Terms

Using the archive

You're welcome to browse, search, and read the archive, share links to entries, and report entries that concern you. The service is not intended for use by children under 18.

What you may not do

• use the archive to identify, locate, profile, or harass any person
• scrape, bulk-harvest, or republish the archive as a dataset
• probe, overload, or interfere with the service, its moderation, or its rate limits
• misuse the submission or report forms (for example, spam or automated flooding)

No warranty

The service is provided as is, without warranties of any kind. Entries are anonymous impressions submitted by visitors; they are not statements of fact, and we don't guarantee the availability, accuracy, or permanence of any part of the archive.

Changes to these terms

These terms may be updated as the service evolves; material changes will be reflected on this page with a new effective date.

1. Public entries, private identity

An approved entry displays only the submitted name, its associations, and the date (day only, never a time) it entered the archive. That entry is public, but it is never publicly attributed to whoever submitted it. There are no submitter profiles, accounts, usernames, comments, likes, followers, or any other social feature that could connect an entry back to a person. Submitting or reporting an entry never requires an account, email address, or public identity.

2. Submission content we hold

Beyond what's shown publicly, we hold the following as part of running the archive:

• the name you submitted
• the associations you submitted
• the reviewed, published version of an entry, which may be lightly cleaned or reformatted compared to what was submitted
• the moderation status of a submission (for example, pending, approved, rejected, or removed)
• reports made about an entry, and their outcome

Submissions that are rejected or removed are kept internally as part of the moderation record; they are never shown publicly.

3. Technical and service data

Operating a public website involves collecting some technical data, in a form we don't attach to any public entry:

• request metadata, including IP address and the general location it suggests (such as city, region, or country)
• timestamps for requests and submissions
• which page, route, or action a request relates to (for example, viewing an entry, submitting, searching, or reporting)
• the text and length of searches performed using the search feature, to operate and improve it and to prevent abuse
• rate-limit metadata, used to detect and slow down abusive request patterns
• general device and browser information where available (such as browser type, operating system, and user-agent string), typically visible through ordinary hosting and request logs
• limited additional data used for security and abuse prevention, such as anonymous session identifiers and basic interaction data

Some of this is stored as a one-way cryptographic value derived from the original (for example, from an IP address) rather than in raw form, wherever that's enough for the purpose, such as spotting repeated abuse from the same source. Fuller technical records are kept in systems that are separate from the public archive and are not connected to it.

4. Admin and authentication data

Administrators sign in through our authentication provider using an email-based login. We hold their account and login data for that purpose, and we keep a record of the moderation actions they take (approvals, rejections, removals, and report decisions) as an internal audit log. This data is never public and exists to keep moderation accountable and traceable.

5. Cookies and local storage

Today, cookies are used only to keep an administrator securely signed in; visitors submitting, browsing, or reporting do not need to accept any cookie to use the site. We may introduce other strictly necessary technical cookies (for example, for security or rate limiting) as the service evolves. We do not use marketing or advertising cookies, and have no plans to.

6. How we use this information

We use the information above to:

• operate and provide the site
• receive and review submissions
• publish approved entries to the archive
• moderate content
• handle reports
• prevent spam and abuse
• secure, debug, and improve the service
• comply with applicable law
• protect the rights and safety of visitors and the service itself

7. How we share information

• Approved submissions are displayed publicly (that's the purpose of the archive), but never with submitter attribution.
• Service providers that help us run the site (see below) may process information on our behalf, under their own security and confidentiality obligations.
• We may disclose information where required by law, legal process, or a good-faith belief that it's necessary to protect rights, safety, or the integrity of the service.
• If The Name Lore is ever transferred, merged, or acquired, information may transfer as part of that transaction, subject to this policy or a successor policy.

We do not sell personal information.

8. Service providers we use

The service runs on a small number of infrastructure providers, who process data on our behalf to help us operate it:

• Supabase: database and authentication
• Vercel: hosting, serverless functions, and content delivery
• Upstash: rate limiting and abuse-prevention infrastructure
• GitHub and related developer tools: code hosting and deployment

We may add or change providers as the service evolves; this section will be kept up to date.

9. How long we keep information

• Approved public entries may remain in the archive indefinitely, unless removed through moderation or a successful report.
• Pending, rejected, and removed submissions, along with moderation logs, may be retained even though they're never public, for audit, safety, and abuse-prevention purposes.
• Reports are retained for moderation and audit purposes.
• Technical and security records are kept only as long as reasonably necessary for security, abuse prevention, debugging, and legal purposes. We may periodically reduce or delete older technical records as routine maintenance, but we don't commit to a fixed deletion schedule.

10. Your rights and choices

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to request access to, correction of, or deletion of personal data we hold about you, where legally available. Contact us at contact@thenamelore.com to make a request.

Because entries are anonymous to the public, we're often unable to verify that a particular entry belongs to a particular person, which can limit what we're able to do with a request tied to a specific entry. If an entry concerns you, the more direct path is to report it: reports don't require proving ownership, and are reviewed by a moderator.

11. Children

The Name Lore is not intended for use by children under 18, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under that age. If you believe a child has submitted information to us, contact us at contact@thenamelore.com and we'll address it.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the service changes. Material changes to what we collect or how long we keep it will be posted here, with a new effective date, before they take effect.