Privacy
Last updated: 13 September 2026
This site uses Google Analytics to count visits, but only if you accept it when the site asks. Unless you do, it sets no cookies and loads no tracking scripts. Apart from analytics, the only personal data it collects is what you type into a comment form.
The YT Music Album Sorter browser extension has its own privacy policy.
Who is responsible
Damian Helme, in Cambridge, UK, runs this site and decides what happens to comments. Under UK data protection law he is the controller of the personal data in them. For comments the lawful basis is legitimate interests, in running a comment section that readers can use and that stays free of spam. For analytics it is your consent.
What a comment form collects
When you send a comment, the site stores:
- the name you give
- your comment
- which article it is on, and when you sent it
It does not ask for your email address, and it does not store your IP address with the comment.
How a comment is handled
Comments are stored in Google's Firebase, in a Cloud Firestore database located in London.
Every comment is read before anything is published. First an automated moderator, Anthropic's Claude model, reads the name and the comment and marks it as probably genuine or probably spam. The moderator cannot publish anything. Damian then reads the comments and decides which to publish.
The moderator runs on GitHub Actions, GitHub's service for running code. Your comment passes through it on its way to Anthropic, and is not saved in GitHub's logs. Anthropic deletes what its API receives within 30 days, except where it keeps data longer to enforce its usage policy or to meet a legal obligation, as set out in Anthropic's privacy centre.
If your comment is published
Your name, your comment and its date appear under the article for anyone to read, and search engines can index them. Published comments are built into the pages of the site, which Firebase Hosting serves. Firebase also stores the 10 most recent versions of the site, which visitors cannot see. After a comment is taken down, copies of it stay in those stored versions until 10 more updates to the site have replaced them.
How long comments are kept
- A published comment is kept while it is on the site.
- A comment that is turned down, or taken down after being published, is deleted 90 days after that happened.
- A comment waiting to be read is kept until it has been read.
Deleting your comment, and your other rights
To have a comment deleted, published or not, email damianhelme@gmail.com with the article, the name you used and roughly when you sent it. The comment will be deleted from the database and, if it was published, taken off the site. You can also ask for a copy of what is held about you, or for it to be corrected. That address is for requests about comments and this page.
If you are unhappy with how your data has been handled, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.
Analytics
On your first visit, the site asks whether it may use Google Analytics. Nothing is loaded from Google, and no analytics cookie is set, unless you accept.
If you accept, Google Analytics sets two cookies, _ga and one whose name starts
_ga_, which last up to two years. It records which pages you view, how you
arrived, your device and browser, and your approximate location, which Google
works out from your IP address. Google provides the service and may process the
data outside the UK. Google signals, advertising features and Google's data
sharing settings are turned off. Google Analytics keeps the data for two months.
Your choice is stored in your browser, and you can change it at any time. Declining removes the Google Analytics cookies from this site.
Visiting the site
Firebase Hosting, part of Google, serves every page of this site. As with any website, your browser's requests reach the host's servers, which see your IP address to respond.
Changes
If the way comments are handled changes, this page will be updated first, with the date above changed to match.