Effective date: July 23, 2026
This is the privacy policy for melrook.com — home of 20 Minute Short Stories & Meditations. We keep this simple: we run a fiction site, not a data business. Here is what we collect, why, and what your choices are.
Who we are
melrook.com is an independent literary site publishing the work of its house authors. You can reach us any time through our Contact page.
What we collect, and why
Reading the site. You can read every story on this site without creating an account or giving us any personal information. Like nearly every website, our hosting provider (Hostinger) automatically keeps standard server logs — things like your IP address, browser type, and the pages you visit — for security and to keep the site running.
Analytics. We use Jetpack (by Automattic) and Google Analytics (via Google’s Site Kit) to understand how the site is used — which stories get read, where visitors come from, and what devices they use. This information is aggregated; we use it to make the site better, not to identify you. Google Analytics uses cookies to do its work. You can learn how Google uses this data at google.com/policies/privacy/partners, and you can opt out of Google Analytics with the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.
Newsletter and subscriptions. If you sign up for our newsletter or subscribe to the site, we collect your email address — that’s it — so we can send you what you signed up for. Email subscriptions are handled by Jetpack (Automattic) and Hostinger Reach. Every email we send includes an unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing works the first time.
Comments and accounts. If you register an account or leave a comment, we collect the name and email address you provide, and the comment system records your IP address as a spam-prevention measure. Your email address is never displayed publicly. If you leave a comment, an anonymized string created from your email address (a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to check whether you have a profile picture there; the Gravatar privacy policy is at automattic.com/privacy.
Social sharing. When we share posts to social networks, that happens through Jetpack Social. Sharing our posts doesn’t send us any information about you.
Advertising
We may display ads on this site through Google AdSense. When ads are running:
Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website and other websites. Google’s use of advertising cookies (including the DoubleClick cookie) enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visits to this site and other sites on the internet.
You can opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings, and you can opt out of many other third-party vendors’ cookies at aboutads.info/choices.
Cookies
Cookies are small text files stored by your browser. This site uses them for the functions described above: analytics, keeping you logged in if you have an account, remembering comment details if you ask it to, and (when ads run) advertising. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings at any time; the stories will still work fine without them.
Embedded content
Some pages may embed content from other sites (for example, videos or social posts). Embedded content behaves exactly as if you had visited the other site directly: that site may collect data about you, use its own cookies, and track your interaction with the embed, especially if you have an account there.
Who we share data with
We don’t sell, rent, or trade your personal information. Ever. The only parties that handle visitor data are the service providers that make the site work: Hostinger (hosting), Automattic/Jetpack (analytics, subscriptions, comments infrastructure), Google (analytics, and advertising if ads are running), and Hostinger Reach (newsletter delivery). Each operates under its own privacy policy. We would also disclose information if the law genuinely required it.
How long we keep things
Server logs and analytics data are retained on our providers’ standard schedules. Newsletter email addresses are kept until you unsubscribe. Comments and their metadata are kept indefinitely so follow-up comments can be recognized and approved automatically. Account information is kept until you ask us to remove it.
Your rights
If you have an account, have commented, or are on our mailing list, you can ask us for a copy of the personal data we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it (except data we must keep for security or legal reasons). Just write to us through the Contact page and we’ll take care of it.
Children
This site publishes fiction with mature themes and is intended for adult readers. It is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe a child has provided us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy — for example, when ads go live or a new tool is added — we’ll update this page and the effective date at the top. Significant changes will be noted in the newsletter.
Questions
Anything unclear, or anything you want removed? Reach us through the Contact page. A person reads every message.
