Privacy Notice

How FlirtLabz handles connection metadata

Last Updated: November 6, 2026

What we collect

We log connection metadata only. We do not log the content of channel or private messages. Specifically, we may record:

The webchat formats optional profile fields as [age/gender/bio]. Missing non-final fields are represented with *; the final bio field is omitted when blank.

Why we collect it

We use this data to operate the network, diagnose connection problems, moderate abuse, investigate spam or ban evasion, protect the service from attacks, and administer registered nicknames and channels.

Age, gender, and bio are optional webchat-provided profile fields. They are visible through normal IRC realname/whois behavior and are used to support the requested chat presentation, including realname display and message tinting in the webchat.

How long we keep it

After 30 days, IP addresses are retained only as keyed hashes for abuse-pattern correlation. After 1 year, the entire metadata row is removed.

Who can see it

Raw metadata is limited to authorized network operators and systems that need it for operations or abuse handling. Realname/GECOS is part of IRC protocol behavior and may be visible to other users through client features such as WHOIS, depending on server and client behavior.

What we do not collect

Private feedback & website reports

Ideas & Feedback stores the message you choose to send, its category, dates, account association and review status. Authorized moderators can add private review notes. You can view your own submissions and their status; other members cannot browse them. This form does not collect IP addresses or IRC hostmasks to identify you.

Feedback text, account associations and notes are removed one year after a decision, or two years after submission, whichever comes first. Archiving a completed idea does not extend that period. Account deletion also removes your submitted feedback text and associations. A minimal record of dates and completion may remain.

Website safety reports enter the existing private moderation workflow, separately from ideas. They are visible to their submitter and authorized reviewers. Delivery-retry keys are cleared after 90 days; this does not delete moderation evidence. IRC and Discord reports follow their channel visibility and bridging rules. Use the privacy contact below to request removal of personal data from a submission.

Reporting without registration uses a temporary browser cookie for delivery protection and access to your own receipt for 24 hours. It does not create an account or match you to an IRC identity. Abuse protection stores a keyed hash of the connection address in the existing rate-limit store for up to two days; ordinary reviewers cannot see it. Optional contact email and evidence references stay in the private report, expire after one year, and are not published in profile activity or public notifications. Evidence references are not automatically fetched. This form does not accept uploaded files.

Copyright, ownership and publication-consent complaints use this same private reporting process. Supply references and a factual description, not identity documents or intimate evidence. Authorized staff review any need for additional sensitive evidence and agree a restricted transfer and retention plan before collection. Reporter contact details and private consent records are not published or routinely shared with uploaders.

For new Gallery and editorial submissions, the moderation audit records the submitting account, time and version of the rights declaration. This records an affirmation, not independently verified ownership or consent; it does not collect identity documents. Existing submissions are not retrospectively marked as having accepted new terms.

Retired visitor attribution

Before November 6, 2026, our website used a random browser token to link a landing page and coarse traffic source to chat launch, connection and later activity milestones. The database stored a hash of that token and, where available, an account hash. These were pseudonymous records, not anonymous statistics. Our earlier statement that we collected no browser analytics identifiers did not accurately describe that behavior.

We have stopped creating these tokens and recording new browser attribution events. Updated pages remove the old cookie and session-storage token, and cached website beacons are discarded. Existing records remain restricted to authorized staff and expire 365 days after creation under the existing daily cleanup. We have not enabled a replacement tracking system. Operational connection metadata and the optional guide counts below are separate.

Optional Explore FlirtLabz statistics

You can choose to share anonymous guide counts through Anonymous guide statistics on the FlirtLabz Guide home screen or welcome suggestion. This is off by default. Chat and the guide work normally if you decline. Turn the same option off at any time to stop future collection; browsers signalling Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control are excluded.

We count guide entry points, categories and articles, searches and searches without results, selected search results, contextual links and welcome interactions. We never send your search words. Only fixed guide identifiers and counts are sent, without account credentials, cookies or referrers.

Counters are combined in the browser and added directly to daily UTC totals in our own database. These records contain no nicknames, account IDs, IP addresses, hostmasks, fingerprints or visitor identifiers. They cannot show individual activity histories or unique visitor counts. Only authorized staff can view them. Daily totals are retained for 730 days and are not used for advertising or shared with third-party analytics providers.

Your yes/no choice is remembered locally in this browser, without a tracking identifier. Withdrawing it discards unsent counts; already combined totals cannot be attributed to you or individually removed. Requests necessarily pass through network infrastructure, but collection is enabled only with identifying analytics-request logging disabled along that route.

Cookies & local storage

We use only strictly necessary cookies and browser local storage — never for advertising or cross-site tracking. These are saved on your device to make the site work and to remember your choices:

This information is stored locally in your browser and is not transmitted to us except as part of the IRC connection you choose to make. You can remove it at any time by clearing your browser's site data for this domain.

Your rights & contact

Depending on your jurisdiction you may have rights to access or request erasure of your data. To exercise them, contact the data controller:

Controller
FlirtLabz Admin
Contact
[email protected]