Privacy & Cookies

Who we are

AyUpGee (ayupgee.com) is a personal content-creator website based in Manchester, UK. The site is operated by an individual creator — not a company. For any questions about this policy, contact us at hello@ayupgee.com.

We are the data controller for personal data collected through this site.

What data we collect and why

We collect minimal data to understand how visitors find and use our site. We do not sell data, run advertising, or track you across other websites.

Analytics (with your consent)
If you accept cookies, we use Google Analytics 4 to collect anonymised usage data — pages visited, scroll depth, outbound link clicks, and similar interactions. This helps us understand what content people enjoy and how the site performs. Google Analytics sets cookies identified by a random ID; it does not collect your name, email, or any directly identifying information.

Legal basis: Consent (Article 6(1)(a) UK GDPR). You can withdraw consent at any time using the widget in the Cookies section below.

Account data (members & moderators only)
If you have a member or moderator account, we store your email address and a hashed version of your password. This is required to provide access to the member area. Legal basis: contract performance (Article 6(1)(b) UK GDPR).

Technical logs
Our hosting provider (Cloudflare) may log IP addresses and request metadata for security purposes. We do not access or process these logs ourselves. See Cloudflare's privacy policy.

Cookies we use

Cookies are small files stored in your browser. Here is exactly what this site uses:

Cookie / storage key	Purpose	Set by	Expires
`ayg_cookie_consent`	Stores your cookie preference (accepted / declined)	AyUpGee	Persists in localStorage until cleared
`ayg_session`	Keeps you signed in (members / moderators only)	AyUpGee	7 days, or on logout
`ayg_csrf`	Prevents cross-site request forgery attacks (members only)	AyUpGee	Session
`_ga`	Google Analytics — distinguishes unique visitors	Google	2 years
`_ga_XXXXXXX`	Google Analytics — maintains session state	Google	2 years

The first three are essential or functional — only set when you sign in or save your cookie preference. The Google Analytics cookies are optional and only set if you accept below.

International transfers: Google Analytics data is processed by Google LLC (USA). Google participates in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and implements standard contractual clauses as safeguards. See Google's privacy policy.

How long we keep data

Google Analytics data is retained for 26 months (the default GA4 retention period). You can request earlier deletion — see "Your rights" below.

Account credentials (email + password hash) are kept for as long as you have an account. You can request account deletion by emailing hello@ayupgee.com.

Your rights under UK GDPR

You have the following rights regarding your personal data:

Right of access — request a copy of any data we hold about you
Right to erasure — request that we delete your data ("right to be forgotten")
Right to rectification — ask us to correct inaccurate data
Right to restriction — ask us to pause processing your data
Right to object — object to processing based on legitimate interests
Right to data portability — receive your data in a portable format
Right to withdraw consent — withdraw analytics consent at any time (see above)

To exercise any of these rights, email hello@ayupgee.com. We will respond within 30 days.

How to complain

If you are unhappy with how we handle your data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data protection regulator.

ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint · Helpline: 0303 123 1113

We'd always prefer to resolve any concerns directly first — hello@ayupgee.com is the best place to start.

Changes to this policy

If we make significant changes, we'll update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. For anything that materially affects your rights, we'll let members know by email.