BMR Privacy Policy

LEGO trains are our hobby, and it’s important that you enjoy our part of that hobby here on brickmodelrailroader.com, but online privacy is a very serious matter. Because brickmodelrailroader.com takes your online privacy seriously, we want you to know what personal information we collect and how we use it.

Your use of brickmodelrailroader.com is subject to the website’s Terms of Service.

Information for Parents and Children Under the Age of 13
brickmodelrailroader.com was designed by adult fans of LEGO® for other adult fans. Readers of all ages are welcome, but direct participation through comments and the Contact Form is restricted to readers over the age of 13.

Links to more information about online privacy
Whether you’re an adult without any children, a parent, a teen, or a kid, if online privacy is something you haven’t really thought about, you might want to start with some reading:

BrickModelRailroader.com Privacy Policy Overview
To enable you to leave comments on posts, subscribe to follow-up responses, contact us, and otherwise use the site’s features, it is sometimes necessary to collect information about you. This information is called “personally identifiable information” (read more about personally identifiable informationon Wikipedia).

Although some types of information are required to use certain features, you are not required to use any of these features. Therefore, providing personally identifiable information to brickmodelrailroader.com is entirely voluntary.

How much information does BrickModelRailroader.com collect about me?
If you choose to use certain features of brickmodelrailroader.com, you may be asked to provide a name, your e-mail address, or other information. Your IP address is also logged when you use the Contact Form or vote in a poll. We go over details on how each of these pieces of information is used later in this privacy policy.

brickmodelrailroader.com also uses a tool called Google Analytics to provide general, anonymous information about our visitors. Google Analytics is a useful tool that helps us make your experience on brickmodelrailroader.com better. It’s importnat to note that Google’s own privacy policy prevents any data in Google Analytics reports from being personally identifiable.

The reports in Google Analytics help us understand broad characteristics about our readers. For example, knowing what Internet browsers our readers are using helps us design and test the site using the right technology. Knowing readers’ connection speeds helps us optimize the site’s bandwidth usage. Knowing how often readers visit helps us make the right choices about how often to post new content.

How does BrickModelRailroader.com use names?
Some type of name is required if you want to register on brickmodelrailroader.com, leave a comment, or use the Contact Form. You can choose to use your own name, but you can also use a nickname or other type of anonymous user name. If you leave a comment, the name you provided appears on the comment. If you use the Contact Form, your name is included in the e-mail message that is sent to brickmodelrailroader.com.

How does BrickModelRailroader.com use e-mail addresses?
An e-mail address is required to register or use the Contact Form. This is part of the system that helps to make sure that anonymous spambots can’t leave spam comments or send us spam (watch Monty Python’s Spam sketch on YouTube).

The e-mail address you provide when you leave a comment is not displayed to other readers. We will not use this e-mail address to contact you except in rare cases where your online privacy or safety is at risk (for example, you’ve shared inappropriate personally identifiable information in a comment). However, by using the Contact Form, you give us permission to contact you in response.

Does BrickModelRailroader.com use cookies?
Cookies are small pieces of information that a Web server puts on your computer (read more about HTTP cookies on Wikipedia). brickmodelrailroader.com only puts a cookie on your computer if you register and then choose to have the site remember you the next time you visit (read more about registration later in this privacy policy).

Google Analytics puts a cookie on your computer to help us know when you’ve come back to brickmodelrailroader.com. Because these cookies are managed by Google, the information is completely anonymous and brickmodelrailroader.com does not have direct control of or access to the cookies.

How does BrickModelRailroader.com use IP addresses?
An IP address is the unique electronic address that your Internet service provider assigns to your computer (read more about IP addresses on Wikipedia). When you use the Contact Form, the Contact Form software logs the IP address of the person who used the form. brickmodelrailroader.com does not use these IP addresses in any way.

When you vote in a poll, the poll software stores your IP address to ensure that your vote is unique. This is very important for instances when we use polls to conduct critical site business, such as electing LEGO Ambassadors. We let the poll software handle this, and we don’t use these IP addresses in any other way.

Google Analytics uses IP addresses to determine what part of the world a reader is located in. Google Analytics data is completely anonymous, and brickmodelrailroader.com does not have access to any personally identifiable information collected by Google.

What happens when I register?
Registering on brickmodelrailroader.com is intended for administrators, contributors, and readers who want to leave comments. Registration requires a user name and an e-mail address (see the sections on names and e-mail addresses earlier in this privacy policy).

Registration is subject to our Terms of Service and does not grant you the right to become a contributor or administrator.

Does BrickModelRailroader.com collect any other information?
The interactive, free-form nature of commenting on this Web site means that you can choose to share whatever information you feel is appropriate. We highly recommend that you follow good online safety practices, but if you choose to share information such as your real name, e-mail address, or location in places that are visible to the general public (such as comment text), this is your choice.

When it’s clear that inappropriate information has been shared, we reserve the right to edit comment text to remove personally identifiable information. However, we can’t guarantee that we will see and correct these issues immediately, so we strongly recommend that you do not share any personally identifiable information in comments.

Who do I contact if I have questions or concerns about this privacy policy?
This policy was written by a person, not a robot or a lawyer. Specifically, Cale Leiphart is the creator and primary administrator of BrickModelRailroader.com. You can contact Cale by using the Contact Form or by sending him an e-mail.