Privacy Policy — Fort Smith Rocks

The short version: We collect only what we need to run Fort Smith Rocks — your name, email address, account and listing details, and images you upload. We do not sell your personal information and we don't share it for others' marketing. We use it to run this site.

1. Who we are

Fort Smith Rocks ("we," "us") operates FortSmithRocks.com, a local guide to events, dining and venues in the Fort Smith, Arkansas area. Contact us any time through our Contact page.

2. Information we collect

Account information: your name, email address, and a password (stored only as a salted, one-way hash — we cannot read it), plus your account status and sign-in times.
Listings and images: event, dining, venue and advertising details you submit, including photos and logos you upload, and the email address tied to each listing so you can manage it.
Messages: contact-form messages and your chat questions to "Ask Rocky."
Newsletter: your email address if you subscribe.
Terms acceptance records: the date/time, document version, your name and email, and basic browser information when you accept our Terms and Privacy Policy.
Payments: handled by Stripe. We receive confirmation and limited details (such as your email and what you bought); we do not receive or store your full card number.
Technical data: basic information your browser sends, and small items stored in your browser (for example, to keep you signed in and remember display choices).

3. How we use it

To create and secure your account, verify your email address, and help you reset a forgotten password.
To review, publish and let you edit listings and ads, and to process purchases.
To respond to messages and send service emails (verification, password reset, edit links, listing notices).
To send the weekly newsletter if you subscribed (every issue has an unsubscribe link).
To answer questions through "Ask Rocky," keep records of your agreement to our Terms, prevent abuse and fraud, and improve the Site.

4. We do not sell your information

We do not sell, rent or trade your personal information, and we do not use it for anything other than operating this site. Content you choose to publish (such as a listing's name, description, images and public business details) is shown publicly. Your account email and password are never displayed publicly.

5. Service providers who help us run the Site

We use trusted providers that process data on our behalf and only for those purposes: Google (Apps Script, Sheets, Drive and Gmail/email delivery, where our data and uploaded images are stored and where emails are sent from); Stripe (payments); and Anthropic (the AI service behind "Ask Rocky," which receives the questions you type and public site listings — please don't enter personal information into the chat). We may also disclose information if required by law or to protect rights, safety or the Site, or in connection with a sale or transfer of the Site (in which case this policy continues to apply to your data).

6. Advertising and cookies

The Site may display ads served by Google AdSense. Google and its partners may use cookies or similar technologies to serve and measure ads, including ads based on prior visits. This is controlled by Google, not by data we give them from your account. You can manage ad personalization at adssettings.google.com and through your browser's cookie settings. We do not give advertisers your name or email.

7. Email and verification

We email you a link to confirm your address when you create an account and when you ask to reset your password. Verification and reset links expire (48 hours and 1 hour). If you didn't request an email from us, you can ignore it.

8. Retention and deletion

We keep account information while your account is open. You can delete your account at any time from your account page; this removes your name, email and password hash from our user records. We keep the record of Terms acceptance as evidence of agreement, and we may keep limited information as needed for legal, accounting, security or backup purposes. To have a listing, message or newsletter subscription removed, or to ask what we hold about you, use the Contact page. Backups may retain data for a short period after deletion.

9. Security

We use reasonable safeguards, including hashed passwords, expiring one-time links, and rate limiting. No system is perfectly secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. Choose a strong, unique password.

10. Children

The Site is intended for adults. Accounts and submissions require you to be at least 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13; contact us if you believe a child has provided information and we will delete it.

11. Your choices and rights

You can access or correct your name and email by contacting us, unsubscribe from the newsletter using the link in any issue, and delete your account as described above. Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights (such as access, correction, deletion, or opting out of sale/sharing — which we do not do). Contact us to exercise them and we will respond as required by applicable law.

12. Changes

We may update this policy. For material changes we will update the version date and ask signed-in users to review and accept the new version.

This document is a general template provided for convenience and is not legal advice. The site owner should have it reviewed by a licensed attorney and confirm it matches how the Site actually handles data.