Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 9, 2026

Quipthread is created and operated by V3 Digital Studio LLC ("V3 Digital Studio", "we", "our", or "us"). We run the Quipthread cloud comment platform at quipthread.com and app.quipthread.com (the "Service"). This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and your rights regarding that information.

1. Information We Collect

We collect information you give us directly and information generated when you use the Service:

• Account information: your name, email address, and profile picture when you sign up with email, GitHub, or Google. GitHub and Google share only what you authorize, and we never see your password for those accounts.
• Comment content: comments posted through the Quipthread comment widget on your sites or on sites you moderate.
• Usage and analytics: comment volume, page-level statistics, and activity patterns that power the analytics in your dashboard.
• Billing information: Link, a Stripe company, handles all payments as the merchant of record. We store your Stripe customer ID and your subscription's plan and status. Your card details never reach our servers.
• Technical data: IP addresses and browser user-agent strings, used for spam prevention, rate limiting, and security, and kept briefly in server logs. We do not sell this data or use it for advertising.

2. How We Use Your Information

• To create and manage your account and provide the Service.
• To send transactional emails: email verification, password resets, account and billing notices, and comment notification digests. We do not send marketing email unless you opt in.
• To manage your subscription.
• To detect and prevent spam, abuse, and unauthorized access.
• To generate the aggregated analytics shown in your dashboard.

3. No Advertising

We do not use your personal data for advertising. We do not build advertising profiles, track you across websites, or share your data with advertising networks, data brokers, or any third party for marketing. The Service is funded entirely by subscription fees.

4. Service Providers and Data Sharing

We do not sell your personal data. We share it only with the service providers below, each limited to what it needs to do its job, and in the other cases listed here:

• Fly.io: hosts the Quipthread application servers in the United States.
• Turso: hosts the databases that store your account, sites, and comments.
• Cloudflare: serves quipthread.com, protects and delivers traffic to app.quipthread.com, and sends our transactional email.
• Link and Stripe: sell and bill subscriptions and process payments. See the Link Privacy Center and the Stripe privacy policy.
• GitHub and Google: only if you choose to sign in with one of them.
• Legal requirements: if required by law or court order, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of V3 Digital Studio, our users, or others.
• Business transfers: if Quipthread is part of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will email you before your data is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

5. Data Retention

We keep your account data for as long as your account exists. When you delete your account from the dashboard, we immediately delete your account, sites, comments, and database. Copies in backups are overwritten within 30 days. Link and Stripe keep billing records for as long as the law requires.

6. Cookies and Local Storage

We do not use advertising cookies, tracking pixels, or third-party analytics scripts. We use only these:

• Session cookie: a first-party, HttpOnly cookie that keeps you signed in to the dashboard.
• Sign-in indicator: a cookie with no personal data that tells quipthread.com you are signed in, so it can link you straight to your dashboard.
• Sign-in security cookies: short-lived cookies, removed within 10 minutes, that protect sign-in with GitHub or Google.
• Commenter sign-in: when you sign in to comment on a site, the comment widget stores your sign-in token in that site's browser local storage.

7. Your Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights under the GDPR, the CCPA, or similar laws, including the right to access, correct, or delete your personal data. You can delete your account yourself from the dashboard. To exercise any other right, email us at [email protected]. We will respond within 30 days.

8. GDPR Lawful Basis

If you are in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, we process your personal data on these legal bases:

• Performance of a contract: processing your account information and subscription details, and sending the transactional and comment notification emails that are part of the Service, is necessary to provide the Service under our agreement with you.
• Legitimate interests: processing IP addresses and technical data for spam prevention, security, and rate limiting, where your rights do not override these interests.
• Legal obligation: keeping billing records as required by applicable law.
• Consent: sending marketing email, only if you opt in. You can withdraw consent at any time with the unsubscribe link in any marketing email.

9. International Data Transfers

V3 Digital Studio is based in the United States. If you use the Service from outside the United States, your personal data will be transferred to and processed in the United States, which may have different data protection laws than your country.

For users in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, we rely on standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission as the legal mechanism for transferring personal data to the United States. To request a copy of these clauses, email [email protected].

10. Self-Hosted Instances

Quipthread is open-source software you can host yourself under the AGPL-3.0 license. When you run your own instance, you, not V3 Digital Studio, are the data controller for your users' information. This Privacy Policy applies only to the cloud service operated by V3 Digital Studio.

11. Children's Privacy

The Service is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe we have collected such information, email us and we will delete it promptly.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. For material changes, we will email you at least 30 days before the change takes effect. If you keep using the Service after that date, you accept the updated policy.

13. Governing Law

This Privacy Policy is governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, USA, without regard to conflict-of-law principles.

14. Contact

Send questions or requests about this Privacy Policy to:
V3 Digital Studio LLC
[email protected]