BeginYourTree.com ("we," "us") is an informational website about family history research. We collect as little about you as we can get away with. This page explains, in plain English, what we do collect and why.
What we collect, and when
1. Your email address — only if you subscribe
If you choose to join our newsletter through the signup form, we collect the email address you enter. The form is operated by MailerLite, our email service provider, which stores subscriber addresses on our behalf. Subscriptions are confirmed by double opt-in: you'll receive a confirmation email, and you aren't subscribed until you click it. The signup form is protected by Google reCAPTCHA to block automated bots; Google's own privacy policy applies to that check.
We use your email address for one purpose: sending occasional family history tips and site updates. We do not sell, rent, or share our subscriber list with anyone. Every email we send includes a one-click unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing works immediately.
2. A small note in your browser (not sent to us)
To avoid nagging you, our newsletter popup records a small flag in your browser's local storage after it has been shown, so it won't appear again for a while. This flag stays on your device, contains no personal information, and is never transmitted to us. You can clear it anytime by clearing your browser's site data.
3. Ordinary server logs
Like virtually every website, our hosting infrastructure and our content delivery network (Cloudflare) automatically log basic technical data about requests — such as IP address, browser type, and pages requested — for security and to keep the site running. These logs are used for no other purpose.
What we don't do
- No advertising networks and no ad tracking on this site.
- No sale or sharing of personal information.
- No analytics cookies at this time. If we ever add privacy-respecting analytics, we'll update this policy first.
Links to other sites
Our guides link to outside resources — archives, libraries, and databases we recommend. Those sites have their own privacy practices, which we don't control. Our recommendations are editorial: nobody pays us to be listed, and we currently have no affiliate relationships. If that ever changes, the affected links will be clearly disclosed.
Children
This site is written for adults and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.
Your choices and rights
- Unsubscribe from the newsletter anytime via the link in any email.
- Ask what we have, or ask us to delete it: email [email protected] and we'll remove your address from our list and confirm.
Changes to this policy
If our practices change — for example, if we add analytics or affiliate links — we'll update this page and its effective date before the change takes effect.
Contact
Questions about privacy? Write to [email protected].