Bladesmiths NetworkBladesmiths Network

Privacy Policy for Bladesmiths Network

Last updated: 21 October 2026

This Privacy Policy describes Our policies and procedures on the collection, use and disclosure of Your information when You use the Service and tells You about Your privacy rights and how the law protects You.

We use Your Personal data to provide and improve the Service. By using the Service, You agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy has been created with the help of the Privacy Policy Generator. It is a draft that a solicitor will review before the Service opens to the public.

Who We Are

Bladesmiths.net is the controller of Your Personal Data: We decide how and why it is used. Full operator details, including a postal address, will be published when the Service launches. For now, You can reach Us at [email protected].

Interpretation and Definitions

Interpretation

The words of which the initial letter is capitalized have meanings defined under the following conditions. The following definitions shall have the same meaning regardless of whether they appear in singular or in plural.

Definitions

For the purposes of this Privacy Policy:

Collecting and Using Your Personal Data

Types of Data Collected

Personal Data

While using Our Service, We may ask You to provide Us with certain personally identifiable information that can be used to contact or identify You. Personally identifiable information may include, but is not limited to:

Usage Data

Usage Data is collected via Google Analytics, but only if You press Accept on our cookie notice, and only on the live Bladesmiths.net website (never on test or development copies). If You decline, or do not choose, no Analytics information is collected.

Signing In With Google

If You sign in or sign up with Google, Google shares Your email address and Your name with Us, and a code that identifies Your account with them. We use them to create and recognise Your Account here. We do not receive Your password for that service. If You start signing up this way and do not finish, We delete the unfinished sign-up after 7 days.

Two-Step Sign-In

If You switch on two-step sign-in (it is always on for moderators and administrators), We email a six digit code to the address on Your Account each time You sign in with Your password. The code is sent through Our email provider, works once, and expires after 10 minutes. We never store the code itself, only a scrambled (hashed) form of it that lets Us check what You type.

Notifications on Your Device

Notifications are on by default once You allow them on a device: Your browser always asks You first, and until You do We store nothing. When You allow it (in Settings), We store that device’s push address: a web address and two keys that Your browser gives Us, with no name and no other detail about You, and a short label such as “Chrome on Android”. We use it only to send You BSN notifications, and We send each one through Your browser’s push service, which is run by Google, Apple or Mozilla depending on Your browser. A notification says who did something and what kind of thing it was, such as a reply or a moderator notice, and never the words of Your posts or messages. You can turn notifications off at any time in Settings, which deletes this device’s address and stops notifications to all Your devices, and it is also deleted if the push service says it no longer works or if You delete Your Account.

Security Records

To protect Accounts from people guessing passwords, We briefly keep a record of failed sign-in attempts: the name or email address that was tried and a scrambled (hashed) form of the visitor’s IP address, not the address itself. These records are deleted after a short time. Sessions that keep You signed in also store hashed forms of Your IP address and browser details, and are deleted when they expire or when You sign out.

Moderation Log

Our moderators and administrators act through tools that keep an audit log of what they do (for example removing a post, deciding a report, suspending or banning a member, or changing a member’s role). Each entry holds the username of the member who acted, what was done, the username of the member it was done to, the time, and a short note. We keep these entries so that We can show that decisions were fair and deal with disputes. They hold only a username and are kept even after an Account is deleted.

Direct Messages

Signed-in members can send each other direct messages: private, one-to-one conversations in plain text. We store each conversation (which two members it is between, and who wrote first), each message (who sent it, the text and when) and, for each member, what they have read and whether they deleted the conversation from their own inbox. If a member does not follow You, their first message reaches You as a message request that You can accept, decline or block; We do not tell them if You decline.

Direct messages are not end-to-end encrypted. They are stored on Our servers like the rest of the Service, and the people who run the Service could technically read them. As a rule We do not: Our moderators can read a direct message only when a member reports it. Reporting a message lets Our moderators read that message and up to five messages before it in that conversation, and nothing else in it. We keep a copy of those messages with the report, in the same restricted archive described below. A moderator’s decision is recorded in the moderation log without the words of the message. We may also read or keep messages where the law requires it (see “Disclosure of Your Personal Data” below).

