Privacy policy

Privacy Policy

Effective date: September 11, 2026

This Privacy Policy applies to Open Arts Forum, located at openartsforum.com, and operated by Open Arts Press, LLC, a Maryland limited liability company (“Open Arts Forum,” “we,” “us,” or “our”).

This policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and the choices available to you when you use Open Arts Forum, including the forum, related site features, contact forms, Calls & Opportunities listings, and audio-reading features.

1. Information We Collect

We may collect the following types of information:

  • Account information, such as your username, email address, password hash, registration date, and account settings
  • Profile information that you voluntarily provide
  • Public content that you post or submit, including forum posts, comments, listings, calls for submissions, opportunity descriptions, links, images, logos, audio recordings, and related metadata
  • Audio readings or other recordings that you voluntarily submit for publication
  • Records relating to your submission or publication of audio, including the date and time of submission, publication status, and any authorization or consent you provide
  • Contact information you provide through contact forms, listing submissions, reading requests, or other site features
  • Technical information, such as IP address, browser type, device type, operating system, referring pages, timestamps, cookies, server logs, and general usage patterns
  • Moderation and security information, such as login activity, IP addresses associated with posts or account actions, spam-prevention signals, and administrative notes needed to operate and protect the site

Your IP address may be recorded when you register, log in, post, submit a listing, submit a recording, or take other actions on the site. IP addresses are used for security, moderation, spam prevention, and site administration. They are not displayed publicly.

2. Public Content

Open Arts Forum is a public or semi-public community website. Content you choose to post or submit may be visible to other users, visitors, search engines, or third-party archives, depending on where it is posted and the visibility settings of that area.

Public or visible content may include your username, posts, profile information, submitted listings, publication or organization names, submission links, website links, uploaded images or logos, published audio recordings, and other information you choose to provide.

Material that is made publicly available on the internet may be copied, downloaded, cached, indexed, redistributed, archived, or otherwise used by third parties outside our control. We cannot control copies or uses of publicly available material made by third parties after publication.

Please do not post or submit personal information or other material that you do not want others to see or access publicly.

3. How We Collect Information

We collect information when:

  • You register for an account
  • You log in or use the forum
  • You post, comment, send messages, or interact with other users
  • You submit, edit, or manage a Calls & Opportunities listing
  • You upload images, logos, audio recordings, or other content
  • You respond to a reading request or submit an audio reading
  • You authorize publication of submitted content or recordings
  • You use a contact form or communicate with us
  • You browse the site, through cookies, server logs, security tools, and basic usage metrics

4. How We Use Your Information

We use information for the following purposes:

  • To create and manage user accounts
  • To allow users to post, comment, submit listings, and participate in the community
  • To display public content and public listings
  • To request, receive, review, manage, and publish authorized audio readings
  • To allow submitters to edit or manage their own listings or submitted material where available
  • To send account-related notifications, reading-related notifications, password resets, moderation notices, and other site-related communications
  • To administer, secure, troubleshoot, and improve the site
  • To prevent spam, abuse, fraud, unauthorized access, and misuse
  • To moderate content and enforce site rules
  • To maintain records of permissions, authorizations, and publication activity
  • To comply with legal obligations or respond to lawful requests

We do not sell personal information.

5. Calls & Opportunities Listings

If you submit a call, opportunity, journal listing, contest, event, or similar listing, the information you provide may be displayed publicly if the listing is approved. Public listing information may include the listing title, organization or publication name, description, tags, genre, deadlines, submission links, website links, contact information you choose to provide, images, logos, and related details.

Open Arts Forum may also create or link to forum discussion threads related to approved listings. Information you submit may therefore appear both in the listing area and in related forum areas.

Registered submitters may be able to edit, update, or remove their own listings, subject to site rules and technical limitations.

6. Audio Readings and Public Recordings

Open Arts Forum may invite authors or contributors to submit audio recordings of their work. Participation is voluntary.

Before an audio reading is published, the contributor may be asked to confirm that the recording is theirs or that they have authority to submit it, and to authorize Open Arts Forum to publish the recording with the associated work. We may retain a record of that authorization, including the wording accepted and the date and time of acceptance.

Unless another agreement provides otherwise, contributors retain ownership of recordings they submit. By authorizing publication, the contributor gives Open Arts Forum permission to host, reproduce, stream, and make the recording publicly available in connection with the associated work and related site features.

Published audio recordings are public content. They may be listened to, linked to, downloaded or copied through ordinary internet technologies, cached, archived, redistributed, or otherwise accessed by third parties. Open Arts Forum cannot control unauthorized copying, redistribution, or other use of a recording by third parties after it has been made publicly available.

Recordings that have been submitted but not yet approved for publication may be stored in protected or non-public storage while they are being reviewed. Access may be provided to authorized editors or administrators as necessary to manage the submission and publication process.

