Privacy Policy

Effective October 2, 2026

The Emergent Self is a personal website where I publish essays and invite conversation. I collect as little information about you as I can, and I never sell it. This page explains what is collected, why, and what you can do about it.

Who I am

This site is written and run by Robert K. Green. The website address is https://theemergentself.com. Whenever this policy says “I” or “me,” it means the person responsible for this site.

Information you choose to give me

Comments

When you leave a comment, the site stores the name, email address, and website you enter, along with your comment, your IP address, and your browser’s user agent string. The IP address and user agent help detect spam. Your email address is never shown publicly.

Comments are screened for spam by Antispam Bee, which runs on this site’s own server and does not send your information to an outside spam service.

A scrambled version of your email address (called a hash) may be sent to the Gravatar service to see whether you have a Gravatar profile picture. If you do, it appears next to your comment. Gravatar’s privacy policy is available at https://automattic.com/privacy/.

The contact form

When you send a message through the Contact page, I receive your name, email address, subject, and message. I use them only to read and reply to you. I do not add you to any mailing list unless you sign up yourself.

Email subscriptions

If you subscribe to receive new essays by email, I store your email address (and your name, if you provide it), the date you signed up, and the IP address used to confirm your subscription. Subscriptions are managed with MailPoet. The emails may record whether they were opened and which links were clicked, which helps me understand what readers find useful. Every email includes a link to unsubscribe or manage your subscription at any time.

Information collected automatically

Site statistics

This site uses Google Analytics (connected through Google’s Site Kit plugin) to understand how many people visit and which essays they read. Google Analytics uses cookies and collects information such as the pages you view, how you arrived at the site, your general location (city or region), and your device and browser type. I see this information only in summary form and do not use it to identify you. You can learn how Google uses this data at https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites, and you can opt out with Google’s browser add-on at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

Security

To protect the site from break-in attempts, a security tool (Loginizer) records the IP addresses of failed login attempts. This affects only people trying to log in to the site’s administration area, not ordinary readers.

Cookies

Cookies are small text files stored by your browser. This site uses them in a few limited ways:

• Comment cookies. If you leave a comment and choose to, your name, email, and website are saved in a cookie for one year so you don’t have to type them again.
• Analytics cookies. Google Analytics sets cookies to tell new visits from returning ones.
• Performance cookies. The site’s caching tool (LiteSpeed Cache) may set a cookie that helps pages load faster. It contains no personal information.
• Login cookies. These are used only by people who log in to manage the site.

You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. The site will still work, though you may have to re-enter your details when commenting.

Embedded content from other websites

Essays may include embedded content such as videos or images from other websites. Embedded content behaves exactly as if you had visited that other site, which may collect data about you, use cookies, and track your interaction with it.

Who I share your information with

I do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information, and this site does not show advertising. Your information is handled only by the services needed to run the site: my web host, the backup service that keeps copies of the site in case of failure, MailPoet for email delivery, Gravatar for comment pictures, and Google for site statistics. I would disclose information only if required by law.

How long information is kept

• Comments and their details are kept as long as the comment remains on the site.
• Subscriber information is kept until you unsubscribe or ask me to delete it.
• Contact messages are kept only as long as needed to respond and keep a reasonable record of our correspondence.
• Site statistics are kept according to Google Analytics retention settings, no longer than 14 months.

Your choices and rights

You can ask me at any time to:

• tell you what personal information I hold about you,
• send you a copy of it,
• correct it, or
• delete it.

To make a request, please use the Contact page. I will respond within 30 days. Depending on where you live, laws such as the European Union’s GDPR or California’s CCPA may give you additional rights, and I will honor them. Deletion does not include information I am required to keep for legal or security reasons.

Children

This site is written for adults. I do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided information here, please let me know and I will delete it.

Changes to this policy

If I change how the site handles information, I will update this page and the date at the top.

Questions

If you have any questions about this policy or your information, please reach me through the Contact page.