Privacy Policy

The short version

The Casual Index is a publication, not a dating platform. You do not create an account here, you cannot message anyone here, and we do not ask for your name, your location or anything about your dating life. We read the platforms, test them, write them up, and link you onward.

That means most of the personal data usually collected by a review site is simply not collected by us. The exceptions are analytics, our affiliate links and any email you choose to send us — all explained below.

What we collect

We deliberately keep this list short.

• —Usage data: pages you view, the site that referred you, approximate location derived from your IP address, browser and device type, and the links you click on our pages. This is aggregated analytics, not a profile of you.
• —Technical logs: our hosting provider records standard server logs (IP address, timestamp, requested URL) for security and reliability. These are retained briefly and are not used for marketing.
• —Messages you send us: if you email us about a correction, a safety issue or a partnership, we keep that message and our reply for as long as it is relevant to the review cycle.

We do not knowingly collect special category data, and we ask you not to send us sensitive personal details — health information, financial details or anything identifying another person without their consent — in an email.

Cookies and similar technologies

We do not set advertising or login cookies of our own. Cookies may reach your browser from three places:

• —Analytics: Google Analytics 4 sets first-party cookies such as _ga and _ga_LQY0MTMJGB to distinguish returning browsers and measure how pages are used.
• —Affiliate partners: if you click a link to a platform we review, that platform may set its own cookies to record that the visit came from us. Those cookies belong to them and are governed by their policies.
• —Fonts: typefaces on this site are loaded from Google Fonts, which receives the request needed to serve them.

You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings without losing access to any content here. Blocking analytics cookies does not affect a single ranking, review or guide.

Analytics

We use Google Analytics 4 (measurement ID G-LQY0MTMJGB) to understand which rankings and guides are useful and which pages readers abandon. GA4 receives the page path, page title, referring site and a coarse location, and we do not enable advertising features, remarketing or Google Signals.

Google processes this data as our processor; its own privacy terms apply to that processing. If you would like to opt out across all sites, Google publishes a browser add-on that blocks Analytics: tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. Browser-level tracking protection and Do Not Track-style blockers work too.

Affiliate links and outbound clicks

Some links to the platforms we review are affiliate links, including links to Flirtup. When you click one, the destination platform may learn that the visit came from this site, and we may earn a commission if you join. We never send them your email address, your name or anything else about you — the attribution happens on their side, using their cookies.

Once you leave this site you are on someone else's platform under their terms and their privacy policy. We cannot see what you do there, and we cannot delete an account you hold with them — you would need to contact that platform directly.

How we use information

Usage data tells us which pages deserve another round of testing and which need rewriting. Email correspondence gives us corrections, safety reports and story leads, and we quote from it only with your permission and without your identifying details unless you ask us to credit you.

We do not sell personal data, we do not build advertising audiences, and we do not run retargeting campaigns. Our commercial income comes from affiliate commissions, not from your information.

Who else sees it

A small number of service providers process data on our behalf: our hosting and infrastructure provider for serving pages and keeping logs, and Google for analytics and fonts. They are only permitted to use the data to provide those services.

We may also disclose information where we are legally required to, or where it is necessary to investigate abuse of this site or to protect someone's safety. We will not hand over reader correspondence to a commercial party.

How long we keep it

Analytics data is retained in aggregated form for up to 14 months. Server logs are kept for a short operational window and then discarded. Emails about corrections or safety reports are kept while the relevant review is live, so we can verify a claim the next time we retest the platform.

You can ask us to delete a message you sent at any time, and we will remove it unless we are required to keep it.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to ask what personal data we hold about you, to have it corrected or erased, to object to processing, or to receive a copy in a portable format. California residents have equivalent rights to know, delete and opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information — we do not sell or share it as those terms are defined.

Age requirement

This site is written for adults and every platform we review requires users to be 18 or older. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If you believe a minor has sent us information, contact us and we will delete it.

Security

The site is served over HTTPS and we keep the data we hold to a minimum, which is the most effective protection available. No transmission over the internet is perfectly secure, so please do not send sensitive documents or identity papers by email.

Changes to this policy

We update this policy when what we collect or how we use it changes — for example if we add a newsletter or a new analytics tool. The date at the top of the page always reflects the current version, and material changes will be flagged on the homepage for at least two weeks.

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