Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 2026

Who we are

This site is operated by Fotis Mint Studios (“we”, “us”). For the operator's legal name, address, and how to reach us, see the Imprint. For any privacy question or to exercise a right below, email [email protected].

What we collect and why

• Newsletter — your email address, the date and IP of your consent, and your interest tags. Basis: your consent (double opt-in). Used only to send the emails you asked for.
• Member account — your username, email, hashed password, optional bio, avatar, and social links. Basis: performance of a contract (running your account). If you link Patreon, we store your Patreon ID and tokens to keep your entitlements in sync.
• User content — forum posts, Community Showcase uploads, and competition/giveaway entries you submit. Basis: your consent, shown publicly on the site.
• Contact form — the name, email, and message you send us. Basis: our legitimate interest in answering you.
• Messages to the studio — if you write to us from your account, we keep the conversation so we can answer it and refer back to it. Basis: performance of a contract.
• Downloads — when you download a file we record which file, when, your account, your IP address, and your browser's user-agent string. This is how we answer a payment dispute or a claim that a file was never delivered, and how we spot a shared account. Basis: our legitimate interest in preventing fraud and in being able to evidence what we delivered. These records are not used to build a profile of you or to market anything to you.
• Newsletter engagement — our emails contain a small tracking image and links that pass through our own site, which lets us record whether a message was opened and which links were clicked, against your subscription. We use it to see whether what we send is worth sending. Basis: legitimate interest. Most email apps block that image by default, and blocking it costs you nothing.
• Analytics — we count page views with a privacy-first, cookie-free method: your IP and browser are combined into a daily-rotating one-way hash and never stored in raw form, so you are not tracked across days or sites. Basis: legitimate interest.

Cookies

We only set essential cookies needed to run the site (your session and a security token). We do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies, so no consent banner is required. Embedded YouTube videos load in privacy-enhanced mode and set no cookies until you press play.

Who we share it with

We do not sell your data. We share it only with the service providers that operate the site on our behalf — our email delivery provider, hosting, and (if you use it) Patreon — each processing data under contract and only as needed. Some providers may process data outside the EEA under appropriate safeguards.

How long we keep it

Account data is kept while your account exists. Newsletter data is kept until you unsubscribe, and newsletter engagement records are pruned automatically after 24 months. Analytics records are pruned automatically after 180 days.

Download records are kept for 24 months and then pruned automatically, because that is longer than the window in which a payment dispute can reach us. If you delete your account before then, the record that a file was downloaded remains — it is the evidence behind any dispute — but your IP address and user-agent string are erased from it immediately, along with the link to your account.

Your rights

Under the GDPR you can access, correct, export, or delete your data, object to or restrict processing, and withdraw consent at any time. From your account settings you can directly download your data and delete your account, and every newsletter has a one-click unsubscribe. For anything else, email us at [email protected] and we'll respond within 30 days. You also have the right to complain to your local data-protection authority.

Changes

If we change this policy we'll update the date above and, for material changes, tell newsletter subscribers.

This policy is a working draft describing how the site actually handles data. Have it reviewed by a qualified professional and complete the Imprint details before launch.