Security

Hosting & Infrastructure

Our Shared Stories is hosted on Render, a managed cloud platform. Render is responsible for the security of the underlying infrastructure, including servers, storage, networking, and the data centre environment.

All connections to Our Shared Stories use HTTPS, which means data is encrypted in transit between your browser and our service. Render also provides encryption at rest for our managed database and storage.

Your Account & Identity

When you create an account, you provide an email address and choose a password. We never store your password in plain text. Instead, your password is securely hashed using industry-standard methods so it cannot be read directly, even by us.

You can also choose a handle (username) to represent you on the site. Using a handle makes it easier to participate without revealing your full identity to others. Please remember that anything you include in your Our Shared Stories may still identify you, especially if you mention names, locations, or specific details.

Our Shared Stories & Data Protection

You control the visibility of each story you write. Our Shared Stories can be:

• Private – only you can see them.
• Members only – visible to signed-in members.
• Public – visible to anyone who visits the site.

Our Shared Stories you choose to publish will be stored in our database so that we can show them to you and, depending on your settings, to other readers. We do not sell your Our Shared Stories, or use them for advertising, and we do not share them with third parties for marketing.

In limited cases, authorised administrators may access Our Shared Stories to respond to abuse reports, keep the service safe, or fix technical issues. Access is restricted to people with a clear need to perform these tasks.

Analytics & Cookies

We use Plausible Analytics to understand how people use Our Shared Stories so we can improve the service. Plausible is a privacy-friendly analytics tool that does not use cookies and does not track individual users across sites.

We do not run advertising, we do not build marketing profiles of users, and we do not use third-party trackers such as Facebook Pixel or Google Analytics.

Access Control & Administration

Access to administration features is limited to a small number of authorised accounts. Admins can review reported content, manage user accounts, and respond to security or abuse issues. Admin actions are logged to help us detect misuse or mistakes.

We regularly review our security configuration and apply updates and patches provided by our hosting platform and software providers.

Your Responsibilities

No online service can be completely risk-free. You can help protect your account by:

• Choosing a strong, unique password for Our Shared Stories.
• Keeping your device and browser up to date.
• Being careful about what personal details you share in your Our Shared Stories.

Questions About Security

If you have questions or concerns about security, or if you believe your account has been accessed without your permission, please contact us using the details on the Privacy or Terms page.