Administrivia

Thank you for investing your precious time to visit { in·deed·a·bly }.

At the time of writing, the smart folks at Google estimated that the internet contained “hundreds of billions of webpages“. That is quite a lot.

With all of that vast array of choice available, you ended up here. Wow!

From a purely statistical point of view, you were far more likely to win the Euromillions lottery jackpot (assuming you had purchased a ticket), than you were to be reading this sentence. I’m not going to lie, personally I would have preferred the money!

But now that you are here, I wanted to talk a little about one of my favourite subjects: data. Specifically about YOUR data.

Your data

A platform for ranting and raving. Image credit: Despicable Me Wikia.

{ in·deed·a·bly } is the internet equivalent of a traditional Speaker’s Corner soapbox, providing me with a platform to rant or rave about whatever idea motivates me sufficiently to write about.

While it performs that function, this website may also collect some data about you.

You may choose to subscribe to receive email notifications of new posts, comments, or have your attention drawn to interesting stuff. Unsurprisingly your email address is required to successfully deliver those messages.

Comments

This site operates as a benevolent dictatorship. This means that I, your host and resident tinpot dictator, have the final say on whether a comment is published with gratitude or banished to the dustbin of doom.

Hear the wisdom of talking rabbits. Image credit: Disney Wikia.

A grammatically challenged rabbit named Thumper once said “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothin’ at all“. Sage advice indeed! The next time you hear a talking rabbit, listen to what it has to say.

I won’t necessarily agree with every comment a reader may leave. While ever the commenter isn’t being a dickhead, supporting the Queensland State of Origin team, or hurting anyone then I will generally publish what they have to say.

This site provides readers with the capability to leave comments via the comments form.

1980s cartoon robot. Image credit: Voltron Wikia.

The information you submit is collected so that your comment can be displayed. If you wouldn’t be happy seeing it, in poster sized text driving around town on the side of the number 23 bus, then you shouldn’t write it down!

To help defeat the spambot army and their evil overlords, this information plus your IP address and browser user agent are shared with the fabled spam slayer Akismet.

A sugared up toddler uses a toy hammer to smash your email address into a bazillion pieces. Gravatar, rumoured to actually be a reconditioned 1980s cartoon robot, uses some form of unspeakable magic to inspect the debris. Your avatar image is returned if he recognises you amongst the rubble.

C is for CookIe

Cookie Monster. Image credit: Parody Wikia.

Much to Cookie Monster’s dismay, these cookies are convenience rather than chocolate flavoured.

The comment form offers the reader the option of saving their details to avoid having to re-key them during the next year.

Anonymised analytics. Image credit: René Magritte.

Anonymised Google analytics are used on this site. The hope is that one day this information inflates my ego by reporting that vast numbers of users stopped by to read my writing. Today mostly I hear crickets…

Analytics also help me to understand my audience a bit better. Where are you located? How did you find { in·deed·a·bly }? What types of device, screen size, and browser should I be supporting? And so on.

Finally it may tell me when you have generously shared my ramblings with your friends, so that I can say thank you!

Posts on this site may include content sourced from other websites, for example youtube videos or the pictures used to liven up this page. Clicking or viewing that third party content may result in those websites collecting information about you, stalking you around the internet, and trying to sell you stuff.

This page only outlines what goes on here at { in·deed·a·bly }. It definitely does not cover any shenanigans those other sites may get up to with your data.

The internet is forever

My wife’s shit list. Image credit: Amazon.

When I do something wrong at home, my lady wife expresses her displeasure and adds it to her shit list, where it is then eternally remembered. I have the (seldom exercised) option of asking her for a recital of all such past shortcomings.

This website applies a similar approach to comments, though without the death stare.

Unlike an appearance on my wife’s shit list, at { in·deed·a·bly } you do have the option of requesting that comments you have made get deleted.

Trust, but verify

Your mileage may vary, always do your own homework. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons.

I strive to present an evidence based perspective in my writing, supported by verifiable facts. That being said, never forget I am just some random guy on the internet. Always think for yourself and make your own decisions!

I may be wrong.

I may be stupid.

I may be influencing your thinking.

I may be manipulating your behaviour.

Or I may be trying to sell you something.

For the avoidance of doubt nothing I write should ever be considered professional or personalised financial advice.

I am pretty sure nobody will ever read this far down this page. To test this theory, there is was a prize for the first person to send me an email containing the word argle-bargle, which is an appropriately obscure English word meaning “copious but meaningless talk or writing“.

Update: Reader “harmlos” claimed the prize, 374 days after the contest began.