Privacy Policy

This Policy describes how Emrich Enterprises LLC (a Montana limited liability company), operator of AIDiveForge, collects, uses, shares, and protects information about you when you use aidiveforge.com and related services (the "Service"). Where we say "we," "us," or "AIDiveForge," we mean Emrich Enterprises LLC.

1. Information We Collect

1.1 Information You Provide to Us

We collect information you voluntarily provide when you register for an account, subscribe to our newsletter, submit content, or contact us, including:

• Account credentials (username, email address, and hashed password).
• If you use Google or GitHub sign-in, the account identifier, email address, and profile details returned by that provider. We do not receive your password for that provider.
• Profile information you elect to publish (display name, biography, linked websites).
• User-generated content, such as reviews, wiki edits, benchmark submissions, comments, and workflow pack proposals.
• Communications you send to us by email.
• Newsletter subscription and opt-out records, including email address, status, timestamps, source, and, for some forms, IP address and browser information.
• Advertiser contact details, listing or campaign information, order identifiers, payment status, and records needed to deliver and support a paid order. Square collects payment details on its hosted checkout; we do not store full card numbers.

1.2 Information Collected Automatically

When you visit the Service, certain information is collected automatically, whether or not you create an account:

• Pages visited, referring URLs, and search queries submitted on the Service.
• Device characteristics, including browser type, operating system, and screen dimensions.
• Aggregate session data, including time on page, scroll depth, and navigation path.
• A daily-rotating hash derived from your IP address and browser information for self-hosted usage measurement. This is pseudonymous data, not a promise of anonymity. Those page-view records do not store the raw IP address, but server and security logs and some signup or opt-out records can contain IP addresses.
• Interaction events, such as clicks on tool, pack, skill, and outbound links, with the source page and destination. Resource interactions and advertising delivery can also be measured to understand usage and fulfill orders.

1.3 Cookies and Similar Technologies

Subject to your consent where required, we use the following cookies on the Service:

First-party cookies (set under aidiveforge.com):

• _adf_vid — Persistent visitor identifier (365 days) used by our self-hosted analytics to distinguish returning visitors.
• _adf_sid — Session identifier (30 minutes, sliding) used to associate page views within a single visit.
• _adf_consent_v2 and _adf_consent — Record your cookie preferences (365 days).
• _adf_utm_* — Attribution cookies storing the marketing source of your arrival (30 days).
• _adf_owner — Identifies the site operator's own traffic so it can be excluded from visitor statistics (2 years). Legal basis: legitimate interest in accurate analytics (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).

Some analytics identifiers are also stored in local storage, including on our wiki. Local storage has no browser-enforced expiry; the site checks session-expiry values when using session data and clears its stored analytics identifiers when you reject analytics. See our Cookie Policy for the storage inventory.

Google Analytics cookies (set on our domain by Google's tag — see Section 1.4):

• _ga — Google Analytics visitor identifier (2 years by default; browser and property settings can shorten this).
• _ga_* — Google Analytics 4 property-specific session-state cookies (2 years by default; browser and property settings can shorten this).

Advertising cookies (Google AdSense and its partners — see Section 1.5): names and lifetimes vary by provider, feature, and region. Examples include IDE and related Google ad cookies. See Google's cookie information.

You can change analytics and marketing choices through Cookie settings in the footer, choose Reject non-essential in the notice, or send a Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal. For the European Economic Area, United Kingdom, and Switzerland, optional storage defaults to denied until you opt in. Outside those regions, analytics and marketing storage default to allowed under a notice-and-opt-out model. Unknown location defaults to denied unless the browser resolves the region. GPC overrides an earlier grant in every region. Clearing cookies removes a saved choice and can restore the applicable regional default on a later visit.

These controls govern optional identifiers and storage. Limited first-party page-view or click records can still be collected without identifying cookies. Google Consent Mode can also send cookieless measurement requests when storage is denied. An opt-out is not a promise that no data is processed; changing a choice does not erase records already collected.

1.4 Third-Party Analytics Tags

We use Google Analytics 4 and the Google Tag, managed through Google Site Kit, to measure site use. Requests to Google can include page URLs, referrers, device and browser information, approximate location, consent signals, and identifiers when storage is allowed. Denied storage can still result in cookieless requests. We exclude logged-in administrators from visitor analytics, but that does not mean their account or security activity is never logged. Search Console separately provides search and indexing reports; it is not a visitor analytics cookie. See Google's Privacy Policy and how Google uses data from partner sites. Google's Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on provides an additional Analytics control.

