This page has been established to detail how Abandoned UE collects and utilizes user information, how it discloses that information to all users, and to allow all visitors to give their consent to the individual aspects of data collection. The information contained within this page applies to all visitors to Abandoned UE, registered or not.

Abandoned UE is committed to respecting the right to privacy of both its registered users and unregistered guests. In addition, Abandoned UE is committed to complying with all laws and regulations applying to user privacy, such as the GDPR.

In the event of an unforeseen circumstance, such as the hostile takeover of the server and/or Abandoned UE by a third party, the commitments made on this page are voided until such time that ownership and control of Abandoned UE is re-established by the administration.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a regulation passed by the European Union (EU) that went into enforcement effective May 25, 2018. It was designed to harmonize data privacy regulations across the EU, empower EU citizens with their data privacy, and change how data and privacy is approached by organizations and individuals.

A major change stemming from the GDPR is that consent can no longer be implied by simply visiting a website; consent must be requested in a clear and understandable manner.

Even though Abandoned UE is not hosted in the EU, it may interact with EU citizens regardless of where they physically are, and as such the provisions of the GDPR apply. As a result, the site has been overhauled to ensure compliance with the GDPR, particularly when it comes to logging of private information such as IP Addresses.

As a result of this overhaul, Abandoned UE has expanded the privacy controls to allow the setting of cookies and usage of private information as defined in the sub-sections to the left. As well, the privacy controls are set up to require re-approval every 12 months for users who are logged in, or once the visitor session expires for non-logged in users.

In any cases where private and uniquely identifiable data was collected under the old implied consent system, that data has been deleted from the server.

Any questions or concerns that you may have regarding the GDPR or Abandoned UE's handling of private data should be raised to the site staff using the Contact Form.

Cookie settings affect personal data that is captured using cookies, which are small pieces of data stored on your computer by websites. This data can be viewed and modified by users via their browser, and are considered to be insecure data storage as a result of this.

Examples of cookies include authentication cookies, used by login systems, and third-party tracking cookies, which are used by advertisers. All cookies in use by Abandoned UE are described further below by type and by their name, along with the consent options for these cookies.

Core cookies are cookies that are required by Abandoned UE to function properly. As such, consent for these cookies cannot be revoked, otherwise features of the site would not properly function.

This cookie contains a unique hash with randomly generated components, which is used to link a user to a given login session. It will only be set when the automatic login option was enabled when logging in.

This cookie contains a randomly generated hash used to identify a device, and is always set by Abandoned UE. It is used by the account monitoring system to help combat users evading disciplinary action for violating the site rules.

Statistics cookies are cookies that are set by Abandoned UE for the purpose of non-identifying statistics collection related to users, which is used for site metrics and review.

This cookie contains the resolution data for the user, with no unique identifiers. This data is simply collected to provide the administration data related to the design of the site.

System settings affect personal data that is provided by the user's device, such as a user agent string provided by a browser. This data is not always made easily viewable to a user by their device, but are made available to a web site.

Examples of system data include IP addresses and user agent strings. All system data in use by Abandoned UE are described further below by type and by their name, along with the consent options for each type of data.

Core data is data that is required by Abandoned UE to function properly. As such, consent for this data cannot be revoked, otherwise features of the site would not properly function.

This data uniquely identifies a user at the time they are connected to a website, and is part of how the Internet works. As such, an IP address is always available to Abandoned UE when a user is connected to the site.

For all users who visit Abandoned UE, whether they are logged in or not, IP addresses are only logged in the event of a security exception (such as an attempted data breach or authorization violation by the user), and are retained until the security logs are manually removed from the server.

Additionally, for users who are logged in to Abandoned UE, IP addresses are logged and stored for a period of 730 days from the last utilization of a particular IP address, as part of the functioning of the account monitoring system to help combat users that are evading disciplinary action for violating the site rules. As well, any content added to the site by a user has their IP address logged in conjunction with the content, for a period of 60 days. In both cases, once the storage period has passed, the data is automatically and permanently removed from the system.

