Privacy Policy

Overview

This Privacy Policy describes how DawnScribe ("we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, and handles your personal information when you use our platform. It applies to all users — readers, authors, artists, and visitors who have not yet created an account.

By using DawnScribe, you agree to the collection and use of information as described in this policy. This policy should be read alongside our Terms of Service.

What We Collect

We collect information in two ways: information you give us directly, and information generated by your use of the platform.

Information You Provide Directly

Data	When	Why
Email address	Account registration	Authentication and essential communications
Username & display name	Account registration	Your public identity on the platform
Password (hashed)	Account registration	Account security — never stored in plain text
Date of birth	Account registration	Age eligibility. Required to confirm you are 13 or over, and to determine whether you are 18 or over for any feature that involves money. See Section 7. Your date of birth is never shown publicly.
Profile details	When you edit your profile	Bio, avatar, banner, location, pronouns, gender, language, links — all optional. Location, pronouns and gender can each be hidden from your public profile in your settings
Secondary email	Optional, in settings	Account recovery and payout correspondence
Time zone	Detected from your browser when you sign in	Displaying times correctly and honouring your quiet-hours preference. We store the time-zone name only (for example America/Denver) — never your location or coordinates
Published content	When you post	Web novels, chapters, artwork, characters and related material you choose to share
Direct messages	When you use DMs	Private communications between users
Reviews & comments	When you engage with content	Public feedback on works
Contact-form messages	When you write to us	Answering your question. Stored on our own servers and retained until the matter is resolved and any related record-keeping obligation has passed. Please do not include passwords or payment details
Reports & feedback	When you report content or send feedback	Moderation and platform improvement. Reports record who filed them so we can act on them and identify abuse of the reporting system; your identity as a reporter is not shown to the person you reported.
Payment information	When you purchase Quills	Handled entirely by Stripe. We store only the Stripe transaction reference, the amount, and what was credited — never card numbers or payment credentials
Creator payout identity	Only if you set up creator payouts	Collected directly by Stripe Connect, which is legally required to verify your identity and age. We receive only an account reference and a verification status, not the underlying identity documents

Information Generated Automatically

• Reading progress — which chapters you have read, used to power Reading History, caught-up status, and reading-related rewards.
• Following, blocking and muting relationships — which authors, artists, and titles you follow, and which accounts you have blocked or muted. Blocks and mutes are visible only to you.
• Activity data — reviews, comments, votes, collaborations, Embers earned and spent, badges, and other interactions with content.
• View counts — we count views on works and chapters. These are stored as daily totals only and are not linked to your account. To avoid counting the same person twice in a day we keep a short-lived deduplication record: for signed-in readers this is your account ID, and for signed-out visitors it is the IP address of the request. These records are cleared automatically every day, and are never kept longer than 48 hours or used to build a profile of you.
• Error diagnostics — when something goes wrong we record the error, the page or function it came from, and the account it happened to, so it can be fixed. These are deleted automatically after 30 days.
• Delivery records for emails we send you — the type of email and when it was sent, so we can honour your notification settings and avoid sending duplicates.
• Basic device and browser information — used solely to keep the platform functioning correctly. We do not use this for behavioural tracking or advertising.

How We Use Your Data

We use the data we collect for the following purposes only:

• To create and manage your account and verify your identity when you sign in.
• To display your profile, published works, and activity to other users as the platform is designed to do.
• To power features like Reading History, Following, caught-up status, badges, Embers, and personalized feeds.
• To confirm you meet the minimum age for the platform, and to determine eligibility for features that involve money.
• To process Quill purchases and, for creators, to calculate and pay out earnings.
• To send essential communications — such as account verification, security alerts, or policy updates — and any optional notification emails or digests you have switched on. We do not send marketing emails without your explicit consent, and every optional email includes a one-click unsubscribe link.
• To diagnose and fix errors, and to keep the platform running reliably.
• To detect and prevent abuse, fraud, and violations of our Terms of Service.
• To comply with legal obligations, including responding to valid legal requests.

