Privacy Policy

Last updated: November 5, 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how Jimineering, LLC (“Jimineering,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) collects, uses, shares, and protects personal information when you use the Jimineering forum at https://forum.jimineering.com (the “Forum”) and the homepage at https://jimineering.com (the “Homepage”). Together we call these the “Service.”

The Service is an online community for software engineers. It is for adults only: you must be 18 or older to create an account.

If you have questions about this policy, contact us at legal@jimineering.com.

1. Who we are

The Service is operated by Jimineering, LLC, which is the controller of your personal information for the purposes of this policy.

2. Information we collect

Information you give us

  • Account information: your username, email address, your name (optional), and your password. We never store your password in readable form; it is stored only as a secure, one-way hash.
  • Age confirmation: your confirmation, made at sign-up, that you are 18 or older.
  • Profile information (optional): anything you choose to add to your profile, such as a profile picture, a short bio, a location you type in, or a website link.
  • Content: the topics, posts, replies, private messages, and files or images you upload.
  • Preferences: your settings, such as notification and email choices, the categories and tags you follow, and your display choices (for example, light or dark mode).
  • Messages to us: anything you send us when you contact us for support or with a request.

Information collected automatically

  • Technical data: IP addresses, browser type and version (the “user agent”), device and operating system details, and the date and time of requests.
  • Server and security logs: records of sign-ins, errors, and requests, which we use to keep the Service secure and to prevent spam and abuse.
  • Activity on the Forum: the topics you view and how long you read them, your likes, replies, and bookmarks, and the categories and tags you follow. The Forum uses this to show you things like unread topics, reading progress, and suggestions (see section 4).

We do not knowingly collect sensitive personal information (such as health information or government ID numbers), and we ask that you not post it.

3. How we use your information

We use your information to:

  • Create and run your account and let you sign in.
  • Show, store, and deliver the content you and other members post.
  • Send you emails you need or ask for: account confirmation, password resets, notifications, and digests.
  • Personalize what you see, such as “Suggested topics” and “Related topics” (see section 4).
  • Keep the Service secure, prevent spam, fraud, and abuse, and enforce our Terms of Use and Community Guidelines.
  • Answer your questions and requests.
  • Fix problems and improve the Service.
  • Meet our legal obligations and protect our rights and the rights of our members.

Legal bases (EU and UK users)

If you are in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, we rely on these legal bases:

  • Contract: to provide the Service you signed up for (your account, posting, messaging, and required emails).
  • Legitimate interests: to keep the Service secure, prevent abuse, personalize suggestions, and improve the Service. We balance these interests against your rights, and you can object (see section 9).
  • Consent: where we ask for it, such as optional email digests. You can withdraw consent at any time in your preferences.
  • Legal obligation: where the law requires us to keep or share information.

4. Suggested and related topics

The Forum uses your reading and activity signals to suggest topics you may find useful. These signals include the topics you view and how long you read them, your likes, replies, and bookmarks, and the categories and tags you follow. They are used to show “Suggested topics” and “Related topics.”

“Related topics” are found by comparing the text of topics using text embeddings (numeric summaries of text). These are computed by an open-source model (BAAI bge-small-en-v1.5) that runs on our own servers. No AI provider or other third party receives your posts or your activity for this purpose.

You can turn off personalized suggestions in your preferences where the Forum offers that setting, or ask us at the contact address and we will turn it off for your account.

We do not use this information for advertising, and we do not make decisions about you that have legal or similarly significant effects based on it.

5. How we share information

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for advertising. We do not show ads.

We share information only in these cases:

  • With other members and the public: content you post in public categories, your username, and your public profile can be seen by others. Private messages are visible to the people in the conversation and, where needed for moderation or safety, to Forum administrators.
  • Hosting provider: the Service runs on servers we rent and operate at Hetzner Online, in a data center in Finland (European Union). Our database and backups are stored on those servers.
  • Email delivery provider: we send emails through an email delivery provider (Resend). The provider receives your email address and the content of the email so it can deliver it. We have not enabled open or click tracking.
  • Backup storage provider: backups may be kept with a storage provider under contract with us.
  • Legal reasons: when we believe in good faith that the law requires it, or to protect the safety, rights, or property of our members, the public, or Jimineering.
  • Business changes: if Jimineering is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of that deal. We will let you know before your information becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

Our service providers may use your information only to provide services to us and must protect it.

6. Software and where your data is stored

The Forum runs on Discourse, open-source forum software, which we host ourselves on the servers described above. Your information is stored in the European Union (Finland). If you access the Service from another country, your information will be transferred to and processed in the EU. Where our providers process information outside your country, we rely on appropriate safeguards required by law, such as standard contractual clauses.

7. Cookies

We use only cookies that are necessary for the Service to work:

  • Sign-in session: to keep you signed in.
  • Security: to protect against cross-site request forgery (CSRF) and other attacks.
  • Display choices: to remember your light or dark mode and similar display settings.

We do not use advertising cookies, analytics or tracking cookies, or third-party trackers. The Homepage sets no cookies.

Because these cookies are necessary for the Service, they cannot be turned off without breaking sign-in. You can delete cookies in your browser at any time.

8. How long we keep information

  • Account information: for as long as your account exists.
  • Content: for as long as your account exists, unless you or a moderator remove it earlier. When an account is deleted, some posts may be anonymized (your name removed) rather than deleted, so that conversations other members took part in stay readable. You can ask us to remove specific posts.
  • Server logs: up to about 90 days.
  • Backups: daily backups are kept on our servers for 7 days. Information you delete rolls out of our backups within 7 days, or within the storage provider’s backup window once backups are moved to a storage provider.
  • Records we must keep: we may keep limited records when needed for legal reasons, to resolve disputes, or to prevent abuse (for example, to stop a banned person from signing up again).

9. Your rights and choices

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:

  • Access the personal information we hold about you.
  • Correct information that is wrong or incomplete. You can edit most of your account and profile in your preferences.
  • Delete your account and personal information. You can delete your account in your preferences or ask us to do it.
  • Export your data. The Forum offers “Download my posts” in your preferences, and you can ask us for a copy of other information.
  • Object to or ask us to restrict certain uses, such as personalized suggestions.
  • Withdraw consent where we rely on consent, such as optional emails.

EU and UK users: you have these rights under the GDPR and UK GDPR. You also have the right to complain to your local data protection authority. In Finland, where our servers are located, that is the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman. We would appreciate the chance to address your concern first.

US users: residents of some states, such as California, have rights under state privacy laws, including the right to know, correct, and delete personal information, and the right not to be discriminated against for using these rights. We do not sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising, as those terms are defined under California law. You may use an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf.

To make a request, email legal@jimineering.com. We may need to confirm your identity first, usually by asking you to reply from the email address on your account. We will respond within the time the law requires. If we deny your request, we will explain why, and you may appeal by replying to our response.

10. Security

We protect your information with:

  • Encrypted connections (TLS) for all traffic to the Service.
  • Passwords stored only as secure hashes.
  • Optional two-step login (two-factor authentication) for your account.
  • Server access limited to our administrators.

No system is perfectly secure. We encourage you to use a strong, unique password and to turn on two-step login. If we learn of a security breach that affects your personal information, we will notify you and the authorities as the law requires.

11. Children

The Service is only for adults 18 and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If we learn that an account belongs to someone under 18, we will remove the account and its information. If you believe someone under 18 has an account, please contact us.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we make significant changes, we will post a notice on the Forum or email you before the changes take effect. The “Last updated” date at the top shows when this policy last changed.

13. Contact us

Jimineering, LLC
legal@jimineering.com