This site is owned and operated by Wizardware. Your privacy
on the Internet is of the utmost importance to us. At Wizardware, we want to make
your experience online satisfying and safe.
Because we gather certain types of information about
our users, we feel you should fully understand our policy and the terms and conditions
surrounding the capture and use of that information. This privacy statement discloses
what information we gather and how we use it.
INFORMATION WIZARDWARE GATHERS AND TRACKS
Wizardware gathers two types of information about users:
- Information that users provide through optional,
voluntary submissions. These are voluntary submissions to receive our electronic
newsletters, to participate in our message boards or forums, to email a friend,
and from participation in polls and surveys:
- Information Wizardware gathers through aggregated
tracking information derived mainly by tallying page views throughout our sites.
This information allows us to better tailor our content to readers' needs and to
help our advertisers and sponsors better understand the demographics of our audience.
Because Wizardware derives its revenue mainly from sponsorships and advertising,
providing such aggregated demographic data is essential to keeping our service free
to users. Under no circumstances does Wizardware divulge any information about an
individual user to a third party.
Wizardware Gathers User Information In The Following
Processes:
Optional Voluntary Information
We offer the following free services, which require some
type of voluntary submission of personal information by users:
1. Electronic newsletters policy (Dispatches)
We will offer a free electronic newsletter to users.
Wizardware gathers the email addresses of users who voluntarily subscribe. Users
may remove themselves from this mailing list by following the link provided in every
newsletter that points users to the subscription management page. Users can also
subscribe to the newsletters at the time of registration.
2. Message boards/forums policy
Users of the site's Message Boards and Forums must register
separately for these services (both are free of charge) in order to post messages,
although they needn't register to visit the site. During registration the user is
required to supply a username, password, and email address.
3. Polling
We may offer interactive polls to users so they can easily
share their opinions with other users and see what our audience thinks about important
issues. Opinions or other responses to polls are aggregated and are not identifiable
to any particular user. Wizardware may use a system to "tag" users after they have
voted, so they can vote only once on a particular question. This tag is not correlated
with information about individual users.
4. Surveys
Wizardware may occasionally conduct user surveys to better
target our content to our audience. We sometimes share the aggregated demographic
information in these surveys with our sponsors, advertisers and partners. We never
share any of this information about specific individuals with any third party.
Children
Consistent with the Federal Children's Online Privacy
Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA), we will never knowingly request personally identifiable
information from anyone under the age of 13 without requesting parental consent.
Usage tracking
Wizardware tracks user traffic patterns throughout all
of our sites. However, we do not correlate this information with data about individual
users. Wizardware does break down overall usage statistics according to a user's
domain name, browser type, and MIME type by reading this information from the browser
string (information contained in every user's browser).
Wizardware sometimes tracks and catalogs the search terms
that users enter in our Search function, but this tracking is never associated with
individual users. We use tracking information to determine which areas of our sites
users like and don't like based on traffic to those areas. We do not track what
individual users read, but rather how well each page performs overall. This helps
us continue to build a better service for you.
Cookies
We may place a text file called a "cookie" in the browser
files of your computer. The cookie itself does not contain Personal Information
although it will enable us to relate your use of this site to information that you
have specifically and knowingly provided. But the only personal information a cookie
can contain is information you supply yourself. A cookie can't read data off your
hard disk or read cookie files created by other sites. Wizardware uses cookies to
track user traffic patterns (as described above). Our advertising system delivers
a one-time cookie to better track ad impressions and click rates.
You can refuse cookies by turning them off in your browser.
If you've set your browser to warn you before accepting cookies, you will receive
the warning message with each cookie. You do not need to have cookies turned on
to use this site. However, you do need cookies to participate actively in message
boards, forums, polling and surveys.
USE OF INFORMATION
Wizardware uses any information voluntarily given by
our users to enhance their experience in our network of sites, whether to provide
interactive or personalized elements on the sites or to better prepare future content
based on the interests of our users.
As stated above, we use information that users voluntarily
provide in order to send out electronic newsletters and to enable users to participate
in polls, surveys, message boards, and forums. We send out newsletters to subscribers
on a regular schedule (depending on the newsletter), and occasionally send out special
editions when we think subscribers might be particularly interested in something
we are doing. Wizardware never shares newsletter mailing lists with any third parties,
including advertisers, sponsors or partners.
When we use tracking information to determine which areas
of our sites users like and don't like based on traffic to those areas. We do not
track what individual users read, but rather how well each page performs overall.
This helps us continue to build a better service for you. We track search terms
entered in Search function as one of many measures of what interests our users.
But we don't track which terms a particular user enters.
Wizardware creates aggregate reports on user demographics
and traffic patterns for advertisers, sponsors and partners. This allows our advertisers
to advertise more effectively, and allows our users to receive advertisements that
are pertinent to their needs. Because we don't track the usage patterns of individual
users, an advertiser or sponsor will never know that a specific user clicked their
ad. We will not disclose any information about any individual user except to comply
with applicable law or valid legal process or to protect the personal safety of
our users or the public.
SHARING OF THE INFORMATION
Wizardware uses the above-described information to tailor
our content to suit your needs and help our advertisers better understand our audience's
demographics. This is essential to keeping our service free. We will not share information
about individual users with any third party, except to comply with applicable law
or valid legal process or to protect the personal safety of our users or the public.
SECURITY
Wizardware operates secure data networks protected by
industry standard firewall and password protection systems. Our security and privacy
policies are periodically reviewed and enhanced as necessary and only authorized
individuals have access to the information provided by our customers.
OPT-OUT POLICY
We give users options wherever necessary and practical.
Such choices include:
- Opting not to register to receive our electronic
newsletters.
- Opting not to participate in certain interactive
areas, which completely alleviates the need to gather any personally identifiable
information from our users
YOUR CONSENT
By using this site, you consent to the collection and
use of this information by Wizardware. If we decide to change our privacy policy,
we will post those changes on this page so that you are always aware of what information
we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances we disclose it.