Privacy Policy

Welcome to Korball Forum ("we", "us", or "our"). We are committed to protecting your personal information and your right to privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit our website at https://korfballforum.co.uk and use our forum services.

Please read this policy carefully. If you disagree with its terms, please discontinue use of the site. By accessing or using Korball Forum, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by this Privacy Policy.

We collect information you provide directly to us, including:

• Account Information: When you register, we collect your name, email address, and password (stored as a secure hash).
• Profile Information: Any optional information you add to your public profile, such as a display name or avatar image.
• User Content: Posts, threads, replies, and other content you submit to the forum.
• Communications: Messages you send to us directly, such as support requests or feedback.

We also collect certain information automatically when you use the site:

• Log Data: IP address, browser type and version, pages visited, time and date of visits, and referring URLs.
• Device Information: Information about the device you use to access the site, including operating system and browser.
• Cookies and Similar Technologies: Session cookies required for authentication and site functionality. See Section 7 for more detail.

We use the information we collect to:

• Create and manage your account and authenticate your identity.
• Provide, operate, and maintain the forum and its features.
• Display your public profile and forum contributions to other members.
• Send you notifications about replies, mentions, and forum activity (where you have opted in).
• Respond to your comments, questions, and requests for support.
• Monitor and analyse usage patterns to improve the site's performance and user experience.
• Detect, investigate, and prevent fraudulent transactions, abuse, and other illegal activities.
• Enforce our Forum Rules and Terms of Use.
• Comply with legal obligations.

If you are located in the United Kingdom or European Economic Area, we process your personal data under the following legal bases:

• Contract: Processing necessary to provide you with the forum services you have signed up for.
• Legitimate Interests: Processing necessary for our legitimate interests, such as improving the site, preventing fraud, and ensuring community safety, where these interests are not overridden by your rights.
• Consent: Where you have given us explicit consent, such as for optional email notifications.
• Legal Obligation: Where we are required to process data to comply with a legal obligation.

We do not sell, trade, or rent your personal information to third parties. We may share your information in the following limited circumstances:

• Service Providers: We may share data with trusted third-party vendors who assist us in operating the website (e.g. hosting providers, database services). These parties are contractually obligated to keep your information confidential and use it only for the purposes we specify.
• Legal Requirements: We may disclose your information if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g. a court or government agency).
• Protection of Rights: We may disclose information where we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, or situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person.
• Business Transfers: In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or a portion of our assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you via email and/or a prominent notice on our site of any such change.

Your public forum posts, username, and profile information are visible to all visitors of the site by design.

We retain your personal data for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you with our services. If you delete your account, we will delete or anonymise your personal data within 30 days, except where we are required to retain it for legal, regulatory, or legitimate business purposes (for example, to resolve disputes or comply with legal obligations).

Forum posts may be retained in anonymised form after account deletion to preserve the integrity of discussions.

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to operate the site. The cookies we use are:

• Session Cookies (Essential): Required to keep you logged in during your visit. These are deleted when you close your browser.
• Authentication Tokens: Persistent cookies used to keep you logged in across sessions if you select "Remember me". These expire after 30 days.

We do not use advertising cookies or third-party tracking cookies. You can control cookies through your browser settings, but disabling essential cookies will prevent you from logging in.

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures include:

• Passwords stored using industry-standard hashing algorithms (bcrypt).
• HTTPS encryption for all data transmitted between your browser and our servers.
• Access controls limiting who can access personal data within our systems.
• Regular review of our data collection, storage, and processing practices.

However, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your data, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Depending on your location, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Access: The right to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Rectification: The right to request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Erasure: The right to request deletion of your personal data ("right to be forgotten").
• Restriction: The right to request that we restrict the processing of your data in certain circumstances.
• Portability: The right to receive your data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format.
• Objection: The right to object to processing based on legitimate interests.
• Withdraw Consent: Where processing is based on consent, the right to withdraw that consent at any time.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at [email protected]. We will respond to your request within 30 days. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.

Korball Forum is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us at [email protected] and we will take steps to delete such information.

Our site may contain links to third-party websites. We have no control over the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party sites and accept no responsibility for them. We encourage you to review the privacy policy of every site you visit.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any significant changes by posting the new policy on this page with an updated "Last updated" date, and where appropriate, by sending you an email notification. Your continued use of the site after any changes constitutes your acceptance of the new Privacy Policy.

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us: