Privacy notice

Who we are

Seawall Whitstable is a local noticeboard for Whitstable, Tankerton, Swalecliffe, Chestfield and Seasalter (CT5). It is run by an independent operator, not a council service.

Privacy questions, access requests or complaints: dragon_fire_li81@outlook.com.

What this site stores

Board data lives in a Cloudflare D1 database (region WEUR — Western Europe) behind Cloudflare Pages Functions. We do not sell personal data. We do not run Google AdSense or similar ad networks on this site.

Posts and events

• What you pin (title, body, town, category, optional price / when-line, display name or “Resident”, and a site photo choice) is stored so neighbours can see it.
• A CT5 postcode is checked when you post so the board stays resident-first. That postcode is used for the check; it is not kept as a column on the public post record.
• Posts are public on the board. Do not put phone numbers, full addresses or other sensitive details in a pin unless you are happy for strangers to read them.

Friday email

• If you subscribe, we store your email address and postcode so we can send a local digest.
• We do not sell or rent that list. Unsubscribe or deletion: email dragon_fire_li81@outlook.com.

Business directory

• Free listings store the business name, town, category and short blurb.
• Featured listings may also store an optional email (for Stripe receipt / contact) and payment-related fields after checkout (for example subscription id / featured-until), handled via Stripe.

Abuse protection

• Write actions are rate-limited. For a short window we store a bucket key that includes your Cloudflare connecting IP so one machine cannot flood the board. Old rate-limit rows are cleaned on a rolling basis (about an hour).

Payments (Stripe)

Featured directory slots will use Stripe Checkout / Payment Links when configured for Whitstable. Until then Featured is soft-disabled; free listings still work. Card details are entered on Stripe’s pages — we do not see or store full card numbers. Stripe processes payment data under its own privacy notice. We may keep business listing details and Stripe reference ids needed to unlock or renew a Featured slot.

Soft tip links (for example Buy Me a Coffee) and Amazon book links leave this site; those services have their own policies.

Cookies, local storage and the PWA

We do not use analytics cookies, advertising cookies or a tracking consent banner, because we are not running analytics or ad trackers on Seawall Whitstable.

• Essential hosting: Cloudflare may set or use technical cookies / edge signals to deliver and protect the site. That is ordinary CDN / security behaviour, not advertising.
• localStorage: the browser may keep a short cache of board data for faster reloads, and a flag if you dismiss the “install app” hint.
• Service worker / PWA: if you install or keep the app shell, the browser caches static files (HTML, CSS, JS, icons) for offline shell use. Live /api/* board calls are not cached by the service worker.
• Fonts: we load Google Fonts from Google’s servers. That means Google may see your IP when fonts are fetched. We do not send them board content or your Friday-mail address via that request.

You can clear site data in your browser settings at any time. That removes localStorage and cached shell files on your device; it does not delete posts or mail signups already stored on the server.

Hosting and processors

• Cloudflare — Pages (hosting), D1 (database), and related edge infrastructure.
• Stripe — Featured payments.
• Google Fonts — typeface delivery (see above).
• Optional outbound links: Amazon, Buy Me a Coffee, Instagram, and the sister board Seawall Thanet — only if you choose to click them.

Sister board: Seawall Thanet — live Kent coast noticeboard for CT7–CT12.

Retention (high level)

• Posts / events / free listings: kept while the board is useful; hidden or removed for spam, scams or legal reasons.
• Friday mail: kept until you ask to leave, or the list is wound down.
• Featured / Stripe references: kept while a paid slot is active and for a sensible period afterwards for accounting or dispute handling.
• Rate-limit rows: short-lived (hours, not years).

Your rights (UK GDPR)

Depending on the situation you may ask to access, correct, delete, restrict or object to certain processing, and to complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Email dragon_fire_li81@outlook.com and we will help as far as the live board allows. Public posts you chose to publish may already have been seen by others.

Lawful bases we rely on in plain English: running the noticeboard you chose to use (contract / legitimate interests for a community board), sending Friday mail you signed up for (consent / legitimate interests for a requested digest), and taking Featured payment (contract). We do not sell your data.

Children

The board is aimed at adults in Thanet. Please do not post personal details about children. Some linked books are marked 18+.