Privacy policy
The short version: we collect only what we need to run Guild Rising. We never sell your data. We don't use advertising trackers. You can see, fix or delete your information at any time.
Who we are
Guild Rising (guildrising.com) is run by Helix Media Engine, ABN 66 926 581 596, in Queensland, Australia. In this policy, "we" and "us" mean Helix Media Engine.
We follow the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988. If you have a question about your privacy, email [email protected].
What we collect
| What | Why we need it |
|---|---|
| Your email address | To create your account, let you log in, and send the emails you ask for. |
| Your date of birth | To confirm you are 18 or over. Guild Rising is for adults only. We keep only your birth year and a note that you are 18 or over. |
| Your display name and profile | So other guild members can see who made a project or wrote a review. |
| Your projects, reviews and comments | This is what you choose to share on Guild Rising. It is public. |
| Website addresses you run through Site Check | To check the site and show you the report. |
| Basic technical details (IP address, browser type, the time you visited) | To keep the site safe, stop spam and cheating, and fix problems. |
We don't ask for your home address, phone number or government ID. If we think someone may be under 18, we may ask them to confirm their age another way. If a law ever requires a stronger age check, we will tell you first and explain exactly what is collected.
What is public
Your display name, profile, projects, reviews, comments, golden leaves and Rising badge can be seen by anyone. Your email address and date of birth are never shown to other people. When someone uses the ✉️ Email button on your ad, their message is sent to you through Guild Rising, so your address stays private until you choose to reply.
If you join a guild member's mailing list from their ad, we pass your email address to that guild member, but only after you tick the box and confirm by clicking the link we email you. From then on, that guild member is responsible for how they use it, and every email they send must have an unsubscribe link.
Golden leaf counts are public. Leaves from visitors without an account are counted, but not named.
Cookies and tracking
- We use one small cookie to keep you logged in.
- If you give a golden leaf without an account, we keep a scrambled (hashed) version of your IP address for 24 hours. This stops anyone giving the same project lots of leaves. We can't use it to find out who you are.
- If you speak a comment instead of typing it, your browser's own speech service turns it into text (in Chrome, that is Google).
- We count visits with privacy-friendly analytics that don't use cookies and don't follow you around the web.
- We don't use advertising trackers, and we don't sell or rent your data to anyone.
Emails
- We send account emails, like log-in links and important notices about your account.
- We only send newsletters, such as "Rising This Week", if you say yes. You confirm by clicking a link in your first email.
- Every newsletter has an unsubscribe link that works straight away.
- Every email says it's from Guild Rising (Helix Media Engine) and how to reach us.
Who helps us run Guild Rising
We use a few trusted services. They only get what they need to do their job, and they may store data outside Australia.
| Service | What it does | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare | Hosts the website and database, blocks bots, and counts visits privately. Its AI powers the Keeper: it reads comments, reviews and ads to check tone and write ads. It is not used to train AI. | Worldwide, including the USA |
| Anthropic (Claude) | Helps the owner look into reports and support tickets that need a closer look. | USA |
| Brevo | Sends our emails. | European Union |
| Google PageSpeed | Measures the speed of a website you run through Site Check. Only the website address is sent. | USA |
If we ever take payments, a payment company will process them. We will name it here first. We never see or store your full card number.
We may also share information if the law requires it, for example a valid request from police or the eSafety Commissioner.
The Keeper and automatic decisions
The Keeper is our AI guild leader, a computer program. It reads your comments, reviews, reports and support tickets. It may turn down a harsh post or sort a report. It never changes your words.
- The Keeper never closes an account on its own.
- Any removal, ban or fix needs both our AI and a person (the owner) to agree.
- You can always ask a person to look again. Email [email protected].
How long we keep it
- Your account: until you delete it.
- After you delete your account: we remove your details within 30 days. Backups clear within a further 30 days.
- Technical logs: kept for up to 30 days, unless we need them to look into abuse.
- Site Check results: kept for up to 12 months so you can compare checks over time.
- Comments the Keeper turned down: 7 days, seen only by you and our team, so you can ask us to look again. If they broke the law (for example a threat), we keep them with the report.
- Reports and support tickets: 2 years, so we can spot problems that come back.
Your choices
- See the information we hold about you.
- Fix anything that is wrong.
- Download your projects and reviews.
- Delete your account and your data.
You can do most of this in your account settings. For anything else, email [email protected]. We reply within 30 days, usually much sooner.
Keeping it safe
We use secure connections (HTTPS), we don't store passwords (you log in with an email link), and only the Guild Rising team can reach the admin area. No system is perfect. If a data breach is likely to cause you serious harm, we will tell you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, as the law requires.
Adults only
Guild Rising is for people aged 18 and over. If we learn that someone under 18 has an account, we close it and delete their information.
Complaints
If you're unhappy with how we handled your information, email [email protected] first and we'll try to fix it. If you're still not happy, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au.
Changes to this policy
If we make a big change, we will email members and show a notice on the site before it starts. The date at the top always shows the latest version.