1.5 Advertising (Google AdSense)

We show display ads served by Google AdSense. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user's prior visits to this website or other websites. Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to this site and/or other sites on the Internet.

You may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings. You can also opt out of a third-party vendor's use of cookies for personalized advertising by visiting www.aboutads.info. On this site you can turn advertising cookies off at any time with "Reject non-essential" or the "Cookie settings" link in the footer, or by sending a GPC signal.

Advertising cookies are on by default for visitors outside the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland (notice-and-opt-out). Inside those regions they stay off until you opt in through Google's consent message. See how Google uses cookies in advertising and how Google uses data from partner sites.

2. How We Use Information

We process information for the following purposes:

• To operate, maintain, and improve the Service.
• To process and confirm advertising orders, measure delivery, communicate with buyers, and handle refunds or billing issues.
• To authenticate users, secure accounts, and detect fraud or abuse.
• To generate aggregate analytics regarding usage patterns and editorial performance.
• To moderate user-generated content and enforce our Terms of Service.
• To deliver transactional notifications, such as moderation decisions and account-security alerts.
• To manage newsletter enrollment, delivery, and opt-out requests as described in our Email Policy, subject to applicable marketing-consent requirements.
• To attribute affiliate referrals to partner programs, in accordance with our Affiliate Disclosure.
• To comply with applicable legal obligations and enforce our legal rights.

3. Legal Bases for Processing (EEA/UK Residents)

Where the General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR") or UK GDPR applies, we rely on the following legal bases:

• Performance of a contract (Art. 6(1)(b)) — to provide account services you have requested.
• Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)) — for newsletter subscriptions and non-essential cookies.
• Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)) — where permitted, to administer and secure the Service, understand limited first-party usage, and prevent abuse, subject to your rights and applicable consent requirements. A legitimate-interest basis does not replace consent where cookie or marketing law requires it.
• Legal obligation (Art. 6(1)(c)) — to respond to lawful requests from competent authorities.

4. How We Share Information

We do not sell personal information for money or rent our subscriber list. Advertising disclosures may qualify as sharing under some privacy laws, as explained in Section 8.3. Information can be disclosed in the following circumstances:

• Hosting and Operations. Providers that host or support our website, mail infrastructure, and business systems may process information needed to provide those services.
• Content Moderation. Submitted text may be sent to Anthropic, PBC, through its Claude API for content checks. Do not include confidential information in a public contribution. See Anthropic's Privacy Policy.
• Analytics and Search. Google receives measurement information through Analytics and the Google Tag. Search Console provides search and indexing reports. Google's responsibilities depend on the product and its applicable terms; see Section 1.4 and Google's Privacy Policy.
• Sign-in Providers. If you choose Google or GitHub sign-in, we exchange the information needed to authenticate your account with that provider. Its own privacy terms apply to its services.
• Payments — Square. For an advertising order, Square receives the order description, amount, reference, and buyer email when provided. Square collects checkout information directly, and we receive order and payment confirmation needed to fulfill the purchase. See Square's buyer privacy notice.
• Advertising — Google AdSense. When advertising storage is granted (by default outside the EEA, UK, and Switzerland), Google and its partners receive cookie identifiers, the pages you view, and device and approximate location data in order to serve and measure ads, as described in Section 1.5.
• Vendors, Sponsors, and Affiliate Networks. Following an outbound link sends your browser to that destination, which can receive your IP address, browser and referral information, and a referral identifier. Its cookies, purchases, and signup forms are governed by its policies. We do not give affiliate partners our subscriber list. Advertisers can receive campaign delivery reports.
• Legal and Safety Disclosures. We may disclose information where required by law, valid legal process, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of AIDiveForge, our users, or the public.
• Business Transfers. In connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, information may be transferred to the successor entity, subject to the protections of this Policy.
• Public Content. Reviews, wiki edits, and benchmarks you submit are displayed publicly together with your chosen display name. Do not submit content you do not wish to be public.

Third-party services you choose to visit collect information directly from you under their own policies. Our Cookie settings control storage on our Service; they do not change your preferences on those other services.

