Privacy, your data, and how to contact us
Autism Forge is a small community run by autistic people. We try to collect as little as possible and to be honest about what we keep. This page explains what we hold, for how long, when we would ever share it, and how to reach us.
What we keep
- Your account — your username, a securely hashed password (we can never read it), and your role.
- Your profile — only what you choose to add: age, gender and rough location (the "ASL" you can share), and a profile photo if you add one.
- Photo metadata, if you upload a picture file — photos taken on a phone or camera often carry hidden details inside the file: the camera model, when it was taken, and frequently the exact GPS position it was taken at, which for a photo taken at home is your home. If your file carries any of that, we read it and keep it with your account. Only ops and admins can see it, in the same place as the login records below. It is deleted when you remove your photo. A photo taken here with the webcam button carries none of this. If you would rather we did not hold it, use the webcam, or strip the data from the file before uploading it.
- A recovery email, if you add one — used only to send you a recovery code, never for anything else, and you can't reply to it. If you sign in with Google, we also keep the email and name Google gives us.
- Technical records — your IP address is recorded with your login sessions and, if you are banned, kept with the ban so it can't be dodged. Our servers also keep normal request logs for a short time.
- What you post — forum posts, wiki edits and files you upload are public and are kept, including their edit history.
What we do NOT keep
We do not log the chat. Public channel messages, private messages, and voice or video calls are never recorded or stored — they pass through and are gone. If anyone, including the police, asks us for "chat logs", there are none to give.
Everything public is public
Anything you post to the forum, wiki or chat can be seen by the whole community. Don't share anything you wouldn't hand to the whole room.
When we would share your data
We don't sell your data and we don't pass it around. There are only two situations where we would share it:
- Someone in danger. If we believe a life or someone's safety is genuinely at risk, we will contact the emergency services (999) and give them what we have to help. This is the one time we act beyond the community — see the rules.
- A lawful request from the police. If UK police make a proper, documented request — a signed Data Protection Act 2018 Schedule 2 request for preventing or detecting crime, a court order, or a request under the Investigatory Powers Act — we may disclose the specific data they are entitled to (for example the IP tied to an account). We share only what is necessary and proportionate, and we record that we did. We cannot provide what we do not hold (see above).
Your rights
You can ask us what we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete your account. Contact us at the address below.
Contact us
For privacy questions, to report abuse or a safeguarding concern, or for law-enforcement requests, email safeguarding@autismforge.com.
In an emergency, do not email — call 999. If you or someone else is in immediate danger, contact the emergency services. For urgent mental-health support at any hour, Samaritans are free on 116 123.