Local Storage & Cookies

DawnScribe uses your browser's localStorage and sessionStorage — standard web technologies similar to cookies — to store preferences and interface state on your own device. We write these keys under the ds_ prefix. The categories are:

Keys	What they store	Purpose
ds_theme, ds_accent_hex	Colour theme and accent colour	Applies your visual preference before the page renders, to avoid a flash of the wrong theme
ds_reader_width, ds_reader_size, ds_reader_lh, ds_focus_mode, ds_clean_paste	Chapter reader display settings	Preserves your preferred reading layout
ds_tts_voice, ds_tts_rate, ds_tts_pitch	Text-to-speech settings	Remembers your chosen narration voice and speed
ds_page_*, ds_para_pos_*, ds_ch_visited_*, ds_reading, ds_reading_progress	Your position within a chapter and recently visited chapters	Resumes where you left off
ds_home_layout, ds_profile_layout, ds_view_*, ds_browse_view_mode, ds_sidebar_collapsed, ds_row_states, ds_comment_sort, ds_admin_tab, ds_prestige_order_*	Layout, sort order and view-mode choices per page	Remembers how you like each page arranged
ds_filter_safe, ds_filter_gore, ds_filter_erotica, ds_cw_ok_*, ds_tag_prefs, ds_pinned_tags	Content filters, content-warning acknowledgements and tag preferences	Applies your content settings immediately on page load. Where you are signed in, these also sync to your account so they follow you between devices
ds_dismissed_*, ds_notif_cleared_*, ds_viewed_*, ds_welcome_done_*, ds_welcome_snooze_*, ds_translate_hint_dismissed, ann-dismissed	Which banners, prompts and announcements you have dismissed	Stops us showing you the same notice repeatedly
ds_publish_draft, dsbk_*, ds_open_*, ds_wg_*, ds_checkin_*, ds_rising_board:*, ds_settings_misc	Unsaved draft text, local bookmarks, and short-lived navigation state	Prevents work being lost and carries context between pages
Age-gate status (sessionStorage)	Whether your account is eligible for creator monetization features	Avoids re-checking on every page. Cleared when you close the tab, and refreshed at least every five minutes

Most of this data stays on your device and is never sent to us. The exceptions are noted above: your content filters and tag preferences, and your reading progress, are also saved to your account when you are signed in, so that they work on your other devices.

You can clear all locally stored data at any time by clearing your browser's site data through your browser settings. Doing so will reset your visual preferences and local interface state, and may discard any unsaved draft, but will not affect your account or the data stored on our servers.

DawnScribe does not use third-party tracking cookies, advertising cookies, or analytics cookies. We do not participate in any cross-site tracking or behavioural advertising network.

Sharing Your Data

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. We share data only in the following limited circumstances:

• With other users — your username, display name, avatar, profile bio, and published content are visible to other users as part of normal platform operation. Your email address is never made public.
• With Supabase — our database and authentication infrastructure provider. Supabase processes data on our behalf and is contractually bound by confidentiality and data protection obligations.
• With Stripe — our payment processor. When you buy Quills, your payment details go directly to Stripe and are never stored on our servers. If you set up creator payouts, Stripe Connect additionally collects the identity and age information it is legally required to verify; that information goes to Stripe, not to us.
• With Resend — our email delivery provider. Your email address and the contents of the message being sent are processed by Resend in order to deliver account emails, notifications and digests.
• With Vercel — our hosting provider, which serves the platform and may log basic request metadata such as IP addresses for security and performance purposes.
• When required by law — we will disclose information if required to do so by a court order, subpoena, or other lawful legal process. We will notify affected users where we are legally permitted to do so.
• To protect safety — we may share information with law enforcement if we believe it is necessary to prevent imminent harm to a person or to address illegal content, including content involving the exploitation of minors.

Data Storage & Security

Your data is stored securely using Supabase, which provides encrypted database storage and enforces row-level security — meaning each user can only access their own private data through the platform.

• Passwords are never stored in plain text. They are hashed using industry-standard encryption.
• All data is transmitted over HTTPS. Data is never sent over unencrypted connections.
• Profile images and cover art are stored in secure cloud storage buckets with access controls.
• We regularly review and update our security practices.

While we implement strong protections, no internet-based system can guarantee complete security. In the event of a data breach affecting your personal information, we will notify you promptly and take all reasonable steps to address it.

Children, Minors & Age Data

DawnScribe is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. If we learn that a user under 13 has created an account, we will terminate it and delete the associated data promptly.

For users between 13 and 17, a parent or legal guardian must have given permission. We encourage parents and guardians to monitor their child's use of the platform and to review this Privacy Policy with them.

Why we hold your date of birth. We ask for your date of birth when you create an account, and we keep it. It does two jobs. It confirms you meet the minimum age of 13, and it determines whether you are 18 or over — which is required before you can list anything for sale, build up a payout balance, or take a paid share of revenue. Everything else on DawnScribe, including publishing, unpaid collaborations, and earning Embers, is open to under-18s.

