This policy explains what Kostry collects when you read, write and sign in, why we collect it, who we share it with, and the choices you have. Kostry is run by the Kostry team (“we”). Questions go to teamkostry@gmail.com.
- •From Google when you sign in: your name, email address, profile photo and Google account ID. We never see your Google password.
- •Profile details you add: username, display name, bio, location, website and, if you choose to give it, your date of birth.
- •What you publish: stories, chapters, comments, and pitches (chapters you submit to someone else’s story).
- •Your activity: likes, bookmarks, follows, comment votes, reports you file, which stories and chapters you open and how long you read, and feed feedback such as “not interested” or muting an author.
- •Technical data: IP address, browser and device type, and request logs. We use IP addresses to stop abuse (rate limiting), and our host keeps short-lived server logs.
- •Analytics: aggregate page-view statistics from Vercel Web Analytics, which uses no cookies and does not identify you.
- •To run your account and show your work under your name.
- •To recommend stories and writers (For You, More like this, Who to follow) based on what you read, like and follow.
- •To send in-app notifications, such as replies, new followers and decisions on your pitches.
- •To keep Kostry safe: preventing spam and abuse, handling reports, and enforcing our Terms.
- •To understand overall usage so we can fix and improve Kostry.
We do not sell your personal data and we do not show ads. We don’t send marketing email; if we ever need to reach you about your account or a legal matter, we use the email address from your Google account.
Your username, display name, profile photo, bio, location, website, join date, and everything you publish can be seen by anyone, including search engines and AI search tools that index public pages. People who follow you may also see stories you liked, shown as “Liked by @you” in their For You feed. Your email address and date of birth are never shown publicly.
- •Service providers that run Kostry for us and may use the data only to provide their service: Vercel (hosting), MongoDB Atlas (database) and Google (sign-in).
- •Other people see what you publish, as described above.
- •Authorities, when the law or a valid legal order requires it, or when needed to protect someone’s safety.
- •A new owner, if Kostry is ever merged or sold. This policy would continue to apply and we would tell you first.
Our providers may store and process data in countries other than yours.
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Cookies and storage on your device
We use two cookies, both needed for signing in, and no advertising or tracking cookies. Unsent drafts are kept in your browser so a closed tab doesn’t lose your writing. Details are in our Cookie Policy.
- •Account and profile data, reading history and feed signals: until you delete your account.
- •Published content: until you delete it. If you delete your account, it stays without your name (see section 7).
- •Notifications: 180 days after they were sent or last read.
- •Rate-limit records: minutes to hours. Server logs: a short period set by our host.
- •Reports: as long as needed to handle them and keep the community safe.
- •Backups: deleted copies disappear as our database backups roll over.
Go to Settings and choose Delete account. It takes effect immediately:
- •Erased: your Google ID, email address, name, photo, bio, location, website and date of birth, plus your bookmarks, reading history, follows and notifications. You are signed out everywhere.
- •Kept without your name: stories, chapters and comments you published stay online and are shown as “Anonymous”, because other writers’ chapters build on them. Likes and votes you gave remain in the counts but are no longer linked to anything that identifies you.
Pages that were cached before you deleted your account refresh within an hour. If you want something gone for good, delete it before you delete your account (a chapter that others have continued can be archived instead), or email us. You can sign up again later with the same Google account; you will start with a fresh profile.
- •See and correct your profile at any time in Settings.
- •Delete your account as described above.
- •Ask for a copy of your data, or make any other privacy request, by emailing teamkostry@gmail.com. We reply within 30 days.
- •Depending on where you live (for example under India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 or the EU/UK GDPR), you may have further rights, including the right to complain to a data protection authority.
Kostry is not for children under 13. If you are under 18, you need a parent or guardian’s permission to use Kostry. If you believe a child under 13 has an account, email us and we will delete it.
Sign-in is handled by Google, so we never store passwords. Traffic is encrypted with HTTPS, and your session cookie cannot be read by scripts on the page. No system is perfectly secure; if a breach affects your data, we will tell you and the relevant authorities as the law requires.
When we change this policy we update the date at the top. For significant changes we also show a notice on the site before they take effect.
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Contact and Grievance Officer
For privacy questions, requests and complaints, including complaints under India’s Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, write to our Grievance Officer at teamkostry@gmail.com. We acknowledge complaints within 24 hours and resolve them within 15 days.