which may still hold a copy for a few days before they're overwritten on their own; nothing is kept deliberately and those backups are never used for anything but putting the site back if it breaks.
What we keep for everyone
To count plays and visits, the site records a scrambled fingerprint made from your connection and browser mixed with a secret that changes every day. It can't be turned back into you, it isn't linked to your account, and it isn't shared with anyone. We also note which website sent you here (the site name only) and whether you're on a phone, tablet or desktop.
Nothing is stored on your device for this. The few things the site does keep in your browser are your sign-in token, where you got to in an episode, your player settings and the site's colours so it doesn't flash on the next visit. Those sit in your browser's own storage, never leave your device, and are not cookies. Clearing your browser data clears them.
Videos
Episodes stream from our video host's content delivery network, or through Vimeo's player (with its "do not track" setting on), Streamable's player, or YouTube's privacy-enhanced player for videos hosted there. Nothing is sent to any of them until you press play; once you do, the host sees your IP address the way any website does, and its own privacy policy applies to whatever it then does or stores, which is nothing to do with this site. The player remembers where you got to in an episode in your own browser only.
Where it lives
Accounts, comments, forum posts and counts sit in a database hosted in the UK (London region) by a hosting company, under contract and used only to run this site. The pages themselves come from a static web host. Neither is allowed to do anything else with any of it. Signing in keeps a sign-in token in your browser so you stay signed in; signing out clears it.
Your rights
You can ask for a copy of what is held about you, have it corrected, or have it deleted. Deleting your account from the menu is the fastest route. If you're in the UK and unhappy with how your data has been handled, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.
House rules
- Be decent to each other. Disagree with the episode, not the person.
- No spam, no links to nasty places, no posting anyone's personal details.
- Spoilers are fine in the comments under an episode. Everyone there has pressed play. On the forum, say which episode in the title.
- Comments and forum posts that get reported by several people are hidden automatically. Repeat trouble gets the account banned.
- Reaction videos you share have to be your own or ones you have the right to point at; the site's owner checks each one before it appears and can take any down.
- Films on a creator's own series page are that creator's work and their responsibility: their own, or something they have the right to show. The site's owner can take any of it down.