Privacy Policy

This policy explains what personal data Being Tricky (beingtricky.com) collects, why, who it’s shared with, how long it’s kept and what you can do about it. We’ve tried to write it in plain English. If anything is unclear, ask us.

Effective date: October 3, 2026. Last updated: October 3, 2026.

The short version

• You can read every article without an account.
• The site shows Google AdSense ads and uses Google Analytics. Google may use cookies for both. In the EEA, UK and Switzerland you’re asked for consent first.
• Our own statistics (page views, site searches, “Was this helpful?” votes) are anonymous. We don’t build profiles of readers.
• If you comment, subscribe to the newsletter or email us, we keep what you send so we can show your comment, send the newsletter or reply.
• We don’t sell your personal information for money. Ad cookies may count as “selling” or “sharing” under some US state laws. You can opt out, and we honor Global Privacy Control.

Who is responsible for your data

Being Tricky is run by one person: Prince Ramgarhia (Dice Codes). That person decides how your data is used. Under the GDPR and UK GDPR that makes them the “controller”, and under India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 the “Data Fiduciary”.

Email: privacy@beingtricky.com.

What we collect and why

Advertising (Google AdSense)

Being Tricky is free to read because it shows ads from Google AdSense. Google and its partners may use cookies, device identifiers and your IP address to show ads, limit how often you see the same ad, measure ads and detect fraud.

• Personalized ads use information about your visits to this and other websites to show ads Google thinks are relevant to you.
• Non-personalized ads are based on general context, such as the article you’re reading and your approximate location. Google may still use cookies for frequency capping, measurement and fraud prevention.

Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your previous visits to this and other websites. You can turn off personalized ads from Google at My Ad Center, and from many other vendors at aboutads.info. Read how Google uses information from sites that use its services and how Google uses cookies in advertising.

Consent in the EEA, UK and Switzerland

If you visit from the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, a consent message from Google (a Google-certified consent management platform that uses the IAB Transparency and Consent Framework) appears before personalized ads load. You can accept, refuse or choose per purpose and per vendor. If you refuse, you may see limited or non-personalized ads.

You can change your choice at any time with the privacy and cookie settings option that Google’s consent message adds to the site. Withdrawing consent is as easy as giving it.

Analytics (Google Analytics)

We use Google Analytics, set up through Google’s Site Kit plugin, to understand which guides people read, how they found them and whether pages load well. It uses cookies and collects data such as pages viewed, time on page, approximate location (city or country), device and browser type, and the referring website. Google Analytics 4 doesn’t store your full IP address. We don’t use it to identify you.

Analytics data is kept for 14 months. In the EEA, UK and Switzerland, Analytics cookies are only used if you consent in the message above. You can also install Google’s Analytics opt-out browser add-on.

Newsletter (Kit)

If you subscribe, your email address goes to Kit (formerly ConvertKit), the service that sends our newsletter. Kit acts as our processor: it stores your email address, the date you signed up, the form you used, and whether you open emails or click links, and it only uses this to provide its service to us. See Kit’s privacy policy.

• Unsubscribe: every email has an unsubscribe link at the bottom. One click removes you. You can also email us.
• We never sell or rent the list, and we don’t add you to other lists without asking.

Comments

When you leave a comment, we store the name, email address and website you enter, your comment, your IP address and your browser’s user agent. The IP address and user agent help us detect spam. Your email address is never shown publicly. First-time comments are held for manual approval.

• Comment cookies: if you tick “Save my name, email, and website in this browser”, WordPress stores them in cookies on your device for about a year, so you don’t have to type them again.
• Gravatar: to show your profile picture, a hash (a scrambled string) made from your email address may be sent to Gravatar, a service run by Automattic. See Automattic’s privacy policy. If you have no Gravatar, a default image appears.
• Spam protection: Akismet, which sends a comment’s text, name, email, IP address and browser details to Automattic (Akismet’s maker) to check it for spam.

Contact emails

If you email us, we keep your email address and message so we can reply and keep a record of corrections and requests.

YouTube videos

Videos in our guides are click-to-load. Until you press play, you only see a preview image and nothing is loaded from YouTube. When you press play, the video loads from YouTube in privacy-enhanced mode (youtube-nocookie.com). From that point Google receives your IP address and may store data on your device as described in Google’s privacy policy.

Anonymous site statistics we count ourselves

The site counts a few things itself, without cookies and without storing who you are:

• Page views: daily totals per article, used for “Popular this week”. To avoid counting the same visit twice, the server makes a salted hash (a one-way scrambled code) of your IP address and keeps it for up to 30 minutes. It is then deleted automatically and never stored long-term. Daily totals are kept for 30 days. Each article also keeps a running total.
• Site searches: words people type into our search box, with a count and the date last searched, so we can write the guides people look for. Search terms are stored without your IP address or any identity, but please don’t type personal details into the search box. We keep only the 450 most common recent terms; rarer and older ones are dropped automatically. A salted hash of your IP is kept for up to 10 minutes to avoid double counting.
• Visits from AI assistants: daily counts of visits referred by tools such as ChatGPT or Perplexity, without any visitor details.
• “Was this helpful?” votes: yes/no totals per article and any short note you choose to type, stored without your name or email. Please don’t include personal details in notes.