A message that You delete disappears for You and for the other member, but We keep a copy of it, with the usernames and the time, in a restricted archive. When an account is deleted We do the same with every message in the conversations that account was in, because those conversations can no longer be kept on the Service. This archive is used only to investigate abuse and to establish, exercise or defend legal claims. It can be read only by the Service’s administrators, every time it is read is recorded, and it is kept for 12 months, or longer where needed for an open investigation or legal claim. The copy is not shown to members.

You can delete a message You sent: it is hidden from both of You and shows as deleted (see the archive above). You can delete a conversation for Yourself only: it leaves Your inbox and Your copy is cleared, but the other member keeps theirs. Direct messages stay in a conversation until You or the other member delete them. If You delete Your Account, the conversations You were in disappear from the Service, including for the other member, and every message in them is moved to the restricted archive. When You ask for a copy of Your data, it includes the messages You sent, including ones You deleted, and the messages You received, with the other member’s username and the text. A notification about a message, on the site or on Your device, says who wrote and never the words of the message.

Reports and Moderation

Any signed-in member can report a post, comment, thread, reply, Marketplace listing, Hangout message, direct message or member. We keep the report (who made it, what it is about, the reason chosen and any note), the time it was made, the decision and the time it was decided. A report with a serious reason hides the content from everyone except its author and Our moderators until a moderator decides. Moderation is done by people; We do not use automated decision-making that affects You.

Appeals

If You appeal a moderator’s decision (about Your content, or a suspension or ban), We keep the appeal: what You wrote, when, which decision it is about, the moderator who answered, Our written answer and the time. If You cannot sign in, You appeal with a form that asks for Your username or email address and a message; the form always gives the same reply, so it cannot be used to find out who has an account, and We email the answer to the address on the account. Appeals are kept with the moderation records, for as long as those are kept (see “Retention of Your Personal Data” below), and are deleted if You delete Your Account. Pictures and videos that a moderator removed are kept until the days to appeal have passed or the appeal is decided.

Country Detection

To meet local legal requirements, We detect the approximate country a request comes from, using the visitor’s IP address through Our provider Cloudflare. We use it for one thing: the Marketplace age limit for knives. To contact a seller You must be old enough in the seller’s country, in Your own (from Your profile) and in the country Your connection seems to come from, and the highest limit applies. The country is worked out for each request and used on the spot; We do not store the IP address or the country against Your Account.

Technical Information

Like any website, Our servers and Cloudflare receive the technical details Your browser sends when You load a page, such as Your IP address, browser type and the page requested. We do not store Your IP address in raw form (see “Security Records” above).

Tracking Technologies and Cookies

We use Cookies to keep You signed in, remember Your choices and, only if You accept them, to analyse how Our Service is used. Our Cookie Policy lists each one. We use:

Cookies can be “Persistent” or “Session” Cookies. Persistent Cookies remain on Your personal computer or mobile device when You go offline, while Session Cookies are deleted as soon as You close Your web browser. You can learn more about cookies here: All About Cookies by TermsFeed.

We use both Session and Persistent Cookies for the purposes set out below:

For more information about the cookies we use and your choices regarding cookies, please visit our Cookies Policy or the Cookies section of our Privacy Policy.

Use of Your Personal Data

The Company may use Personal Data for the following purposes:

Why We Are Allowed to Use Your Data

Who We Share Data With

We do not sell Your data. We share it with these companies, who help Us run the Service:

We may also share Your personal information:

Retention of Your Personal Data

We keep Your Personal Data only for as long as is needed for the purposes in this Privacy Policy, and to comply with the law. In particular:

Getting a Copy of Your Data

You can download a copy of the personal data We hold about You at any time from Your account settings (“Download your data”). You confirm with Your password (or Your username, if You only sign in with Google) and receive one file in JSON, a common format that other services can read. It holds Your profile, posts, comments, likes, saves, Your Marketplace listings, the posts and events You have seen, reposts, follows, blocks, builds, reports You made, notifications, sign-in times, whether You show when You are online and the moderation log entries about You. It never contains Your password, sign-in codes or other members’ private details (only their usernames).

