Privacy policy

Last updated 12 October 2026

Who we are

Coordinates of Thought (coordinatesofthought.com) is a philosophy community founded by Syed Raheel Shahzad. In this policy, "we" means the site and the people who run it: its founder, administrators and editors.

For any question about your data, write to info@coordinatesofthought.com or use the Contact page.

We try to collect only what the site needs to work. We show no advertising, use no trackers and never sell your data.

What we collect, and why

When you read

You can read the whole site without an account. Our software uses your IP address briefly, in scrambled (hashed) form, to count visits fairly and to limit abuse.

When you join

• Your name as others will see it, a username, your email address and a password. Your password is stored only in scrambled form. Your email address is never shown to other members.
• A scrambled copy of the IP address you joined from. We use it only to spot repeated sign-ups by spammers.
• Whether you have confirmed your email address.

Your profile

Everything on your profile is optional except your name: photo, headline, location, about you, interests, links and publications. When you upload a photo, we resize it to a small square and save a new copy. We do not keep your original file.

What you post and do

We store your topics, replies, Journal essays, book reviews and ratings, and books you add. We also store your likes, helpful marks, follows and bookshelf. Drafts stay private until you send them.

When you post a reply, our software (WordPress) also stores the IP address and browser details it came from. Editors can see these and use them to deal with spam and abuse.

We keep your notifications, and a note of which topics you have opened, so we can show you what is new and unread.

Private messages

We store your messages so that you and the other person can read them. They are not end-to-end encrypted. Editors have no screen for browsing them. An editor sees a message only if the person who received it reports it, and then sees that message and the few before it.

When someone writes to you, we may email you the first part of their message, unless you have turned email off.

When you contact us

The contact form sends your name, email address and message to the editors' mailbox. The site itself keeps only a short note that a message was sent, and its subject.

Security and spam protection

To stop spam, we count how often forms are sent from one IP address: joining, signing in, codes, password resets and the contact form. These counters use a scrambled form of the address and expire within about an hour.

We also keep a log of moderation actions. And we keep a list of the last 100 emails the site sent: address, subject and whether delivery worked.

Cookies and browser storage

We use no advertising cookies, no tracking cookies and no analytics.

Cookies

When you sign in, WordPress sets cookies that keep you signed in and protect your account. Their names begin with wordpress_logged_in, wordpress_sec and wordpress_test_cookie. If you tick Keep me signed in, they last up to 14 days. If you do not, they end when you close your browser.

Browser storage

A few small conveniences are saved in your own browser (local storage). They stay there:

• coord_theme: your choice of light or dark mode
• coord_known: that this browser has signed in before, so we show "Sign in" instead of "Join"
• coord_hero_off: that you closed the welcome panel on the home page
• coord_seen_ followed by a number: that your visit to a page has already been counted today
• cot_compose_v1 and cot_journal_v1: an unsent draft of a topic or essay, so you do not lose it. It is removed once you send it.
• coord_pane: which menu panel was open on a small screen. This one is forgotten when you close the tab.

You can clear them at any time in your browser settings; the site still works without them.

Emails we send

• Account emails. Your confirmation code, a welcome email, password resets, changes of email address, and notes from the editors, such as a warning. You get these even if you turn activity email off.
• Activity emails. Replies, mentions and summaries of what you follow. You choose how often in Your page → Settings: what is about you plus a Monday summary (the default), a daily, weekly or monthly summary, everything as it happens, or nothing.
• Message alerts. At most one email an hour for each conversation, and none if you turn email off.

Every activity email has a one-click unsubscribe link. We do not send advertising, and we never give your address to others.

Who can see what

• Everyone, including visitors: your name, photo or symbol, level and badges, headline, location, about text, interests, links, publications and bookshelf. Also the date you joined, your follower and following counts, and everything you publish. Your public profile appears once you have taken part in public, for example with a published topic or reply.
• Only you: your email address, drafts, notifications and settings.
• You and the editors: topics and essays waiting for review.
• You and the other person: your private messages.
• Editors and administrators: what they need to look after the site. That includes your email address, account details, reports, warnings and the IP addresses stored with replies. They see a private message only if it is reported to them.

Who else handles your data

• Our host. The site, its database and its files are hosted by Hostinger, our hosting company.
• Search engines. When something is published, we send its web address to search engines (using IndexNow) so it can be found. Only public pages are sent.
• No one else. Our fonts and images are on our own server. We use no Google Fonts, Gravatar, advertising, analytics or social media plugins. Share buttons are plain links: nothing is sent to a social network unless you click one.

We never sell or rent your data. We would share information only if the law requires it, or to protect someone from serious harm.

How long we keep it

• Your account and profile: until you delete your account.
• What you post: until you delete it, or until you delete your account and choose to delete everything.
• Private messages: until either of you deletes your account. Removing a conversation from your inbox only hides it for you.
• Security counters: about an hour.
• Email log: only the last 100 emails sent by the site.
• Moderation log: for as long as we need it to look after the site fairly.
• Contact messages: in the editors' mailbox, while we deal with your request.
• Server logs and backups: kept by our host for a limited time.

Your rights

You can:

• See and correct your profile, name, email address and settings at any time, in Your page.
• Delete what you wrote, from My topics, My replies and Journal in Your page.
• Delete your account in Your page → Settings, by typing DELETE and your password. You choose whether to keep your topics and replies, shown as "Former member" so conversations still make sense, or to delete everything you wrote. Either way, your profile, photo, messages, follows and notifications are erased. This cannot be undone. Editors' accounts are removed by an administrator.
• Ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you, or ask us to correct or delete it. Write to info@coordinatesofthought.com.
• Complain. Please tell us first, and we will try to put it right. You may also complain to the data protection authority where you live.

Children and changes

The site is not meant for children under 16. Please do not create an account if you are under 16. If we learn that a child under 16 has joined, we will delete the account.

If we change how we use your data, we will update this page and the date at the top. We aim to announce important changes on the site.