Sentient Weekly, LLC (“Sentient Weekly,” “we,” or “us”) operates the publication at sentientweekly.com. This policy explains what we collect when you read, subscribe, sign in, or contact us, why we collect it, and what you can do about it.
- What we collect
- How we use it
- Third-party services
- Cookies and local storage
- Retention
- Your choices and rights
- Children
- Changes to this policy
- Contact
What we collect
Newsletter subscriptions
When you subscribe, we store your email address, the source of the signup (for example, footer or subscribe page), and a confirmation token used for double opt-in. We don’t collect a name unless you choose to provide one in a separate context (such as the contact form).
Contact form submissions
The contact form collects the name, email, and message you submit. A hidden honeypot field and rate limiting are used to deter automated spam. Submissions are stored so we can read and reply.
Visitor counts
We keep a private daily count of page views and unique visits to understand traffic at an aggregate level. To approximate uniqueness without retaining identifiable data, your IP address is one-way hashed with a server-side secret (SHA-256) before any record is written. The original IP is never stored. The resulting daily counters are visible only to site administrators.
Account data (signed-in readers only)
If you sign in — via a Google account or an emailed magic link — we store the email address associated with your session, a role flag (reader, editor, or administrator), and any profile fields you choose to fill in. Authentication is handled by Supabase. If you never sign in, no account record exists for you.
Reader interactions
When you vote on an AI Op-Ed response or save an item, we store the vote or the saved reference together with your account identifier if you’re signed in or a session-scoped identifier if you’re not. We do not sell or share these signals; they exist to make the features work and to inform editorial judgment.
Performance and analytics
We use Vercel Web Analytics and Vercel Speed Insights to understand which pages are read, which referrers send traffic, what country or device class a visit came from, and how the site performs (Core Web Vitals: LCP, INP, CLS). These services are designed to be cookieless and to avoid collecting persistent identifiers about you.
How we use it
We use the data above to operate the publication: to send the weekly newsletter you opted into, to reply to messages you send us, to authenticate signed-in readers, to count traffic and diagnose performance, and to inform editorial decisions about what to cover. We do not sell personal information, and we do not run third-party advertising.
Third-party services
Sentient Weekly is built on a small number of vendors. Each handles data on our behalf under their own terms and privacy policies.
- Vercel hosts the site and provides Web Analytics and Speed Insights.
- Supabase provides our database and authentication (including Google OAuth and emailed magic links).
- Resend sends our transactional and newsletter email.
- Google is an optional sign-in provider when you choose “Sign in with Google.”
We don’t embed third-party advertising, social-tracking pixels, or session-replay tools.
Retention
Newsletter subscribers are retained until you unsubscribe or ask to be deleted. Contact-form submissions are kept for as long as we need them to follow up and for a reasonable archive period afterward. Account records persist while your account is active. The hashed-IP visitor counters are aggregate and have no per-person record to delete.
Your choices and rights
Every newsletter we send includes a one-click unsubscribe link. You can also ask us to access, correct, or delete data we hold about you, or to export your account data, by writing to us through the contact form. If you signed in via Google, you can revoke our access from your Google account settings at any time.
Children
Sentient Weekly is written for an adult audience and is not directed at children under 13. We don’t knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has submitted information to us, please let us know and we’ll delete it.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as the publication evolves. Material changes will be reflected by the “Last updated” date at the top of the page; significant changes affecting subscribers may also be announced in the newsletter.
Contact
Sentient Weekly, LLC is organized in the State of Texas. For privacy questions, requests, or corrections, please use the contact form.