Deleting Your Account

You can delete Your Account yourself at any time from Your account settings. You confirm with Your password (or, if You only sign in with Google, by typing Your username) and tick a box to say You understand it cannot be undone.

Deleting is permanent and takes effect straight away. You are signed out everywhere, and We delete Your profile, Your Marketplace listings, Your posts and pictures (including the picture files on Our servers, which are removed shortly afterwards), Your comments, likes, saves, the record of posts and events You have seen, reposts, follows, builds, blocks, notifications, reports You made or that were made about You, Your links, Your sign-in details and Your email address. Counts shown on other members’ posts and profiles are adjusted. We cannot recover any of it.

What We keep after You delete Your Account:

Transfer of Your Personal Data

Some of Our providers may process Your information outside the United Kingdom. Where they do, We use providers that apply safeguards, such as the UK’s approved contract terms, to keep Your data protected.

Disclosure of Your Personal Data

Law enforcement

Under certain circumstances, the Company may be required to disclose Your Personal Data if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g. a court, the police, Trading Standards or another government agency). Legal notices should be sent to [email protected] with the subject “Legal notice”.

Other legal requirements

The Company may disclose Your Personal Data in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to:

Security of Your Personal Data

The security of Your Personal Data is important to Us, but remember that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While We strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect Your Personal Data, We cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Your Rights

You can ask Us for a copy of Your data, to correct it, to delete it, or to stop using it in a particular way (to object). You can download Your data and delete Your Account in Your account settings, or write to [email protected]. If You are unhappy with how We handle Your data, You can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk. We would like the chance to put things right first.

Automated Decisions

We do not make decisions about You by automated means. Moderation decisions are made by people.

Children’s Privacy

The Service is for people aged 13 or over. We do not knowingly collect data from children under 13. If You are a parent or guardian and think Your child has given Us Personal Data, please contact Us and We will delete it. Members under 18 cannot send a message to an adult unless the adult started the conversation or the member follows them, and the Marketplace checks the age limit for knives in the seller’s country, the member’s own and the country their connection seems to come from before a member can contact a seller. Anyone can look at an item for sale, with or without an account.

Age Confirmation (Agemin)

If You press Confirm Age on Your profile, You can show that You are 18 or over. The check is carried out by Agemin (agemin.com), an age checking company that acts for Us. It uses Your camera for a short face scan and estimates Your age from it. Your picture goes to Agemin and is not sent to Us, and We never see or keep it. Agemin tells Us only whether You passed, and We keep the date You were confirmed, which shows as a red 18+ badge on Your public profile. You can ask Us to remove the badge at any time. The check is Your choice, You are asked to agree before it starts, and You do not need it to use the Service.

While the check runs, Agemin may store a small cookie in Your browser (agemin_verification) and look at details of Your device, such as its screen and browser settings, to guard against fraud. This is only loaded when You press Continue on the check, and not on any other page. How Agemin uses and keeps Your data is explained in Agemin’s own privacy policy.

Links to Other Websites

Our Service may contain links to other websites that are not operated by Us. If You click on a third party link, You will be directed to that third party’s site. We strongly advise You to review the Privacy Policy of every site You visit.

We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third party sites or services.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update Our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify You of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page.

We will let You know via email and/or a prominent notice on Our Service, prior to the change becoming effective and update the “Last updated” date at the top of this Privacy Policy.

You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, You can contact us:

We use cookies that keep you signed in and remember your settings. With your say-so we also use Google Analytics to see how the site is used. See our Cookie Policy.