The short version
- We only collect what we need: your message, a way to reply to you, and basic, anonymous site statistics.
- We don’t sell your information, and we don’t share it for advertising.
- People under 13 can’t send us personal information. A parent or guardian can send a message for them.
- On the show, we use first names only for anyone under 18, and we delete their messages 90 days after we’ve used them.
- You can ask us to see, correct, or delete what we have about you at any time.
Listener feedback
When you send feedback through our Call the show form, we collect:
- Your birth year, only to check your age. We keep whether you’re a teen or an adult, not the year itself.
- Your name. Adults can give their full name. If you’re 13 to 17, we ask for your first name only.
- Your email address, so we can reply to you.
- Your message, and any audio you record or upload.
- Which show it’s for.
Your message goes to that show’s hosts by email and is stored on our servers. We may read or play it on the show, sometimes with your first name. We keep feedback from adults until we’ve used it, and in our archive after that. You can ask us to delete it at any time.
Children and teens
Our shows are for a general audience, but some of them, especially The Stranger Things Podcast, are popular with younger listeners. We take that seriously.
- Under 13: our form asks for your birth year first, and it won’t accept personal information from anyone under 13. Instead, a parent or guardian can send the message using their own name and email, and confirm that they agree to us using the child’s first name, message, and recording on the show.
- 13 to 17: you can send feedback yourself. We only ask for your first name, we only use your first name on the show, and you can’t sign up for our email updates.
- On the show: for anyone under 18, we use first names only and never share details like where you live or go to school.
- Deleted after use: we delete messages and recordings from anyone under 18, and messages a parent sent for a child, 90 days after we’ve used them on the show.
Parents and guardians: you can ask to see what we have from your child, ask us to delete it, or withdraw your permission at any time. See Contact us. If you think a child under 13 sent us personal information without your permission, tell us and we’ll delete it.
Email updates
If you sign up for email updates (13 and older), we use Mailchimp to send them. We collect your email address and, if you give it, your first name. Mailchimp sends a confirmation email first, and every email has an unsubscribe link. We use your address only for Golden Spiral Media news, new podcasts, live events, and community meetups.
Stats and cookies
- Our own statistics. We count page views, which sites send visitors to us, and clicks on things like Play and Subscribe. These counts use no cookies and no personal information: just the page, the date, and a number.
- Google Analytics. We use Google Analytics to understand how the site is used overall, such as which pages are popular and what devices people use. It sets cookies and collects your IP address and device details, which Google processes under its own privacy policy. You can opt out with Google’s browser add-on or your browser’s cookie settings.
- Spam protection. Our feedback form uses Cloudflare Turnstile to tell people from bots. It looks at technical signals from your browser, not your identity.
- Your browser. The site’s audio player remembers the episode you were playing and where you left off. That’s stored only in your own browser, and we never see it.
Listening and downloads
When you play an episode on this site, we count, anonymously, how far into the episode people listen, so we know what episodes people enjoy. No cookies or personal information are involved.
Our audio files are hosted by Captivate. When you play or download an episode, here or in a podcast app, Captivate receives standard technical information such as your IP address and app or browser type to count downloads under industry standards. See Captivate’s privacy policy for listeners. Podcast apps like Apple Podcasts and Spotify have their own privacy policies.
Services we use
We use a few trusted companies to run the site, and they only process information to provide their service to us:
- Cloudflare: hosts the site, stores feedback and audio, and protects against attacks and spam.
- Resend: delivers feedback emails to our hosts.
- Mailchimp: sends our email updates.
- Google Analytics: site statistics.
- Captivate: hosts and delivers our podcast audio.
We don’t sell personal information or share it for targeted advertising. We may disclose information if the law requires it, or to protect someone’s safety. We’re based in the United States, so information is stored and processed there.
Your choices and rights
Wherever you live, you can ask us to:
- tell you what personal information we have about you;
- correct it;
- delete it; or
- stop using it, for example by unsubscribing from emails.
We’ll answer within 30 days. Depending on where you live (for example California, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, or New Zealand), you may have additional rights under local law, and we’ll honor them. We protect what we keep with access controls and secure connections, and we keep only what we need.
Contact us
For any privacy question or request, send us a message through our feedback form and start it with “Privacy request.” A parent can make a request for their child the same way. We’ll reply by email.
Golden Spiral Media, Edmond, Oklahoma, USA.
Changes to this policy
If we change how we handle information, we’ll update this page and the date at the top. For significant changes, we’ll also let email subscribers know.