Your date of birth is never displayed on your profile, never shared with other users, and is not used for anything other than age eligibility and the records described below.

• Age attestation. Before you can list a paid item, we ask you to confirm in writing that you are 18 or over. We store the date you confirmed, the version of the wording you agreed to, and the date of birth held on your account at that moment. This is our record that we checked.
• Date-of-birth change log. Every change to a date of birth is recorded, including the previous and new values, when it changed, and who changed it. Because age governs access to money on this platform, this record is a fraud-prevention measure and is retained for as long as the account exists.
• Verification by Stripe. If you set up creator payouts, Stripe independently verifies your identity and age. See Section 10.

If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information without your consent, please contact us immediately.

Your Rights

You have the following rights regarding your personal data on DawnScribe:

• Access — you can view all profile information we hold about you through your account settings at any time.
• Correction — you can update or correct your profile information, email address, and display name at any time.
• Deletion — you may request deletion of your account and associated personal data. Some data may be retained for a limited period for legal or security purposes.
• Data portability — upon request, we can provide you with a copy of your data in a readable format.
• Withdrawal of consent — where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time without affecting prior processing.
• Opt-out of communications — you may opt out of non-essential communications at any time through your account settings.

Users in the European Economic Area (EEA), the United Kingdom, and California have additional rights under GDPR, UK GDPR, and the CCPA respectively. If these apply to you, please contact us directly.

Data Retention

We retain your personal data for as long as your account is active or as long as is necessary to provide you with the Service.

If you delete your account

Deletion takes effect immediately: your username, display name, bio, avatar, banner and secondary email are removed from your public profile at once, your profile is replaced with an anonymous placeholder, and you are signed out on every device.

For 30 days we keep a private copy of those profile details so that you can change your mind and reactivate. After that window closes, reactivation is no longer offered and the copy is deleted. If you would rather it were destroyed straight away, tell us and we will remove it without waiting out the window.

Everything else

• Published content may be retained for a period after account deletion to allow any ongoing collaborations or marketplace transactions to be resolved, or may be removed at your request prior to deletion.
• View deduplication records, including the IP addresses of signed-out visitors, are purged by a daily job and are never retained longer than 48 hours.
• Error diagnostic records are deleted automatically after 30 days.
• Records related to money — purchases, earnings, payouts and the age attestations and date-of-birth changes that govern eligibility for them — are retained for as long as required for tax, accounting, fraud-prevention and legal purposes, which will normally outlast the account itself.
• Records related to reported violations or legal matters may be retained longer for compliance purposes.
• Anonymized, aggregated data — such as daily view totals and platform usage statistics — may be retained indefinitely as it cannot be linked to any individual.
• Data stored in your own browser is not subject to our retention schedule. You may clear it at any time through your browser settings.

Third-Party Services

DawnScribe uses a small number of carefully selected third-party services:

• Supabase — database, authentication, and file storage. Supabase Privacy Policy.
• Vercel — platform hosting and delivery. Vercel Privacy Policy.
• Google Fonts — serves the Cinzel and Lato typefaces. Google may log font request metadata. No personal account data is shared through this service.
• Stripe — payment processing for Quill purchases, and, through Stripe Connect, creator payouts and the identity and age verification that legally must accompany them. Payment and identity data is collected by Stripe directly under its own security and privacy standards. Stripe Privacy Policy.
• Resend — email delivery for account, notification and digest emails. Resend Privacy Policy.

DawnScribe does not use Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, or any other advertising, behavioral tracking, or analytics tool that tracks users across the web.

US State Privacy Rights

If you are a resident of California, Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, or another US state with applicable data privacy legislation, you may have additional rights including:

• The right to know what personal information we have collected about you in the past 12 months.
• The right to request deletion of your personal information, subject to certain exceptions.
• The right to opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information. Note: DawnScribe does not sell personal information.
• The right to non-discrimination for exercising your privacy rights.
• California residents additionally have the right to opt out of sharing personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising (which DawnScribe does not engage in).

To exercise any of these rights, contact us through the platform. We do not discriminate against users for exercising their privacy rights and will respond within the timeframe required by applicable law.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. For significant changes, we will notify users through the platform.

Your continued use of DawnScribe after any update constitutes your acceptance of the revised policy.

Contact

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, wish to exercise your data rights, or need to report a privacy concern, use our contact page and choose Privacy / Data Request as the subject. That form does not require you to be signed in, so it still works if you have closed your account or cannot access it.

Where possible, write from the email address on the account, so we can be reasonably confident the request is really yours before we act on it. We will respond within 30 days.