Privacy Policy

This policy explains how WhatPeopleUse (whatpeopleuse.com, referred to as "we", "us", or "the site") handles information when you use the website.

The site is intended primarily for a United States audience but remains accessible worldwide. Articles, search, navigation, and external links continue to work outside the United States. Optional Google Analytics and passive click and page-view measurement are enabled only when our hosting provider positively identifies a visit as US-located and no opt-out or supported browser privacy signal applies. If the location is outside the United States or cannot be determined, those analytics remain disabled.

Information handled when you visit

You do not need an account to read the site. Different information may be handled depending on the feature you use:

• Normal hosting and security information, such as the requested page, IP address, and browser request headers
• An approximate country code used to decide whether optional analytics may run
• For eligible US visits, Google Analytics usage information and selected first-party page-view and outbound-click measurements
• Your email address when you choose to subscribe to the newsletter
• Text you submit when you choose to use the AI recommender or submit a guide request
• An article reaction when you choose the helpful or not-helpful control
• Optional written article feedback when you choose to send it

Hosting and approximate country detection

The site is hosted by Vercel. Like other web hosts, Vercel receives connection information needed to deliver and protect the website, including an IP address, requested URL, and technical request headers. Vercel may retain infrastructure and security logs under its own settings and policies.

Vercel supplies the site with an approximate country code derived from the request. We use that code to ask whether a visit is located in the United States. We do not use citizenship, an address, or precise GPS location. Missing or invalid location information is treated as non-US for analytics. We do not intentionally store the visitor's IP address in our Google Analytics custom events, click table, or article-view table.

Google Analytics for US-located visits

For eligible US-located visits, the site uses Google Analytics 4 to understand which pages are useful and how the site performs. Google Analytics may process pages viewed, general interaction information, approximate location, device and browser information, referral source, and cookie identifiers. We use this information for site measurement, not cross-context behavioural advertising or remarketing.

Google Analytics is not loaded for visits identified as non-US, visits with unknown location, browsers sending a supported Global Privacy Control signal, or browsers with a saved analytics opt-out. Google explains its processing in How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services. Google's broader practices are described in the Google Privacy Policy.

Google Analytics event and user data is retained according to the settings configured in our Google Analytics property. Its standard_ga and _ga_G4DBY1XVV2 cookies can remain for up to two years and may be refreshed when Google Analytics receives activity, unless your browser settings or privacy choice remove or shorten them.

First-party click and page-view measurement

When optional analytics is allowed for a US-located visit, we may record selected outbound-link interactions. This includes Amazon links, possible affiliate links, source citations, sharing links, and ordinary external links. Each click record can contain:

• The article identifier or slug
• The full destination URL
• A US country code derived by the server
• The link classification
• A link-text snippet of up to 100 characters
• The database event timestamp

Click records are event-level records. They do not represent unique people, purchases, Amazon orders, or commissions. We do not intentionally add an IP address, user agent, exact referrer, email address, visitor ID, or session ID to the click table.

Article views are stored separately as a cumulative count, together with created and last-updated times, for each article. The view table does not contain a separate row for each visitor. A view increment is accepted only for an eligible US-located visit. Visitors outside the United States can still read an article and, when enabled publicly, see its existing count without being added to it.

Newsletter and Brevo

If you choose to subscribe, we send your email address to Brevo, which hosts the mailing list and sends newsletters. Subscription is optional. Newsletter messages include an unsubscribe method. Brevo may retain limited suppression information after an unsubscribe so that an address is not contacted again.

We do not add an email submitted for another purpose to the newsletter list. Brevo describes its practices in the Brevo Privacy Policy.

AI recommender

The optional recommender lets you describe the product or tool you are looking for. When you choose Ask, the submitted text and a limited index of article titles are sent to Groq to generate a response. Our server does not intentionally persist the submitted text or generated answer after returning the response.

The server uses the request IP address transiently in an in-memory abuse-prevention counter for up to one hour. We do not intentionally send that address, an email address, or an account identifier to Groq. Groq handles the submitted text under its privacy policy. Do not submit personal information, credentials, or sensitive details through the recommender.

