Privacy & Community Standards

1. Our Commitment to Transparency

At FossilWorks, we believe that self-sufficiency starts with trust. We respect your privacy and aim to be as open about our digital tools as we are about our physical builds. This policy explains how we handle your information across our website and community channels.

2. Analytics & Performance

We use tools like Google Analytics (GA4) and Metricool to understand how visitors interact with our project logs. These tools collect data such as your IP address, browser type, and the pages you visit. This helps us see which topics—like café design or gardening—are most helpful to you. This data is aggregated and does not identify you personally.

3. Meta Pixel & Marketing

We use the Meta Pixel to measure the effectiveness of our social media outreach. Third parties, including Meta, may use cookies, web beacons, and other storage technologies to collect or receive information from FossilWorks and elsewhere on the internet and use that information to provide measurement services and target ads. This allows us to reach other builders and retirees who might find our plans useful.

4. Advertising & Affiliate Disclosure

We use Google AdSense to serve ads on our site. Google uses cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to our website or other websites on the internet. You may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Ads Settings.

In our technical notes, we sometimes link to the tools we use. If you purchase through these affiliate links, we may receive a small commission which helps fund our physical builds at no extra cost to you.

5. Financial Information & Payments

All membership payments and support donations are processed securely through Stripe via the Substack and Ko-fi platforms. FossilWorks does not store or have direct access to your credit card numbers or full financial details.

6. Your Data Rights & Choices

You have the right to know how your data is used. You can clear your cookies in your browser settings at any time to reset your tracking preferences. For our California visitors and those in other jurisdictions with similar rights, we provide a "Do Not Sell or Share" link in our footer to manage your privacy preferences.

7. Community Standards

Our community is a place for learning. We encourage honest questions and respectful discussion. Conduct that is harmful, spam-driven, or disrespectful will result in removal from our social spaces to maintain a safe environment for everyone.