Statistics data is data that is used by Abandoned UE for the purpose of non-identifying statistics collection related to users, which is used for site metrics and review.

Most browsers automatically share what is known as a user agent with web sites. This user agent contains information related to the browser and device, such as the name and version of the browser, as well as the operating system. While this information is always available, Abandoned UE does not utilize it without explicit consent, as set above.

If consent is given, Abandoned UE attempts to parse the user agent data to determine the browser, browser version, and operating system. If successfully parsed, this data is stored with no unique identifiers for statistical data for use in site metrics.

Finally, if the user is logged in, the parsed user agent data will be associated with the login data for the user; this is to ensure that a login session is not hijacked maliciously by ensuring that the device has not changed mid-session.

As part of the privacy commitment, Abandoned UE will not disclose any data linked to any user with any other user, except site administrators, without the consent of the affected users.

However, this statement does not apply when any person(s) with legal authority requests such information from Abandoned UE, provided a legal warrant or subpoena has been supplied. Any requests for user data without legal warrants or subpoenas, will not be honoured, and no user data will be released under any circumstance.

A user name is a unique identifier associated with a user's account, and is a mandatory component of the account. Even when a name change is requested, any and all previous names used by the user remain associated with their account, and are not available for re-use except by the user who originally used it.

User name records are maintained until a user account is removed from the system.

An email address is private data that is associated with a user's account, and is a mandatory component of the account. Even when a email address change is submitted, any and all previous email addresses used by the user remain associated with their account. This email address data is used by the account monitoring system to help combat users evading disciplinary action for violating the site rules by checking for use on multiple accounts.

Email address records are maintained until a user account is removed from the system.

Passwords are stored in the database in a secure, encrypted format. The password used by any user cannot be seen by any user of the site under any circumstance, including the administrators and the account owner.

Passwords are transmitted to Abandoned UE from the browser in plain text, and can be intercepted by any server routing the information between the website and the user. These servers are not under the control of Abandoned UE, and any statements on privacy made here do not apply to these servers.

Password records are maintained until a user changes their password, or their user account is removed from the system.

Additional personal information can optionally be submitted by a user, such as their location, gender, and a quick bio. This data is not mandatory; a user can elect to not submit this information.

This information can be updated or removed at any time by the user, at which time it is permanently updated or deleted. Additionally, this data is removed when a user account is removed from the system.

Submitted content is any data provided to Abandoned UE by any user via features such as, but not limited to, forums, messages, email messages, and comments, for the purpose of discussion. This data is submitted by users with the full knowledge that it will be seen by other users on the site.

Content submitted to any page that is visible when not logged in or unregistered can be viewed by all visitors and third-party search engines; Abandoned UE cannot control how these third parties may utilize the data and as such the statements on privacy that have been made do not apply.

Content submitted to any page that is only visible when logged in is only Visible To: other users who can also view the particular page, but not to third-party search engines. Abandoned UE does not guarantee that its users will not disclose this information; however it is requested that any such disclosures be reported back to the site administrators.

Visible To:: Everyone

Content submitted via messages is only Visible To: the users included in the message conversation. Once a user leaves a conversation, they are unable to view any of the messages associated with it. Likewise, when a user is added to a conversation, they can see all messages, including those that occurred prior to them joining the conversation.

Email messages sent through the site are only visible to the intended parties, unless shared by one of those parties. Email messages are also logged by Abandoned UE for investigative purposes in the event of abuse; these logs only contain the content data and the ID of the user who sent them.

When using the feature to email another user, the email address of the user sending the message will be revealed to the recipient. However, until the recipient replies, the sender will not know the recipient's email address.

When visiting Abandoned UE, the system automatically establishes a unique visitor session. This session, by default, does not contain any private information, and is only utilized for the purpose of tracking the number of visitors on the site at any given time.

Once a visitor logs in to Abandoned UE, the session is updated to include a reference to the user's account. This is done to track how many registered users are on the site at a given time, and who these users are.

This visitor session data is automatically removed once the visitor has been inactive for 15 minutes.