5. Data Retention

We retain information only as long as necessary for the purposes set out in this Policy, subject to the following periods:

• Self-hosted page-view, interaction-event, and site-search rows: scheduled for deletion once older than 90 days by a daily cleanup job. Aggregate totals may be kept longer. This schedule does not describe Google's records or separate advertising, security, and billing records.
• Account information: kept while the account is active and afterward only as needed to resolve a request, prevent abuse, meet a legal obligation, or establish or defend legal claims. Verified deletion requests are handled within applicable legal deadlines.
• Published contributions: can remain available after an account closes. Requests to remove personal information or attribution are assessed under applicable law; public-record interests do not override a right to erasure. Copies already downloaded by others may remain outside our control.
• Email records: unsubscribing stops newsletter delivery; it does not automatically delete the subscription history. We retain a suppression record, and may retain related evidence, so an opted-out address is not added back unintentionally.
• Orders, delivery records, support messages, and security logs: kept as needed to fulfill orders, handle disputes or refunds, meet accounting or legal duties, and prevent abuse.
• Backups: deleted information can remain in backup copies until those copies expire under the relevant backup schedule. A live-data cleanup is not immediate deletion from every backup or a third party's records.

6. Information Security

We implement administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect information, including TLS encryption for all traffic, bcrypt hashing of passwords, server-level firewalls, principle-of-least-privilege access controls, and routine backups. No method of transmission or storage is entirely secure; we cannot guarantee absolute security.

7. International Data Transfers

We and our providers may process information outside your country, including in the United States. A transfer subject to GDPR, UK GDPR, or similar restrictions requires a valid legal mechanism, such as an applicable adequacy decision or contractual safeguards. Using the Service or subscribing to email is not itself consent to a restricted transfer. Contact [email protected] for information about processing locations and the safeguards applicable to a particular provider.

8. Your Rights

8.1 All Users

You may request access to, correction of, or deletion of your personal information, or request account closure, by emailing [email protected]. Newsletter opt-out is available without closing an account at /unsubscribe/. Analytics and marketing choices are available through Cookie settings in the footer.

8.2 EEA, UK, and Swiss Residents

Subject to applicable law, you have the right to: (i) access your personal data; (ii) request rectification of inaccurate data; (iii) request erasure; (iv) restrict or object to processing; (v) data portability; and (vi) lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority.

8.3 California Residents (CCPA/CPRA)

California residents have the right to: (i) know what personal information we collect, use, and disclose; (ii) request deletion of personal information; (iii) correct inaccurate personal information; and (iv) opt out of the "sale" or "sharing" of personal information. We do not sell personal information for money. Allowing Google's advertising cookies to serve personalized ads may count as "sharing" under the CPRA; you can opt out at any time with "Reject non-essential", the "Cookie settings" link in the footer, or a GPC signal.

8.4 Exercising Your Rights

Submit verifiable requests to [email protected] with sufficient information to confirm your identity and the nature of your request. We respond within the time frames required by applicable law and will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights.

9. Children's Privacy

The Service is not directed to children under the age of 13 (or 16 in the EEA), and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If we become aware that a child has provided personal information, we will delete that information promptly. Parents or guardians who believe a child has submitted information may contact us at [email protected].

10. Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control

Some browsers transmit "Do Not Track" ("DNT") or Global Privacy Control ("GPC") signals. Because there is no industry consensus regarding the interpretation of the DNT header, the Service does not respond to DNT signals directly. The Service does, however, honor GPC signals: when your browser sends a GPC signal, we treat it as an opt-out and instruct Google Analytics, Google Tag, and any successor Google tags (via Google Consent Mode v2) to default to a denied state for ad_storage, ad_user_data, ad_personalization, and analytics_storage, and our self-hosted analytics will likewise refrain from setting identifying cookies. You may also opt out or manage your preferences at any time through the cookie notice described in Section 1.3. California residents may treat a GPC signal or a declared decline as an opt-out request for purposes of CCPA/CPRA.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may amend this Policy as our practices or applicable law change. We will post an updated Effective date for a substantive revision and give additional notice where required. A policy update or continued use of the Service does not substitute for consent where new consent is required.

12. Contact Us

Privacy questions, requests, or complaints go to:

The Effective date identifies the latest substantive revision of this Privacy Policy.