If optional transcription, audio-processing, or similar third-party services are enabled, audio or related information may be transmitted to the service provider as necessary to perform the requested function. Where appropriate, additional information about such services may be provided at the time they are used or elsewhere in this policy.

A contributor may contact us to request removal of a published recording from Open Arts Forum. We will make reasonable efforts to remove the recording from systems under our control, subject to legal, administrative, backup, and technical limitations. Removal from Open Arts Forum cannot guarantee removal of copies that have already been downloaded, cached, archived, indexed, or otherwise retained by third parties.

7. Cookies and Similar Technologies

Open Arts Forum uses cookies and similar technologies to:

  • Keep users logged in
  • Maintain forum sessions
  • Remember user preferences
  • Support security and spam prevention
  • Understand basic site usage through server logs or self-hosted metrics

You may block or delete cookies through your browser settings, but doing so may affect login, posting, and other site functionality.

8. Analytics and Logs

We may use server logs, hosting statistics, AWStats, or self-hosted analytics to understand traffic, diagnose technical problems, and protect the site.

These tools may collect information such as IP address, browser type, referring page, pages visited, and timestamps. We use this information for site administration, security, and general performance analysis.

We do not use analytics to sell personal information.

9. Third-Party Service Providers

We use third-party service providers to operate and protect the site. These may include:

  • Web hosting providers, including KnownHost
  • Email delivery or spam-filtering tools
  • Security, firewall, or content-delivery services, such as Cloudflare if enabled
  • Forum, WordPress, plugin, or server tools needed for site operation
  • Audio-processing or transcription services if those optional features are enabled
  • Basic analytics or server-statistics tools

These providers may process limited information as necessary to provide their services. We take reasonable steps to use providers with appropriate privacy and security practices.

10. Data Sharing

We do not sell personal information.

We may share information only in limited circumstances, including:

  • With service providers that help us operate, secure, maintain, or provide features of the site
  • When you have authorized information or content to be made public
  • When necessary to enforce site rules, investigate abuse, or protect users and the site
  • When required by law, subpoena, court order, or other lawful process
  • In connection with a business transfer, reorganization, or similar event involving Open Arts Press, LLC, provided that reasonable steps are taken to protect user information

11. Data Retention

We retain personal information for as long as reasonably necessary to operate the site, maintain user accounts, preserve community records, prevent abuse, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and maintain backups.

Forum posts, public listings, published recordings, submission records, authorization records, moderation records, server logs, and backup copies may be retained for different periods depending on operational, legal, security, and community needs.

Unpublished audio recordings may be retained while a reading request or editorial review is active and for a reasonable period afterward as needed for administration, troubleshooting, or recordkeeping. They may subsequently be deleted when no longer needed, subject to backup and technical limitations.

Upon request, we will delete or anonymize account information where reasonably possible, subject to legal, security, backup, moderation, and community-integrity limitations. Some public content may remain visible if it has been quoted, downloaded, copied, archived, indexed by search engines, included in backups, or preserved as part of forum discussions or third-party services.

12. Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational measures to protect personal information and non-public submitted material. No website, storage system, or internet transmission is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

If we become aware of a data breach requiring notice under applicable law, we will provide notice as legally required.

13. Your Choices and Rights

Depending on your location and applicable law, you may have rights to:

  • Access personal information we hold about you
  • Request correction of inaccurate information
  • Request deletion or anonymization of certain account information
  • Request removal of an audio recording or other content you submitted, where reasonably possible and subject to applicable rights, legal obligations, and technical limitations
  • Object to or restrict certain uses of your information
  • Withdraw consent for optional communications
  • Request information about how your data is used

You may also edit some account, profile, and listing information directly through the site.

Withdrawal of permission or removal of content from Open Arts Forum does not necessarily remove copies that were previously downloaded, cached, archived, indexed, shared, or otherwise retained by third parties while the material was publicly available.

To make a privacy-related request, please contact us through our contact form. We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request.

14. Children

Open Arts Forum is not intended for children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided personal information to us, please contact us so we can review and remove it where appropriate.

15. International Users

Open Arts Forum is operated from the United States. If you access the site from outside the United States, your information may be processed and stored in the United States, where privacy laws may differ from those in your country.

16. Legal Jurisdiction

This policy is governed by the laws of the State of Maryland, United States, except where applicable privacy laws provide otherwise. Any disputes shall be resolved in the appropriate courts located in Maryland, unless applicable law requires a different forum.

17. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be noted on this page by updating the effective date. Continued use of the site after changes are posted means that you accept the updated policy, to the extent permitted by law.

18. Contact

If you have questions, concerns, or requests about this policy or your personal information, please contact us through our contact form.

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