Guide requests from search

If a search returns no matching article, you can choose "Request this guide". We store the submitted search phrase and its submission timestamp in a private editorial queue so we can decide what to write. This does not create an account or store a visitor identifier with the request.

An administrator can delete a guide request. Do not include names, email addresses, account details, or other personal information in the phrase you submit.

Article reactions and optional feedback

At the end of an article, you can choose whether it was helpful. We keep aggregate helpful and not-helpful totals for editorial review. If you additionally choose to send written feedback, we store the article, your selected response, the message, its submission time, and whether an administrator has reviewed or resolved it.

We do not ask for or intentionally store a name, email address, account, visitor identifier, IP address, user agent, country, or referrer with an article reaction or feedback message. Do not include personal information, credentials, or sensitive details in written feedback. An administrator can permanently delete a message.

Cookies and browser storage

The site uses the following cookies and browser storage. Google Analytics cookies are optional. The other entries remember a choice you make, support a feature you request, or secure the private admin area.

You can use the Privacy choices page to turn optional analytics off or remove a saved opt-out. Turning analytics off does not remove functional preferences such as your theme, article reaction, or newsletter prompt dismissal.

Affiliate links and merchant cookies

Some links on this site are affiliate links. If you follow one and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. Affiliate relationships do not determine our editorial conclusions or change the price you pay.

WhatPeopleUse does not place Amazon or another merchant's referral cookie on this website. After you choose an external link, your browser contacts that merchant directly. The destination URL may contain an affiliate identifier, and the merchant may then set its own cookies or collect information under its own privacy policy.

Amazon Associates disclosure

WhatPeopleUse is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Service providers

We use a limited number of service providers and platforms:

• Vercel for hosting, delivery, security, and approximate country determination
• Google for optional US-only website analytics
• Supabase for first-party click, article-view, article-reaction, optional article-feedback, and guide-request data
• Brevo for newsletter contacts and delivery
• Groq for user-initiated AI recommender responses

Amazon and other external merchants are separate websites reached only after you choose to follow an external link. We are not responsible for their privacy practices.

Retention

• Google Analytics data is retained according to the settings in our Google Analytics property. Its standard cookies can persist for up to two years as described above.
• First-party click records currently have no automatic deletion schedule. They remain until manually deleted or later converted into aggregate records.
• Article-view and reaction totals remain as aggregate per-article counts until they are reset or deleted.
• Written article feedback remains in the private editorial inbox until an administrator deletes it. Resolved feedback that is no longer useful is removed during periodic maintenance.
• Guide requests remain in the private editorial queue until an administrator deletes them.
• Newsletter information is kept as needed to manage the subscription, unsubscribe requests, and suppression records.
• Our server does not intentionally persist AI recommender prompts after responding. The in-memory rate-limit entry lasts for up to one hour.
• Hosting and provider logs are retained under the applicable provider settings and policies.

Your privacy choices and rights

You can turn off optional Google Analytics and first-party click and page-view measurement from the Privacy choices page. The choice is remembered for one year. When you opt out, the site also attempts to remove Google Analytics cookies accessible from this domain.

We also treat a supported Global Privacy Control signal as an analytics opt-out. We do not sell personal information and do not use site activity for cross-context behavioural advertising.

Depending on the law that applies to you, you may have rights to ask about, correct, or delete personal information and to appeal certain decisions. You can make a request using the contact address below. We may need enough information to verify and complete the request.

First-party click records and article-view totals do not include a visitor identifier, so they generally cannot be connected to a particular requester. A newsletter request can be handled using the relevant email address. To help locate a guide request or article feedback message, provide the exact submitted text, relevant article if applicable, and approximate submission time.

Children's privacy

This site is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. Contact us if you believe a child has submitted personal information so we can review and remove it where appropriate.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy when the site, service providers, or legal requirements change. The updated date at the top of this page will show when the latest version took effect. We will provide additional reasonable notice if a change materially affects how personal information is handled.

Contact

Questions or privacy requests can be sent to contact@whatpeopleuse.com.