Stored only on your device

Some reading features remember your choices in your own browser’s local storage, never on our servers: guides you saved for later, ticked steps, your text size, the device tab you picked and whether you already voted. We can’t see this data. Clearing your browser’s site data removes it.

Server logs and security

Our host, Hostinger, automatically records technical logs for every request: IP address, date and time, page requested, browser user agent and referring page. These logs keep the site secure and working (for example, to block attacks and fix errors). Hostinger may also show a short browser check to block abusive bots. Hostinger keeps these logs for the period set out in its own privacy policy. See Hostinger’s privacy policy.

Cookies

You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. The site still works without them, but ads may be less relevant and your comment details won’t be remembered.

How long we keep data

Who we share data with

• Google (AdSense, the consent message, Analytics, YouTube): as described above.
• Kit: newsletter subscribers only.
• Automattic (Gravatar): commenters’ email hash only.
• Hostinger: hosts the site and its database, and processes server logs.
• Authorities: only if the law requires it, or to protect the site and its readers from fraud or abuse.

We never sell personal information for money. If the site is ever sold or transferred, readers’ data would go to the new owner under this policy, and we’d say so on this page.

Legal bases (GDPR and UK GDPR)

• Consent: personalized ads and ad cookies, Analytics cookies in the EEA, UK and Switzerland, the newsletter, and the comment cookie. You can withdraw consent at any time.
• Legitimate interests: keeping the site secure (server logs, spam checks), anonymous statistics that help us improve guides, publishing and moderating comments, and replying to your emails. We’ve checked these don’t override your rights, and you can object.
• Legal obligation: keeping records the law requires and answering lawful requests.

International transfers

Our website host is Hostinger, and Google and Kit process data in the United States and other countries. When data leaves the EEA or UK, it’s protected by the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (and its UK extension) where the provider is certified, or by the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses.

Your rights

Wherever you live, you can ask us to tell you what personal data we hold about you, give you a copy, correct it or delete it. Email privacy@beingtricky.com. We’ll reply within 30 days and won’t charge you. We may ask you to confirm the request comes from you (for example, by replying from the email address you commented with). Remember that most of what the site counts is anonymous, so there’s nothing linked to you to look up.

EEA, UK and Switzerland

You have the right to access, correct, erase, restrict or object to processing of your personal data, to data portability, and to withdraw consent at any time without affecting earlier processing. You can complain to your local data protection authority. In the UK, that’s the Information Commissioner’s Office.

United States (including California)

Residents of states with consumer privacy laws, such as California (CCPA, as amended by the CPRA), Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, Texas, Oregon and others, may have the right to know, access, correct and delete personal information, and to opt out of its “sale”, “sharing” or use for targeted advertising. Some of these laws only apply to larger businesses, but we honor these requests for every reader.

• Categories we collect: identifiers (IP address, cookie IDs, email address if you give it), internet activity (pages viewed, ad interactions) and approximate location, from the sources and for the purposes described above.
• “Sale” or “sharing”: we don’t sell data for money, but letting Google’s ad cookies run may count as “selling” or “sharing” for targeted advertising under these laws.
• Opt out: use our Do Not Sell or Share page or the privacy message Google shows in covered states.
• Global Privacy Control: if your browser sends a GPC signal, we treat it as an opt-out for that browser and request non-personalized ads only.
• We don’t treat you differently for using your rights. You can use an authorized agent, and you can appeal a decision by replying to our answer.

India (Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023)

If you’re in India, this policy is our notice to you under the DPDP Act. It lists the personal data we process and why. Where we rely on your consent (the newsletter, comments and ad cookies), you can withdraw it as easily as you gave it: unsubscribe from any newsletter email, ask us to delete a comment, or change your ad choices.

• Your rights: to get a summary of your personal data we process and who we’ve shared it with, to correct, complete, update or erase it, and to have your grievances addressed.
• Right to nominate: you can nominate another person to use these rights for you if you die or become unable to act. Email us with their name and contact details.
• Grievance contact: Prince Ramgarhia, privacy@beingtricky.com. We aim to resolve grievances within 30 days, and always within the time limit set by the DPDP Rules.
• Complaints: if you’re not satisfied with our answer, you can complain to the Data Protection Board of India.

Children

Being Tricky is written for adults and isn’t directed to children. We don’t knowingly collect personal data from children under 13 (or under 16 in the EEA and UK, or under 18 in India). Please don’t comment or subscribe if you’re under these ages. If you think a child has given us personal data, email us and we’ll delete it.

Security

The whole site uses HTTPS. Admin accounts use strong passwords and two-factor authentication, and we keep WordPress, the theme and plugins updated. No website is perfectly secure. If a breach affects your personal data, we’ll tell you and the relevant authorities as the law requires.

Changes to this policy

When we add a new service or change how we use data, we update this page and the “Last updated” date. For significant changes, we’ll also put a notice on the home page before the change takes effect.

Contact

Privacy questions and requests: privacy@beingtricky.com.