Privacy Policy

At Hauntboard (accessible at https://hauntboard.com), we respect the privacy of both the makers who launch their tools with us and the readers who discover new software. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how it is used, and the choices you have regarding your data.

1. Information We Collect

We only collect information necessary to operate a transparent launch directory:

• Account Information: When you sign in to submit or vote for products, we authenticate via Google OAuth. We receive your basic profile information (name, email address, and avatar image). We never store or have access to your Google passwords.
• Product Listing Data: When submitting an application, you provide the product name, website URL, tagline, description, founder note, category tags, platform details, logo, and screenshots. This information is intended for public display.
• Payment Information: When paid placements (Launch Now and Spotlight) are switched on, they will be processed by Stripe. We will never store or process your card numbers or banking details on our servers.

2. How We Measure Public Website Traffic

Hauntboard's core value is public, transparent visitor counts. Here is how that tracking works:

• Visitors: The first page you open on Hauntboard each day adds one to that day's visitor count. It isn't linked to your account, and it uses the same one-way hash described below.
• Outbound Clicks: Links point directly to the maker's website and are never wrapped in a redirect. When you click through to a product, your browser sends a small background request (navigator.sendBeacon) that adds one to that product's daily click count.
• Page Views and Deduplication: Opening a product page adds one to its daily view count. Each visitor counts at most once per product per day, for views and for clicks. Your browser keeps a small marker in local storage, and our server keeps a one-way hash of your IP address and browser, mixed with a random value that changes every day. We never store your IP address, the hash can't be turned back into it, and it's deleted after two days. Requests from known bots and crawlers are ignored. Beyond that we keep only daily totals (per product, and for Hauntboard as a whole), not who visited, and we do not track you across other websites.

3. Third-Party Service Providers

We work with trusted third-party infrastructure to run the service:

• Convex: Cloud database, backend logic, and asset storage.
• Google: Sign-in with your Google account.
• Stripe: Payment processing, once paid placements are switched on.
• Resend: Transactional emails such as review results, once email notifications are switched on.
• Vercel: Edge hosting, SSL security, and web caching.

4. Cookies & Local Storage

We use minimal cookies strictly required for service operation:

• Session cookies to maintain your signed-in state.
• Local browser storage for your theme preference, your unsaved submission draft, progress on interactive tools like the Launch Checklist, and the once-a-day markers that stop the same browser being counted twice.

5. Your Rights & Data Deletion

You have full control over your personal data. At any time, you may:

• Request an export of all data associated with your user account.
• Request the unlisting or permanent deletion of any product you submitted.

To exercise your rights or request account deletion, contact us at privacy@hauntboard.com.

6. Updates to this Policy

We may occasionally update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in our service. Any updates will be posted on this page with an updated "Last updated" timestamp.